Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

30. Federal Trade Commission · Notable · Needs Congress

Extend COPPA past age 13 and adopt a constructive knowledge standard

Attempted

875 30. Federal Trade Commission

“COPPA fails because it (1) only protects children under the age of 13, leaving older teenagers completely unprotected and (2) only prohibits platforms from collecting information from a child using “actual knowledge” rather than abiding by the “constructive knowledge” standard, which prohibits collecting information from a user reasonably assumed to be underage.”

What has happened

  1. Attempted

    The Senate passed S. 836, the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act, by unanimous consent. The bill does both things the Quote asks: it adds a "teen" category covering anyone who has turned 13 and is under 17, and it strikes "actual knowledge" and inserts "actual knowledge or knowledge fairly implied on the basis of objective circumstances" — the constructive-knowledge standard. It was received in the House on 2026-03-16 and held at the desk; the House companion, H.R. 6291, was forwarded by subcommittee on 2025-12-11 and has gone no further. Passage by one chamber is `attempted` under the Requires-Congress ladder.

  2. Attempted

    By executive action the Commission issued a COPPA enforcement policy statement saying it will not sue operators of general-audience and mixed-audience services that collect personal information for the sole purpose of determining a user's age, subject to conditions. It is aimed at the same problem the Quote names — COPPA's actual-knowledge trigger leaves operators unsure how old their users are — but it removes a barrier to age verification rather than changing the statutory age threshold or the knowledge standard, neither of which the Commission can change.

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

  • Bill history read from govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/s/BILLSTATUS-119s836.xml (no key needed, playbook §1’s keyless fallback): introduced 2025-03-04, reported by Senator Cruz with amendments 2026-01-27 (S. Rept. 119-99), passed Senate by unanimous consent 2026-03-05, received in the House and held at the desk 2026-03-16. The engrossed text was read on govinfo and both operative changes confirmed by string search.
  • Other kids-online bills in the 119th, none of which does what this Quote asks: Kids Online Safety Act (S. 1748, ordered reported 2026-08-05; H.R. 6484), Kids Off Social Media Act (S. 278, on the Senate calendar), App Store Accountability Act (S. 1586, H.R. 3149).
Action
expand
Object
Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
ID
2244