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Children and teen online wellbeing and safety was a key focus of legislation and policy in 2023 and is likely to remain a hot issue for lawmakers in 2024. In the article “2023 U.S. Advertising and Privacy Trends and 2024 Forecast: Focus on Kids and Teens,” my partner, Tracy Marshall, and I, examine the history of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and significant developments involving privacy and advertising to minors over the last year. These include legislative attempts to raise the age of a “child” at both the federal and state levels for advertising and privacy purposes; bans on behavioral advertising targeting minors; efforts to restrict minors’ access to social media; First Amendment legal challenges to laws such as the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA); the Federal Trade Commission’s long-awaited proposed changes to the COPPA Rule; and litigation developments, including suits seeking to hold social media platforms responsible for alleged mental and physical harms to children and teens. To find out more about recent developments in children and teen privacy and advertising, and what we see coming in 2024, go to: https://lnkd.in/eUByJvPV  

On June 18, 2024, the California Attorney General and Los Angeles City Attorney announced a significant $500,000 settlement with Tilting Point Media LLC for violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and California Unfair Competition Law (UCL). The violations involved the collection and processing of children's personal information without consent and inappropriate advertising to children. The investigation, initiated by the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) in September 2022, revealed that Tilting Point failed to provide effective age screening and obtain verifiable parental consent, among other breaches. In addition to paying $500,000 in civil penalties, Tilting Point must take several corrective actions, including ensuring all games directed to children comply with the CCPA and COPPA, enhancing their age screening mechanisms and privacy policies, configuring third-party SDKs, and conducting annual compliance assessments. Read the full article at the link below. https://lnkd.in/ewp-v-Z9 #privacy #gaming #COPPA #CCPA #UCL

📱🔞Alaska - social media ban for under 14s: 🚸A ban on social media accounts for children under 14 passed the Alaska House Friday with significant bipartisan support, despite some opposition citing privacy and constitutional concerns. 📵If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the ban would also require 14- and 15-year-olds to get written parental consent before creating social media accounts. The social media proposal was added late in the process as an amendment to another bill and hasn’t been subject to public hearings or legislative scrutiny beyond a brief floor debate. Though a separate bill with different social media restrictions for kids was introduced in January, it has not faced a public hearing. 🔞Age verification technology continues to improve, and there might be a scenario in the future where it is safe enough to protect people from privacy concerns, but really, I am very concerned about privacy for all individuals who might have to comply with this type of commercial age verification technology,” 🚷Alaska has very strict rights to privacy in our Constitution,” she said. “We’re one of the states with some of the most strident and strong languages around right to privacy, and I do think that if this were to be up against a legal challenge, it could definitively, probably, be ruled as unconstitutional.” 📵Age verification bills aimed at adult websites have a mixed record in federal court, though some recent laws in other states have been allowed to stand. Social media restrictions for children have been blocked on First Amendment grounds by federal courts in some states.

TikTok Execs Know About App's Effect On Teens, Lawsuit Documents Allege: An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR : For the first time, internal TikTok communications have been made public that show a company unconcerned with the harms the app poses for American teenagers. This is despite its own research validating many child safety concerns. The confidential material was part of a more than two-year investigation into TikTok by 14 attorneys general that led to state officials suing the company on Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges that TikTok was designed with the express intention of addicting young people to the app. The states argue the multi-billion-dollar company deceived the public about the risks. In each of the separate lawsuits state regulators filed, dozens of internal communications, documents and research data were redacted -- blacked-out from public view -- since authorities entered into confidentiality agreements with TikTok. But in one of the lawsuits, filed by the Kentucky Attorney General's Office, the redactions were faulty. This was revealed when Kentucky Public Radio copied-and-pasted excerpts of the redacted material, bringing to light some 30 pages of documents that had been kept secret. A group of more than a dozen states sued TikTok on Tuesday, alleging the app was intentionally designed to addict teens, something authorities say is a violation of state consumer protection laws. After Kentucky Public Radio published excerpts of the redacted material, a state judge sealed the entire complaint following a request from the attorney general's office "to ensure that any settlement documents and related information, confidential commercial and trade secret information, and other protected information was not improperly disseminated," according to an emergency motion to seal the complaint filed on Wednesday by Kentucky officials. NPR reviewed all the portions of the suit that were redacted, which highlight TikTok executives speaking candidly about a host of dangers for children on the wildly popular video app. The material, mostly summaries of internal studies and communications, show some remedial measures -- like time-management tools -- would have a negligible reduction in screen time. The company went ahead and decided to release and tout the features. Separately, under a new law, TikTok has until January to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a nationwide ban. TikTok is fighting the looming crackdown. Meanwhile, the new lawsuits from state authorities have cast scrutiny on the app and its ability to counter content that harms minors. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Senate recently passed two bills aimed at enhancing online safety for children: 1) Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) 2) Children’s and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) KOSA focuses on requiring social media companies to better protect users under 17, including features to limit harmful content, and COPPA 2.0 extends privacy protections and restricts targeted advertising for those under 17. Specifically, COPPA 2.0 would: 1) Build on COPPA by prohibiting internet companies from collecting personal information from users who are 13 to 16 years old without their consent;   2) Ban targeted advertising (defined as advertising directed to an individual based on personal information obtained from that individual or group of individuals) to children and teens;  3) Revise COPPA’s “actual knowledge” standard, covering platforms that are “reasonably likely to be used” by children and protecting users who are “reasonably likely to be” children or minors;  4) Create an “Eraser Button” for parents and kids by requiring companies to permit users to eliminate personal information from a child or teen when technologically feasible; 5) Establish a “Digital Marketing Bill of Rights for Teens” that limits the collection of personal information of teens; and 6) Establish a Youth Marketing and Privacy Division at the FTC. https://lnkd.in/dtJeUciU The bills will likely undergo scrutiny and possible amendments in the House, and even if they pass, they may face legal challenges from tech companies concerned about potential impacts on free speech and privacy.

