Senators call for passing laws to protect online privacy for kids

Former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen testifies during a hearing entitled ‘Protecting Kids Online: Testimony from a Facebook Whistleblower’ in Washington
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) speaks during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing entitled ‘Protecting Kids Online: Testimony from a Facebook Whistleblower’ on Capitol Hill, in Washington, U.S., October 5, 2021. Drew Angerer/Pool via REUTERS

Two Democratic senators called Wednesday for two bills to be voted into law that will limit what children are shown online and how their data can be used for advertising by Big Tech companies like Google’s YouTube and Facebook.

Senators Richard Blumenthal and Ed Markey, both Democrats, called for the passage of an update of the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which would, among other things, raise the age of children whose data cannot be collected without consent from 12 to 15.