Senate Passes COPPA 2.0 to Expand Online Data Protections for Children and Teens
The Senate passed a bill Thursday to significantly expand the 1998 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, raising the age of protection and imposing new restrictions on how tech companies collect, use, and disclose personal information from minors. The updated law -- known informally as COPPA 2.0 -- responds to nearly three decades of technological change that has made the original statute's protections inadequate for an era of algorithmic feeds, targeted advertising, and AI-powered data collection. The bill now heads to the House, where bipartisan support for children's online safety has been one of the few areas of genuine cross-aisle agreement in an otherwise deeply divided Congress.
Read Full Story at Washington TimesIf anyone causes one of these little ones -- those who believe in me -- to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
— Matthew 18:6
Jesus reserved his harshest warning for those who harm children. The bipartisan push to protect minors online reflects a moral intuition that transcends politics: children deserve protection from exploitation, and those who profit from their vulnerability bear a special responsibility.