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...

On January 29, 2020, a United States Representative from Florida, Kathy Castor, introduced a new bill to update and expand the coverage of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). The new bill is referred to as the “Kids PRIVCY Act”, which is also known as the “Protecting the Information of our Vulnerable Children and Youth Act” and H.R. 5703.   The Kids PRIVCY Act seeks to add a new class of individuals to COPPA, specifically Young Consumers from the ages of 13 through and including 17. The Young Consumers would be protected under COPPA and allowed to control what companies can do with their personal information, as well as who can collect their personal information. The Kids PRIVCY Act also proposes an opt-in consent requirement for all individuals under the age of 18. Some of the other additions the Kids PRIVCY Act proposes are: prohibiting companies from targeting advertisements to children per their personal information and behav...

In a recent decision, CARU found Snap Inc.’s (Snap) Snapchat app to be compliant with both the CARU Guidelines and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).  “The company goes beyond minimal procedures to prevent under-age use” CARU stated. CARU determined that Snapchat is an app directed to a general audience, not intended for use by children. In reaching this conclusion, CARU considered that Snap’s Terms of Service clearly prohibit users under 13 years of age and makes no effort to market the app to children or provide them with an appealing user experience.  With that understanding, Snapchat is permitted under the Guidelines and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) to age-gate and block children under 13 from using its services, which it does. CARU then examined whether Snapchat does so effectively. CARU observed that Snapchat utilizes age-gates and many safeguards to ensure that if children manage to breach the existing age-...