Business Blog
FTC is taking another look at COPPA and kids’ online privacy – and we want your insights
The FTC announced proposed revisions to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule on December 20, 2023. The online portal to file public comments is now open and the FTC welcomes your feedback by the March 11, 2024, deadline.
You’ll want to read the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to see what’s on the table. Some of the suggested updates address changes in technology, such as limiting push notifications to kids. Others aim to clarify and streamline the COPPA Rule and strengthen data security. And still others are designed to strengthen how children’s personal information is protected online with an aim to ensure that parents – not companies – are in charge. For example, the proposal would require targeted advertising to kids to be off by default.
It's easy to let your voice be heard. Consider the questions asked in the Notice, read the proposed revisions to the COPPA Rule, and file a comment online through Regulations.gov. Simply click the SUBMIT A FORMAL COMMENT button and start typing.
Don’t be put off by the word “formal.” Of course, we welcome submissions from researchers, academics, and businesses of any size, but comments don’t need to have footnotes or charts ‘n’ graphs. A critically important part of the public comment process is to listen to the practical perspectives of parents who deal with COPPA regularly. Let us know where you stand on the FTC’s proposal to strengthen the COPPA Rule.
File your public comment by March 11, 2024.
It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.
The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.
We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.