[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7534 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7534

   To amend the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 to 
       improve protections for children, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 5, 2024

 Mr. Auchincloss introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee 
    on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 to 
       improve protections for children, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Verifying Kids' Online Privacy 
Act''.

SEC. 2. CHILDREN'S ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION.

    (a) Child Defined.--Section 1302(1) of the Children's Online 
Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6501(1)) is amended by 
striking ``age of 13'' and inserting ``age of 16''.
    (b) Verification of Age Required.--Section 1303(b) of the 
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6502(b)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) Verification of age required.--The regulations 
        shall--
                    ``(A) require each operator to verify the age of 
                each individual accessing the website or online service 
                of such operator to determine whether such individual 
                is a child; and
                    ``(B) with respect to information collected from an 
                individual to verify the age of such individual, 
                prohibit each operator--
                            ``(i) from selling or transferring such 
                        information or otherwise making use of such 
                        information for a purpose other than age 
                        verification; and
                            ``(ii) from further using or maintaining in 
                        retrievable form such information with respect 
                        to such individual on and after the date that 
                        is 30 days after the date on which an account 
                        or similar registration, of such individual and 
                        associated with such information, is closed or 
                        otherwise terminated.''.
    (c) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Federal Trade Commission shall promulgate 
regulations to implement the amendments made by subsections (a) and 
(b), including regulations that, as necessary--
            (1) revise the regulations promulgated under section 
        1303(b) of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 
        (15 U.S.C. 6502(b));
            (2) require the revision of, or adoption of new, guidelines 
        approved pursuant to section 1304 of the Children's Online 
        Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6503) and establish a 
        process under which an operator may satisfy requirements 
        relating to age verification by following a set of self-
        regulatory guidelines approved under such section; and
            (3) take other actions the Commission determines necessary 
        to implement the amendments.
    (d) Applicability.--The amendments made by subsections (a) and 
(b)--
            (1) shall apply to activities occurring on and after the 
        date on which the regulations promulgated under subsection (c) 
        take effect; and
            (2) do not apply with respect to an individual accessing a 
        website or online service of an operator if such individual 
        established an account or similar registration with respect to 
        such website or online service before the date on which the 
        regulations promulgated under subsection (c) take effect.
    (e) Children's Online Safety Fund.--
            (1) Establishment.--There is established in the Treasury of 
        the United States a fund to be known as the ``Children's Online 
        Safety Fund'' (in this subsection referred to as the ``Fund'').
            (2) Deposits.--On and after the date of the enactment of 
        this Act, civil penalty amounts obtained by a Federal entity 
        under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 
        U.S.C. 6501 et seq.) shall be deposited into the Fund.
            (3) Use of fund.--
                    (A) Availability to secretary of education for 
                grants.--Amounts in the Fund shall be available, 
                without further appropriation, to the Secretary of 
                Education to carry out a program under which the 
                Secretary awards grants to local educational agencies 
                to support digital literacy programming for children 
                with respect to online safety.
                    (B) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the 
                date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
                Education shall promulgate regulations necessary to 
                carry out the grant program described in subparagraph 
                (A), which shall include--
                            (i) standards for the digital literacy 
                        programming to be supported with grant funds; 
                        and
                            (ii) in consultation with the Secretary of 
                        Health and Human Services, requirements that 
                        such programming prioritize education on mental 
                        health and appropriate social media use.
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