US Senate passes bill by Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy restricting how social media targets youth

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan U.S. Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a historic package of restrictions — co-sponsored by a Louisiana senator — that cracks down on how social media companies interact with children and teenagers.

A pair of bills were merged and passed on a 91-3 vote that would require social media platforms to take steps to prevent online exploitation, such as cyberbullying, body shaming and sexual recruiting. The legislation also would expand existing privacy protections to forbid the collection of personal data from children under the age of 16.

The legislation still must clear the U.S. House before heading to the president’s desk.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, said Tuesday he generally backs the legislation. President Joe Biden has indicated he would sign it into law.

“The internet is an integral part of children’s lives today. It is time our laws reflect this new reality,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge. “These bills provide parents the tools to safeguard their kids online.”

He was one of the two main sponsors for the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, called COPPA 2.0. Along with expanding existing parental consents on data collection, COPPA 2.0 bans advertising targeted at youth.

The bill builds on a law passed in the 1990s primarily sponsored by then-Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-Chackbay, and Sen. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts.

Cassidy also was a co-sponsor of Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, which would require online platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent harm to users.

The bills arose as parents began questioning the connection between online usage and increased suicide and other anti-social behavior among their children.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has declared children’s mental health has become a national emergency. The federal Centers for Disease Control & Prevention found that in 2021, one in three high school girls contemplated suicide.

Cassidy blamed digital platforms which collect data from users and then compile algorithms that target advertising and content at specific individuals. He pointed to studies that linked online usage to increased dangerous behavior by children. He also noted that a Harvard University study in 2022 calculated that the major platforms earned about $11 billion from selling data-driven advertising and content that targeted U.S. users under the age of 17.

The effort to pass online restrictions for children bogged down as Big Tech argued the provisions violated First Amendment rights.

Cassidy countered that accepted law has long allowed for marketing carve-outs for the First Amendment, such as a ban on advertising cigarettes to youth.

Markey, who cosponsored COPPA 2.0 with Cassidy, said the bill updated 1990s legislation addressing children’s television programming that essentially was just advertising goods to kids. Markey said he and Tauzin added parameters as the digital sphere expanded. The new bills would provide updates to reflect the way social media does business now.

“The United States Senate will finally send a message to Big Tech that the days of indiscriminately tracking and targeting children and teens are over in our country. That their privacy-invasive business models must change,” Markey said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said “this moment is when the Senate said, ‘There have been horrible abuses. We must end them, and we will.’”

Schumer lauded the bipartisan effort to overcome opposition and get the long-stalled package moving again.

“The House should pass these bills as soon as they can,” he said.

Johnson said in a statement shortly after the Senate vote that he’s committed to finding consensus in the House.

“I am looking forward to reviewing the details of the legislation that comes out of the Senate,” he said. “Parents should have greater control and the necessary tools to protect their kids online.”

Louisiana’s junior senator, John N. Kennedy, R-Madisonville, was among the 91 senators backing the legislation. The three “no” votes were Sens Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Ron Wyden, D-Oregon.