On March 6, 2026, the U.S. Senate passed COPPA 2.0 — the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act — by unanimous consent, sponsored by Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.). The bill updates the original 1998 children's privacy law by extending protections to minors under 17 (up from the current under-13 threshold), prohibiting targeted advertising directed at children and teens, requiring explicit consent from users aged 13-16 before collecting personal information, and introducing an "eraser button" allowing users to delete their personal data.

Why It Matters

For the sex tech and adult content industry, KOSA's age verification mandate for sexual content would codify at the federal level what states like Louisiana, Texas, and Virginia have already enacted — but with nationwide reach and preemption implications. The bill's requirement that platforms "prevent harms" and allow algorithmic opt-outs could reshape how adult content surfaces in recommendation feeds across mainstream platforms. The bipartisan momentum in both chambers suggests some version of children's online safety legislation will reach the President's desk in 2026 — the question is whether the final bill includes the strong duty-of-care standard that privacy advocates want or the industry-friendlier House approach.

On the same day, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a separate 12-bill package by a 28-24 vote that includes a revised version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), branded as the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act. The House version requires platforms to establish parental controls, mandates age verification to access sexual content online, allows minors to opt out of recommendation algorithms, limits stranger contact with minors, and restricts features that cause compulsive use. It creates a tiered system with different standards for smaller versus larger platforms.

The two chambers remain divided on key provisions, however. Democrats oppose the House version's lack of a comprehensive "duty of care" standard that would hold platforms affirmatively responsible for preventing harm. They also argue the House bill's knowledge standard allows companies to claim ignorance about child users, and that broad federal preemption would undermine stronger state-level protections already in force. Additional concerns center on parental controls potentially enabling abuse in unsupportive households.

Sources

Update — 2026-03-22

Initial entry — story first created.