EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Bill Cassidy calls for child privacy protections across platforms after Meta settlement
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) says children’s online privacy protections should follow them across apps, adding to Republican calls for broader safeguards following Meta’s child safety settlement.
“As kids grow up online, the danger of doing so grows alongside them. COPPA 2.0 helps protect their private information, and that protection should follow them across whichever apps contain their personal data,” the Louisiana Republican told the Washington Reporter in an exclusive statement.
Cassidy’s comments reinforce the push to extend protections beyond Facebook and Instagram, including to Google-owned YouTube, TikTok and other platforms that collect children’s personal information.
Meta’s settlement with a bipartisan group of attorneys general requires new safeguards on Facebook and Instagram, including default daily time limits for teens, overnight restrictions, muted notifications during school hours and expanded parental controls. Meta has also urged YouTube and TikTok to adopt comparable measures.
Cassidy focused on the privacy side of that broader debate. His Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA 2.0, would strengthen restrictions on how internet companies collect and use young users’ information.
The Senate passed the legislation in March. It would prohibit targeted advertising to children and teens, limit excessive data collection and require companies to let users delete personal information collected about a child or teenager.
His statement follows Sen. Katie Britt’s (R., Ala.) exclusive comments to the Reporter that Meta’s protections should extend to every social media platform. Britt also called for Congress to pass legislation empowering parents and holding technology companies accountable. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) has likewise told the Reporter that Congress should hold Big Tech accountable following the settlement.
Together, the comments point to continued Republican interest in protections that reach across the industry. Cassidy’s argument gives that effort a specific legislative focus: protecting children’s personal information wherever they go online.
