August Recess Update: Congressional Action On Online Exploitation
A year after a whistleblower from Meta, Facebook’s parent company, leaked thousands of documents illustrating how the social media platform was harming young children, Congress introduced several pieces of legislation to prevent the abuse and exploitation of children online.
Senators Ed Markey and Josh Hawley recently proposed the Children and Teen’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which seeks to amend the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, a 1998 rule that has been essential to protecting the privacy of children under 13. This new bill will expand COPPA’s existing standard to protect children until the age of 16. Additionally, it strengthens the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) ability to hold companies accountable when they abuse the data of minors.
Introduced by Senators John Ossoff and Chuck Grassley, the Preventing Child Sex Abuse Act of 2022, closes a major loophole that currently allows for the perpetuation of online child sexual abuse. This legislation would codify language by expanding the definition of “sexual activity” to include virtual contact as a harmful act. Additionally, this bill takes meaningful steps to address individuals who cross domestic and international lines seeking to exploit children.
Understandably, parents are increasingly becoming worried about their children’s online activity and safety. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn address these concerns in the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which has received unanimous support from the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. If the bill becomes a law, all commercial online platforms will have a duty to prevent any harm to a minor, including providing safeguards for both parents and minors to see what type of data is being collected and the ability to have a minor’s account and information completely deleted. Additionally, all online platforms will be required to issue a report on the foreseeable risks to minors. With robust scientific findings, we can begin making data-driven policy decisions to better mitigate the harms associated with online exploitation.
Often, our laws fail to change with technological advances, but in order to end online child sexual abuse, our laws must keep up with existing internet capacities. It is critical that companies adjust the standards of their platforms and implement safeguards to protect children online. ECPAT-USA remains at the forefront of advocating for legislation focused on ending online exploitation. For more information on how you can better protect your families, access our free guides to internet safety on our site now.
