Social Media

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are co-sponsoring the latest version of a bill that would update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., announced Thursday. Cantwell and Cruz support the latest iteration of COPPA 2.0, which they said includes stakeholders' suggestions for technical corrections and small modifications. Cantwell recently explored options for seeking unanimous consent on COPPA 2.0 and the Kids Online Safety Act (see 2312040058). “Children and teens are uniquely vulnerable in the online world and can be unaware and overwhelmed by the ways social media platforms can use their personal information to target them,” Cantwell said in a statement. “This bill strengthens protections, closes loopholes and raises the age of kids covered under our privacy law to make sure more children and teens are protected.” Cruz said the bill would “empower parents to safeguard their children’s online privacy and hold tech companies responsible for keeping minors safe from data collection.”

Maryland this week moved one step closer to becoming the 15th state to pass comprehensive online privacy legislation by hosting debate in both chambers on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Policy experts disagreed Monday about whether common carrier regulation should be applied to social media companies, as has been proposed in certain states. “I don’t think common carriage regulation makes sense for internet companies,” said Chamber of Progress Senior Counsel Jess Miers during a State of the Net session Monday. She noted the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1990s recognized the internet as a “wholly new medium of worldwide human communication.” It’s “different from the telephone companies and” traditional common carriages, she said. Traditional common carriers like ISPs provide one avenue to access the internet, so any restrictions can have a significant impact on a user, she said: That’s different from social media platforms because users have many options, even if they get restricted on one service. Fordham University law professor Olivier Sylvain said he wouldn’t elevate social platforms to common carriers like phone companies, which provide “essential” infrastructure. “They’re very different services that are being offered,” said Gus Rossi, Omidyar Network director-responsible technology. But it’s “not completely out of bounds to say, ‘Well, we want to look at carriage of speech in some context.’” Rossi argued the concept could be applied to social media companies, but carefully, which he said states like Florida and Texas have failed to do.

The FTC has plans for adding psychologists and pediatricians to its staff to help on issues related to social media use and child mental health, Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya said Monday. The agency wants to emulate the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority, which has interdisciplinary teams within the organization, he said during State of the Net conference. The agency plans to add the specialists in the fall, he said. Based on social science research, three things are driving “teen mental health” concerns online, he said: social media content, extended engagement tools and features that enable user harassment.

The Utah Commerce Department received backlash from the communications industry and other groups about age-verification methods proposed in rules for implementing the 2023 Utah Social Media Regulation Act. The department’s Consumer Protection Division last week sent us written comments received by its Feb. 5 deadline on October's proposed rules.

A Virginia Senate panel cleared kids’ privacy and social media bills Wednesday. The General Laws and Technology Committee voted 14-0 for SB-359, prohibiting social media operators from providing an “addictive feed” to users younger than 18 without verifiable parental consent. The bill defines an addictive feed as “a website, online service, or online or mobile application, or a portion thereof, in which multiple pieces of media generated or shared by users of a website, online service, or online or mobile application, either concurrently or sequentially, are recommended, selected, or prioritized for display to a user based, in whole or in part, on information associated with the user or the user's device.” The committee voted 15-0 for SB-361, which would add children-specific protections to the state’s comprehensive consumer privacy law. It would prohibit data controllers from selling a child’s data or using it for targeted advertising or profiling. The House approved the similar HB-707 on Tuesday (see 2402070063).

A Better Business Bureau National Advertising Review Board panel recommended Thursday that Mint Mobile change some of its ads and promotions in response to a Verizon complaint. In ads for Mint’s $15 monthly promotional plan for unlimited service, “it failed to consistently, clearly and conspicuously disclose that consumers are required to prepay the entire $45 for three months of service,” the panel found. Moreover, Mint should discontinue a claim “that it ‘cut out the cost of retail service and passed those sweet savings directly to you’ because it did not provide evidence demonstrating that it ‘passes along’ any cost savings to consumers,” the panel said. It found fault with some of Mint’s claims on social media against Verizon. Mint said it would comply with the panel’s recommendations, "although it disagrees with the panel’s recommendation regarding certain social media ... claims," the release said.

The FCC seeks the dismissal of the petition for review of Maurine and Matthew Molak to vacate the FCC’s Oct. 25 declaratory ruling authorizing funding for Wi-Fi service and equipment on school buses under the commission’s E-rate program (see 2312200040), according to the commission’s motion Tuesday (docket 23-60641) at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Florida Senate's version of a bill banning kids younger than 16 from having social media accounts cleared the Judiciary Committee on Monday. The panel voted 7-2 for Sen. Erin Grall's (R) SB-1788. It shares language with the House-approved HB-1, including prohibiting children from having accounts even with parental consent. However, the Senate bill wouldn't require social websites to disclose social media's possible mental health issues to those 16-18. A bipartisan majority in the House supported HB-1 last month (see 2401240079). Also, the Judiciary Committee voted 9-0 for Grall's SB-1792, which would require strict age verification for porn websites. It’s similar to HB-3, which unanimously passed the House (see 2401250017).

Existing law needs updating to protect artists and individuals from fake AI-generated content, House Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said Friday during a hearing in Los Angeles.