Advocates, Proponents of COPPA Celebrate 20th Anniversary of Act's Passage

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) created in 1998, Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, the Act’s principal sponsor, joined key representatives from various child advocacy, consumer, and privacy groups at a public forum on Wednesday, October 17.

Sen. Markey gave a speech to commemorate the passage of the Act, and to suggest how it should move forward. Sponsored by the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), the event highlighted Markey’s speech which included suggestions for the federal government to draft a children’s online privacy constitution for basic rights. Markey also shared his strategy to push the age of children under COPPA to 16, aiming to increase efforts in protecting children after the digital boom. The Senator proposed the creation of a commission and funding research worth $95 million dollars on the impact of technology on children and their social and mental well-being.

Sen. Markey has been advocating for broader children’s privacy protection standards, and has been pushing for his Do Not Track Kids Act, hoping that the law will be passed as part of a privacy law, or a standalone act.

Watch the event marking the 20th Anniversary of COPPA on C-SPAN or read more about it here.

Advocates believe Kid Influencers Deserve Same Protections as Other Child Stars

Although there are child labor laws in California that are designed to protect child stars from exploitation (The Coogan Act), the same protections don't always apply to child YouTube and Instagram stars, or kid influencers. Kid Influencers accounts are usually run by their parents since platforms like YouTube and Instagram have age limits of 13 years old. One consequence of not owning their accounts is that all profits received go directly to the guardians and, unlike traditional child actors in California, these guardians are not required to set aside some of the profits for the children. Advocates like Paul Petersen, believe the legal protections like those in California should apply to children outside of the state. Petersen has said that because YouTube is in San Bruno, California and they are paying to broadcast children, California law must apply to those child stars. Many guardians of kid influencers feel these regulations are unnecessary and that the guardians are doi...

CARU Speaks at Community Board in Manhattan

CARU staff attorney Andra Dallas gave a presentation to Community Board 1, serving lower Manhattan on Monday, December 7 th . Andra spoke to the Board’s Youth Committee about the importance of teaching children about understanding advertising and safe online practices. District Manager Noah Pfefferblit remarked, “thank you for your informative presentation to our Youth Committee members,” and offered the Board’s assistance if they “can be helpful to the important efforts at the Children's Advertising Review Unit.” Are you interested in having a CARU staff member visit your community board? Contact adallas@caru.bbb.org.

Kids Internet Design and Safety Act Seeks to Protect Children from Harmful Online Content

United States Senators, Mr. Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut and Mr. Edward Markey from Massachusetts, introduced a new bill referred to as the Kids Internet Design and Safety Act (the “KIDS Act”). One of the Senator’s introducing the KIDS Act, Mr. Edward Markey, was the co-author of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). The KIDS Act seeks to include noteworthy advertising rules and create new protections for children online, specifically for online users under the age of 16. The proposed advertising rules within the KIDS Act are to ban websites from: (1) exposing young online users to advertisements “with embedded interactive elements”; (2) recommending any content involving alcohol, nicotine, or tobacco to young online users; and (3) recommending content that includes influencer marketing, like unboxing videos, or host-selling to young online users. Additionally, the KIDS Act seeks to prohibit certain online features to protect children, like prohibiting...

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