US Senate passes major online child safety reforms

31/7/2024 6:15

        The U.S. Senate passed major online child safety reforms in a nearly unanimous vote on Tuesday, although the legislation, which has drawn mixed
        reactions from the tech industry, faces an uncertain fate in the House of Representatives.
        
        Two bills - the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act and the Kids Online Safety Act, nicknamed COPPA 2.0 and KOSA - would need to pass in the Republican-controlled House, currently on recess until September, to become law.
        
        The Senate approved the bills in a rare bipartisan 91-3 vote.
        
        COPPA 2.0 would ban targeted advertising to minors and data collection without their consent, and give parents and kids the option to delete their information from social media platforms.
        
        "Kids are not your product, kids are not your profit source, and we are going to protect them in the virtual space," Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican cosponsor of KOSA, said in a press conference after Tuesday's vote.