The Senate Commerce Committee should reject the Kids Off Social Media Act (see 2405100028) because it would harm children’s privacy, safety and First Amendment rights, more than 30 consumer advocate groups wrote Thursday. Signees included the American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Democracy & Technology, Chamber of Progress, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, Free Press Action, New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge. Introduced by Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Chris Murphy, D-Conn.; and Katie Britt, R-Ala., the Kids Off Social Media Act (S-4213) incentivizes schools to “spy on children,” imposes unconstitutional restrictions on access to online services and undermines existing child protections, the consumer advocates said. For example, the legislation would hinder children from using chronological feeds, which help create “age-appropriate online experiences,” they said. The legislation was scheduled for a markup Thursday, which the Senate Commerce Committee postponed (see 2405160066).

Tech companies should share concrete examples of how they’re detecting and identifying AI-generated synthetic content, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said Tuesday. Warner sent letters to every company that signed the Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections. Signers include Amazon, Google, IBM, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI, Snap, TikTok and X. He asked them to describe how they’re labeling synthetic content, the resources devoted to the effort, communication with candidates, detection tools and third-party collaboration. “While the public pledge demonstrated your company’s willingness to constructively engage on this front, ultimately the impact of the Tech Accord will be measured in the efficacy -- and durability -- of the initiatives and protection measures you adopt,” he wrote.

The House Commerce Committee on Sunday announced bipartisan draft legislation that would sunset Communications Decency Act Section 230 in December 2025. Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., issued a discussion draft that encourages "Congress and stakeholders to work together over the next 18 months to evaluate and enact a new legal framework that will allow for free speech and innovation while also incentivizing these companies to be good stewards of their platforms.” Rodgers and Pallone said in a Wall Street Journal joint opinion piece Sunday: “Section 230 is now poisoning the healthy online ecosystem it once fostered. Big Tech companies are exploiting the law to shield them from any responsibility or accountability as their platforms inflict immense harm on Americans, especially children.” The legislation offers the tech industry a choice, they said: “Work with Congress to ensure the internet is a safe, healthy place for good, or lose Section 230 protections entirely.” CTA CEO Gary Shapiro opposed the draft bill, saying in a statement Monday that “Section 230 has propelled the U.S. to global leadership in tech and given us the world’s most dynamic startup ecosystem. Eliminating Section 230 would be a huge gift to our economic rivals abroad. Congress should say NO to this bill.” Similarly, NetChoice opposed the measure, with Vice President Carl Szabo saying Section 230 doesn’t shield violators from federal criminal law. Sunsetting Section 230 won't achieve Congress’ intended goal of holding bad actors accountable, he said. NetChoice recommended Congress craft laws that increase resources for law enforcement as it investigates and prosecutes “digital criminals.” In the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have explored repealing Section 230 as a way of protecting children from social media harms (see 2403110033).

The House is set to vote as soon as Tuesday night on a revised version of the NTIA Reauthorization Act (HR-4510) under suspension of the rules, the office of Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Friday night. The House Commerce Committee-cleared measure would elevate the NTIA administrator from assistant secretary to undersecretary of Commerce. It also proposes other steps aimed at improving coordination of federal spectrum (see 2307270063). Chamber leaders pulled HR-4510 from consideration in early March amid objections from leaders of the House Armed Services Committee over the fight between NTIA and DOD about allowing 5G use of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band (see 2403060062). In addition, the House will consider the Senate-passed FAA Reauthorization Act (HR-3935) amid questions about whether backers of additional funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program and Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program will attempt to attach money for those initiatives to it. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and other senators unsuccessfully sought an amendment aimed at including $6 billion for ACP and $3.08 billion for rip and replace in HR-3935 (see 2405100046).

