Online privacy protections updated for kids, teens under Cassidy bill

To ensure America’s children and teenagers are protected online, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) recently introduced a bipartisan bill that would update online data privacy rules. 

“Parents don’t want internet companies targeting their children online,” Rep. Cassidy said. “We protect young children’s privacy, we should protect teenagers online too. This bill prohibits internet companies from collecting personal information on young teenagers without consent.”

The Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act of 2021, which Sen. Cassidy introduced with U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA), would update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by prohibiting internet companies from collecting personal information from anyone aged 13- to 15-years-old without the user’s consent, according to a bill summary provided by Sen. Cassidy’s office.

The bill also would require companies to create an online “Eraser Button” to permit users to eliminate personal information from a child or teen and to implement a “Digital Marketing Bill of Rights for Minors” that would limit the collection of personal information from teens, the summary says. 

Additionally, among numerous other provisions, the measure would establish a Youth Privacy and Marketing Division at the Federal Trade Commission that would be tasked with addressing the privacy of children and minors and the marketing directed at them.

“It’s time for Congress to swiftly put in place strict safeguards that stop these powerful platforms from tracking young people at every turn in the online ecosystem,” Sen. Markey said.

The Center for Digital Democracy, Common Sense Media, the Campaign for Commercial-Free Children, the Consumer Federation of America, the American Heart Association, and the Public Health Institute are among the organizations supporting the bill.