Summary
The Verge survey of the May 2023 federal-level explosion of child internet legislation: Protecting Kids on Social Media Act (under-13 ban + national age-verification pilot), Kids Online Privacy Act, COPPA 2.0 (raising COPPA age 13→16, Markey), KOSA (reintroduced), and EARN IT (cleared committee for second time, unanimous voice vote). Documents Frances Haugen’s October 2021 Facebook leak as the political triggering event. Captures the moment Senate Democrats (Schumer, 24+ co-sponsors) committed to KOSA, and the FTC moved to ban Meta from monetizing data on under-18 users (proposing changes to the 2020 privacy order).
Key Points
- Bills introduced/advanced in one week (early May 2023):
- Protecting Kids on Social Media Act (national age-verification pilot, under-13 ban)
- Kids Online Privacy Act (Senate)
- COPPA 2.0 (Markey, age 13→16)
- EARN IT — passed Senate Judiciary unanimously by voice vote
- 24+ senators backing KOSA, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
- Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) raised cybersecurity / encryption concerns at EARN IT vote but did not block it.
- FTC proposed change to 2020 Meta order: ban monetizing under-18 user data; require independent privacy assessor sign-off on new products. Bedoya questioned authority.
- Frances Haugen 2021 leak is the consistent political reference for the post-2021 wave.
- House Republican leadership (McCarthy) focused on debt ceiling — child-online bills face House headwinds.
- Evan Greer at Fight for the Future press conference: agrees Big Tech harms kids, but says these specific bills will make problems worse.
Newsletter Angles
- Useful as the legislative-mechanics reference for any piece on KOSA/EARN IT — captures committee vote dynamics, sponsor lists, and the Frances-Haugen-as-ignition-point framing.
- Politics: Documents the Schumer-Schumer dynamic — Senate Dem leadership behind KOSA before the broader civil rights coalition mobilized fully. Useful for tracking Democratic complicity over time.
- Pairs with President Biden’s new executive action is all about children and the internet (Vox, May 2023) and Officials say social media is hurting teens. Scientists say it’s complicated (WaPo, June 2023) — same week of activity, different framings.
Entities Mentioned
- Marsha Blackburn — KOSA co-sponsor
- Richard Blumenthal — KOSA co-sponsor
- Lindsey Graham — EARN IT co-sponsor
- Ed Markey — COPPA 2.0 lead
- Chuck Schumer — KOSA backer
- Cory Booker — encryption concerns
- Jon Ossoff — encryption concerns
- Kevin McCarthy — House debt-ceiling focus
- Joe Biden — SOTU child-safety language
- Frances Haugen — 2021 Facebook leak
- Evan Greer — Fight for the Future
- Federal Trade Commission — moving against Meta data practices
- Alvaro Bedoya — FTC commissioner; authority concerns
- Meta / Instagram / WhatsApp / Oculus — FTC target
Concepts Mentioned
Quotes
“We have a real concern in this bill about issues of cybersecurity and how we might empower the government to do things to target disadvantaged groups for more harassment and discrimination.” — Cory Booker on EARN IT
“the bills that we are talking about today will make all of the problems that we are discussing worse, not better.” — Evan Greer
Notes
The Verge; tech-policy beat reporting. Straight news, not opinion. Useful baseline document for understanding what was on the table in spring 2023, before the bills evolved through their multiple amendments. Note: Schumer’s 24-co-sponsor claim sourced via WaPo, not original reporting.