The American Privacy Rights Act is “an important bipartisan compromise” Congress can use as a foundation for passing a federal privacy law (see 2404160034), Senate Data Security Subcommittee Chairman John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., said Wednesday during a subcommittee hearing on protecting consumer data. Introduced by Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., APRA provides a strong federal standard with data minimization rules, Hickenlooper said, so companies aren’t collecting “everything they can.” He noted states aren’t waiting for Congress on privacy. Indeed,16 states, including Colorado, have passed or are in the process of approving privacy laws. Without a federal privacy law, the U.S. risks further ceding its authority to states and foreign governments, which is creating regulatory “headaches” for businesses, ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said.

The Senate’s bipartisan AI working group will “very soon” issue a policy “road map” with areas of consensus for committees to pursue legislation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told us previously that committees are expected to lead legislative efforts (see 2401220047). Schumer and Rounds formed the working group with Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Todd Young, R-Ind. “AI is so complex, so rapidly evolving, so broad in impact that it will take all of us working together to maximize its potential and minimize its harms,” Schumer said on the floor Wednesday. The Senate leader said he was pleased to see President Joe Biden's Wednesday announcement about Microsoft’s $3.3 billion investment for a new AI center in Wisconsin. Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company "will use the power of AI to help advance the next generation of manufacturing companies, skills and jobs in Wisconsin and across the country. This is what a big company can do to build a strong foundation for every medium, small and start-up company and nonprofit everywhere.”

Reps. Ben Cline, R-Va., and Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, renewed concerns with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo about NTIA’s implementation of the $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. Their comments came during a Wednesday House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing. Cline faulted NTIA for previously rejecting the Virginia Office of Broadband’s BEAD Volume 2 application because that office “declined” to use the program to regulate broadband prices. Conservative groups previously latched onto the Virginia BEAD issue, which stemmed from NTIA’s requirements on participants offering a low-cost connectivity option (see 2403070065). “It’s been nearly five months since NTIA approved Louisiana’s [BEAD] plan, which was submitted at the same time as Virginia,” Cline said. “There are no outstanding issues,” so the Commerce Department should “commit to approving” Virginia’s application given it follows language in the authorizing 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act barring rate regulation. Raimondo declined to commit to approving the Virginia proposal but said NTIA approves state plans that comply with the rate regulation ban. “I will look in on Virginia” after the hearing, Raimondo said. “What I can promise you is we aren’t regulating” broadband prices. “We are not telling any state, including yours, ‘If you don’t provide [service] at X dollars, we’re not going to give you the money.’ But the statute requires us to have low-cost options” as a requirement for BEAD funding, she said. Gonzales noted prospective BEAD participants in his southwest Texas district worry “about their potential ability to participate” in the program “due to the large size of the [service] areas” and the low-cost option requirement. “My job in implementing this $42 billion is to make sure every American has access everywhere,” Raimondo told Gonzales. “We’re working very closely with” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) “using our maps to figure out who's not covered and providing subsidies to companies so that they” can cover rural areas.

The House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee rescheduled a postponed Wednesday hearing on the FCC's FY 2025 federal funding request (see 2405030068) for May 16, the panel said Monday. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 2359 Rayburn. The House Commerce Committee confirmed Monday a postponed Tuesday hearing on the FCC’s FY25 budget request would happen at “a later date.”

The House Appropriations and Commerce committees postponed a pair of hearings scheduled for this week on the FCC's FY 2025 funding request (see 2404300068), the panels' spokespersons separately confirmed Friday. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and the other four commissioners were set to testify at a Tuesday Communications hearing on the budget proposal. Rosenworcel was to appear at a Wednesday Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee panel. Neither of the committees announced makeup dates for the hearings Friday. Rosenworcel's brother, Brian Rosenworcel of the band Guster, announced the death of their father, Elliott, Thursday night. House Appropriations, Commerce and the FCC didn't comment on whether the hearings' delay was in response to the news.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., on Wednesday filed an amendment that would attach kids’ privacy legislation to the FAA reauthorization bill. He filed the amendment with lead Republican sponsor Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. The Senate should pass the lawmakers' Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) with FAA reauthorization, said Markey: “Big Tech has contributed to the youth mental crisis, and it’s time Congress did something about it.”