Children and Media

Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) released the following statement after Facebook provided responses to questions posed by Sen Markey in the wake of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica privacy breach. In his questions, Sen Markey asked Facebook to commit to not include advertising in children’s offerings and to commit to not share children’s information for targeted advertisements, once young users turn 13.

Until recently, Facebook had dominated the social media landscape among America’s youth – but it is no longer the most popular online platform among teens, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Today, roughly half (51%) of US teens ages 13 to 17 say they use Facebook, notably lower than the shares who use YouTube, Instagram or Snapchat. 

Sens Tom Udall (D-NM) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) introduced a bill to put wireless internet on school buses in order to help students without broadband access at home get online to study and do homework.

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep Joe Barton (R-TX), along with Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep Bobby L. Rush (D-IL) reintroduced the “Do Not Track Kids Act”, comprehensive children’s online privacy legislation. The legislation updates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by expanding and enhancing rules for the collection, use and disclosure of the personal information of children 15 years and younger.

Led by children's TV legislation author Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) a group of Democratic senators  have called on the Federal Communications Commission to leave its kids TV mandates in place. "Kid Vid’ rules remain important today, especially for the many underserved families who rely on free broadcast stations for educational content,” they wrote. “Many families cannot access or afford the broadband speeds necessary for streaming online video and have trouble paying for monthly pay-TV subscription services," the senators wrote.

The Center for Digital Democracy and Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood asked the Federal Trade Commission to not modify the Entertainment Software Rating Board's FTC-approved self-regulatory guidelines for compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act's (COPPA) safe harbor as ESRB has asked, at least not without some modifications to those modifications. The ESRB administers the video game rating system and operates a safe harbor program for gaming compliance with online and mobile privacy protections. The groups argued that the changes would allow the ESRB to

Under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, online services touted as ways to keep kids connected need to comply with key parental notice and consent provisions of COPPA – especially when they’re collecting children’s geolocation. That’s the message of two warning letters just sent by Federal Trade Commission staff. But the letters send another important message about the reach of COPPA.

The cable networks for children, in decline for years, are now in a free fall. This season’s ratings for the 2-to-11 set are shaping up to be the worst yet. And few in the industry predict a turnaround. The implications are enormous for giants like Viacom and Walt Disney. Viewership of the three most-popular networks for the very young — Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel and the Cartoon Network — is down more than 20 percent this season from year earlier, according to data from Nielsen.

All 2.2 billion people who use Facebook will soon see changes to their privacy settings, in response to a sweeping new privacy law in Europe — but American users won't see exactly the same thing as their European counterparts.