The Department of Justice’s pending lawsuit against TikTok emphasizes the FTC’s focus on consumer protection, and privacy laws regarding the app’s younger users. Davis+Gilbert Advertising + Marketing Partner Allison Fitzpatrick was featured in this The National Law Journal article, “DOJ’s Lawsuit Against TikTok Signals Warning to Other Online Platforms on Child Privacy, Lawyers Say,” commenting on the digital platform’s alleged violations of child privacy laws, and what is viewed as fragrantly violating COPPA despite being warned. Allison discusses, the role of the FTC, the details of the complaint and what this means for TikTok and other social media platforms going forward. Children’s privacy is a priority on the federal, state, and self-regulatory level and companies that do not comply with the laws to protect children will be a target. For a sneak peak into the article, see some of Allison’s quotes featured in the article in the images below. Read the full National Law Journal article for more information on violations of children’s privacy rights, associated with TikTok: https://lnkd.in/enah2a4A #TikTok #ChildPrivacy #FTC

TikTok Execs Know About App's Effect On Teens, Lawsuit Documents Allege: An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR : For the first time, internal TikTok communications have been made public that show a company unconcerned with the harms the app poses for American teenagers. This is despite its own research validating many child safety concerns. The confidential material was part of a more than two-year investigation into TikTok by 14 attorneys general that led to state officials suing the company on Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges that TikTok was designed with the express intention of addicting young people to the app. The states argue the multi-billion-dollar company deceived the public about the risks. In each of the separate lawsuits state regulators filed, dozens of internal communications, documents and research data were redacted -- blacked-out from public view -- since authorities entered into confidentiality agreements with TikTok. But in one of the lawsuits, filed by the Kentucky Attorney General's Office, the redactions were faulty. This was revealed when Kentucky Public Radio copied-and-pasted excerpts of the redacted material, bringing to light some 30 pages of documents that had been kept secret. A group of more than a dozen states sued TikTok on Tuesday, alleging the app was intentionally designed to addict teens, something authorities say is a violation of state consumer protection laws. After Kentucky Public Radio published excerpts of the redacted material, a state judge sealed the entire complaint following a request from the attorney general's office "to ensure that any settlement documents and related information, confidential commercial and trade secret information, and other protected information was not improperly disseminated," according to an emergency motion to seal the complaint filed on Wednesday by Kentucky officials. NPR reviewed all the portions of the suit that were redacted, which highlight TikTok executives speaking candidly about a host of dangers for children on the wildly popular video app. The material, mostly summaries of internal studies and communications, show some remedial measures -- like time-management tools -- would have a negligible reduction in screen time. The company went ahead and decided to release and tout the features. Separately, under a new law, TikTok has until January to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a nationwide ban. TikTok is fighting the looming crackdown. Meanwhile, the new lawsuits from state authorities have cast scrutiny on the app and its ability to counter content that harms minors. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Florida enacts tough social media law barring children under 14 from holding accounts. Why it matters: 1. Florida's new law shows the state's commitment to safeguarding minors' digital space, addressing concerns over online predators and the potential negative impact of social media on youth mental health. It could provide a template for other states grappling with similar concerns. 2. Critics, including civil liberties groups and Big Tech, worry these types of laws infringe on children's digital privacy, and create an invasive requirement for all users to verify their age, posing potential privacy risks for everyone online. 3. The Florida law, preceding a similar proposed Federal legislation – the Kids Online Safety Act, sets the tone for a potential tug-of-war on regulation of minors' online activities between states, the Federal government and tech companies. Learn more by visiting The Record from Recorded Future News: https://lnkd.in/dHEup6ga

Congress continues to advance legislative efforts to expand protections for minors online. New versions of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) 2.0 bills were released last month, setting the tone for how the federal legislature will approach the issue in 2024.   As the federal government attempts to push legislation across the finish line, it is the judicial system that may impede that goal. Keller and Heckman LLP attorneys Sheila Millar, Tracy Marshall, and Liam Fulling explain:   “Federal efforts are set against the backdrop of significant developments at the state level. The United States District Court for the Northern District of California found the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA) likely violative of the First Amendment and enjoined the Act from taking effect until further judicial review, which is pending. The Ninth Circuit had earlier ruled that COPPA does not preempt state privacy claims.   More recently, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases involving the constitutionality of laws in Texas and Florida implicating the scope of First Amendment rights of social media platforms. All these developments indicate that the courts will have just as much influence establishing legal parameters for the protection of kids and teens in the online ecosystem as state legislatures, Congress, and federal agencies.”   Read more from our #ConsumerProtectionConnection blog: