The Senate agrees with the House of Representatives' changes to a bill (S. 2073) that amends Title 31 of the United States Code. This bill requires government agencies to include a list of old or repetitive reporting requirements in their yearly budget reports and addresses other related issues.

The first section of the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act provides the short title for the Act and outlines its table of contents, highlighting various measures aimed at ensuring online safety for children and teens, including definitions, duty of care, and safeguards for minors. It also covers transparency, research on social media, age verification, and the relationship to State laws, among other provisions.

The section of the bill defines several terms related to online safety for minors, including what constitutes a "child," a "minor," and a "covered platform." It also clarifies terms like "compulsive usage," "design feature," and "microtransaction," which relate to online behavior and purchases, as well as "personal data" and "personalized recommendation system," focusing on users' personal information handling.

A covered platform must take reasonable steps to prevent and reduce harms to minors, such as mental health issues, addiction-like behaviors, violence, bullying, sexual exploitation, harmful marketing, and financial exploitation. However, this does not stop minors from searching for or requesting specific content, or accessing information to prevent these harms.

The section establishes requirements for online platforms to protect minors by providing safeguards like privacy controls, limiting communication and recommendations, and regulating advertising of harmful products. It also mandates tools for parents to manage their child's online activity and reporting mechanisms for harms, while prohibiting manipulative designs and ensuring accessibility and integration with third-party controls.

Covered platforms must provide clear information to minors and their parents about their policies, safeguards, and tools for minors, including details on personalized recommendation systems and how to opt out. They also need to label advertising content clearly and offer resources in multiple languages to ensure accessibility.

A covered platform with over 10 million monthly U.S. users must publish a yearly report assessing the risks it poses to minors, the steps taken to prevent harm, and details about user activity and data related to minors. This report requires an independent audit and must safeguard user privacy by anonymizing data before public release. The report should also be easy to find on the platform's website.

The legislation mandates that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) partner with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct studies on how social media harms minors, focusing on issues like mental health, substance abuse, and online exploitation. The FTC will gather necessary data from selected platforms, with findings aimed at guiding public policy and understanding these risks better.

The Federal Trade Commission, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, will create guidelines to help companies conduct research on minors. These guidelines will include a standard consent form in multiple languages, instructions for getting parental consent, and research recommendations for various age groups. This guidance will be issued within 18 months and will involve public input and feedback from the Kids Online Safety Council.

The proposed bill requires the Secretary of Commerce, along with the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, to study age verification technologies at the device or operating system level. The study will assess the benefits, necessary information, accuracy, privacy concerns, technical feasibility, and competitive impact of these systems, with a report due to Congress one year after the act is enacted.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is required to issue guidance within 18 months of the enactment of the Act to help covered platforms and auditors understand how to protect minors on the platforms, including tips on design features and parental tools. This guidance is meant for informational purposes and does not create legal obligations for any party, and the FTC or state attorneys general can only use it for reference when addressing violations of the Act.

In this section, the Federal Trade Commission and State attorneys general are given the power to enforce laws against unfair and deceptive practices by certain platforms. The section allows the Federal Trade Commission to use its usual powers, and lets State attorneys general take legal action against violations, with specific rules about notifying the Commission and how the Commission can intervene in such cases.

The Kids Online Safety Council will be established by the Secretary of Commerce within 180 days of the act's enactment. The council will include a diverse group of experts, parents, youth representatives, and various government officials, all working together to identify risks to minors online, suggest protective measures, guide research, and recommend best practices for transparency and accountability. The council is not subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

This section states that unless specified differently within this part of the bill, it will become effective 18 months after the bill is officially passed into law.

This section explains how the new rules interact with existing laws and regulations. It clarifies that the rules don't override privacy laws, require collecting more personal data, or force age checks, but allow platforms to cooperate with law enforcement or manage legal claims. It also outlines compliance requirements for video streaming services, ensuring they have features to protect minors and manage content appropriately.

In this section, several important terms are defined, including the algorithmic ranking system, which sorts content on online platforms using computer processes like artificial intelligence; connected devices that can access the internet and analyze data; and user-specific data, which is personal information unique to each user or device. Detailed definitions also differentiate between opaque algorithms that use user data given without express consent, and input-transparent algorithms that require user approval for data usage. Additionally, it distinguishes between approximate and precise geolocation information based on the accuracy of the location data collected.

Under this bill, it will be illegal for online platforms to use complex algorithms without giving clear notices to users about how these algorithms work and allowing them to switch to simpler ones. The Federal Trade Commission will enforce these rules, and platforms cannot charge users differently based on their choice of algorithm.

The section explains that this federal law will take precedence over state laws, rules, or regulations only if they are in conflict with it. However, it also clarifies that states are free to pass their own laws to give minors more protection than this federal law does.

If any part of the title or its amendments is found to be unenforceable or invalid, the rest of the title and its amendments will remain in effect and unchanged.

The section amends the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act to better protect the privacy of children and teens online by expanding definitions, establishing rules for collecting, using, and sharing personal information, and requiring operators to obtain verifiable consent from parents or teens. It sets limits on how long operators can keep personal information, outlines the conditions for storing data outside the U.S., and clarifies rules for educational settings and safe harbor provisions.

The section requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to submit two types of reports to Congress: one on how mobile and online applications for children comply with certain laws and regulations, and another on enforcement actions and investigations related to children's online privacy law, including complaints and suggestions for stronger protections. The first report is due three years after the act's enactment, and the second is an annual report starting one year after enactment.

The section requires the Comptroller General to conduct a study on the privacy concerns for teens using financial technology products, identify the types of products used, the privacy risks involved, and if current laws protect teen privacy adequately. The results and recommendations for further legislation or administrative actions are to be reported to Congress within a year.

If any part of this title or its amendments is found to be unenforceable or invalid, the rest of the title and its amendments will still remain effective.

In this section, changes are made to the United States Code regarding the submission and assessment of agency reports to Congress. It outlines the responsibilities of agency leaders to identify unnecessary recurring reports, consult with other agencies, and provide recommendations to Congress about potentially outdated or duplicative reports, with the goal of improving efficiency and reducing redundant reporting.