Advertisers, Advocates Gear Up for 2024 FTC Kids’ Privacy Debate

The FTC’s proposed changes to online privacy rules could restrict access for children to services and products, an advertising group said in response to the agency’s effort to update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) (see 2312200050). Yet as they gear up for a renewed policy debate in 2024, child-safety advocates told us the proposed changes are an overdue response to a rapidly evolving market overcome with AI technology.

The FTC's proposed changes would limit how companies monetize kids’ social media data, ban them from endlessly collecting data and limit tactics encouraging children's social media use. The public will have a 60-day comment period once the NPRM is published in the Federal Register.

The proposal includes “material changes” that will “negatively impact advertisers and brands that market to kids and families” while expanding rules to groups that previously fell outside the scope of COPPA, said Lartease Tiffith, Interactive Advertising Bureau executive vice president-public policy. Language in the agency’s NPRM appears to broaden the definition of content and services directed to children, Tiffith said. Many companies will find themselves falling under COPPA rules and bearing compliance costs, he added.

There is sure to be “pushback” from industry, said Fairplay Policy Counsel Haley Hinkle: But a rule update is necessary to keep pace with social media, she said. Judging from the NPRM, the FTC took a careful look at the existing statute, the 2012 COPPA rules and current data privacy practices, Hinkle added. The agency is right to clearly state that companies need to get separate consent from parents for third-party data sharing, she argued. Moreover, the agency is correct in seeking data retention limits and making it clear companies don’t get to retain children’s data forever, she said.

Tiffith said the requirement for separate opt-in parental consent for targeted advertising to kids “will likely lead to less marketing to kids and as a result less services, products and content.” Advertisers should be “especially concerned” about this proposed change because it will mean less ad revenue, fewer services and more paywalls.

Melissa Henson, Parents Television and Media Council vice president-programs, said proposals protecting children online are “positive” steps because young people are particularly susceptible to harms associated with social media and targeted advertising. She said: “I’m wary of government overreach, but when it comes to protecting children online, not enough has been done to date, so this is a necessary” correction. PTMC is particularly concerned about the marketing of adult content to teens and young people on social media apps like TikTok, she said. Shows like Euphoria and The Idol, which, she said, are pornographic in nature, have been aggressively marketed to teens. “I would love to see the FTC take a closer look at that aspect in general,” she said. There’s “widespread awareness” that children’s online privacy is an “issue, and it’s a problem that needs to be tackled.”

Henson and Hinkle agreed COPPA rules should expand to cover social media users to age 16, as proposed by Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Bill Cassidy, R-La. The Senate Commerce Committee passed their legislation in July for the second year in a row (see 2307270058). COPPA rules currently apply to users under 13. University of Colorado professor Warren Binford said the tech industry is “really taking advantage” of vulnerable, young users during a critical stage of neurological development. Children should be exposed to the world within reasonable limits, but tech companies have shown “zero self-constraint,” Binford said. “That’s the choice that the tech companies continue to make to deal with the short-term rewards, rather than focusing on age-appropriate technological experiences.”