Legislation that would require parental consent for social media platforms to process data for users under 16 advanced out of a House panel on Tuesday, after it was amended to remove a proposed ban on social media accounts for kids.
The bill, as amended, won approval by voice vote in the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade despite opposition from subcommittee Democrats.
The bill would also allow parents to revoke consent, as well as requiring new consent if the platform makes big design changes.
Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., sponsored the data consent bill, dubbed the Governing Underage Access and Requiring Data Consent In All Networks or GUARDIAN Act, and the substitute amendment that took out the under-16 ban. She said that she meant the amended bill to close “loopholes” in House-passed social media legislation.
“It puts parents in charge,” Houchin said. “No platform may process a child’s personal data without a parent’s consent, and parents can take that consent back at any time … as easily as they gave it, with the account closed and the data deleted.”
