Markey, Blumenthal, Hawley, Blackburn Warn FTC Against Weakening COPPA
A bipartisan group of senators warned the FTC not to weaken children’s online privacy protections as it reviews the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The agency’s “failure now and in recent years to fully enforce COPPA compliance has us concerned that an update at this time could diminish children and parents’ control of their data or otherwise weaken existing privacy protections,” wrote Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; and Marsha Blackburn, R-S.C., Thursday: “Now is not the time to pull back.”
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The senators cautioned the agency to only “pursue changes to existing regulations that prioritize children’s privacy and well-being.” The agency confirmed it received the letter and declined to comment.
Expect debate over limiting targeted online advertising for kids Monday when the FTC hosts a children’s privacy workshop with tech industry and consumer advocates (see 1907170063). Public comments, due Oct. 23, and interviews suggest the two sides are at odds on whether behavioral ads harm children.
The commission settled with Google and YouTube in September for $170 million (see 1909040066) over allegations YouTube illegally collected personal data from children without parental consent. One key result from that deal was Google’s decision to discontinue personalized ads for children’s content.
Industry groups want to weaken children’s privacy protections through the review, consumer groups said. Executives argued they’re promoting innovative services that benefit children, while downplaying parental concerns.
Targeted ads are beneficial for kids because they provide more revenue and lead to more innovative services, said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Senior Policy Analyst Alan McQuinn. ITIF will argue to the FTC that ads targeting children aren’t really the problem, he said. The bigger issue is deceptive and misleading marketing, which the agency has jurisdiction over, he said. COPPA is inefficient and ineffective, given the digital world has significantly changed since 1998 passage, he said. One major issue is COPPA doesn’t apply to nonprofits, meaning the third most popular website for children, PBS for Kids, can collect children’s data without complying, he said.
Google wants to “partially undo the recent YouTube consent decree by having the commission make COPPA rule changes that would enable more child-directed targeting,” by claiming parents are co-viewing, for instance, said Center for Digital Democracy Executive Director Jeff Chester. He previously questioned FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Chief Andrew Smith’s impartiality, citing public remarks about the potential loss of targeted ads (see 1909230062).
Public Citizen will draw attention to Smith’s remarks, and his previous legal work with some 120 companies (see 1812060048) relevant to the COPPA discussion, including Disney, Facebook and Twitter. The comments show Smith has prejudged the proceeding, and it’s unclear how the rulemaking's integrity can be trusted, said PC Bright Lines Project Coordinator Emily Peterson-Cassin. Conflicts alone signal Smith shouldn’t be involved in a process that could potentially weaken COPPA, she said.
NetChoice disagrees behavioral advertising necessarily harms youth, said Vice President Carl Szabo. Like McQuinn, NetChoice is urging the FTC to include nonprofits in COPPA jurisdiction for data collection. The association questions potential changes to the definition of personally identifiable information to include IP addresses and other factors that could impede parental verification.
Pew Research Center finds 81 percent of parents have “knowingly allowed their child to use [general audience] YouTube,” says a presentation ACT|The App Association President Morgan Reed plans to deliver at Monday’s workshop. He contends statistics suggest parents are less concerned with the content their offspring are viewing than consumer groups would suggest. He plans to ask the FTC to let platforms like Google, Apple and Amazon innovate and experiment.