Child Advocate Sees Dramatic Preemption Expansion in Latest COPPA Bill
The House’s recently introduced version of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) would “dramatically” expand federal preemption and potentially nullify a wide range of state privacy and safety laws, Public Interest Privacy Center President Amelia Vance said in a post Tuesday (see 2511250080).
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Vance flagged HR-6291, which Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., introduced with Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla. Walberg previously introduced a bipartisan version of COPPA 2.0 with Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla. Castor has since dropped her sponsorship of COPPA 2.0 and the Kids Online Safety Act.
COPPA currently only preempts state rules that are “inconsistent” with the statute, leaving room for states to “enact stronger protections for children's and teens' data and online safety,” said Vance. “The revised preemption clause would change that -- it would bar any state law, rule, regulation, requirement, or standard ‘relating to’ COPPA's provisions. That's an extremely broad trigger, one that could potentially invalidate everything from state child privacy statutes to age-verification requirements, child-safety mandates to platform accountability measures, and state student privacy laws.”