BRING IT HOME

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) are pushing digital platforms to apply the same protections for teens and young children in the U.S. as in the United Kingdom, while Congress lags on updating its rules.

The two Democratic lawmakers sent letters to the executives of Amazon, Facebook, Google, Snapchat, TikTok and Twitter on Wednesday asking them to extend any privacy protections they provide under the United Kingdom’s Age Appropriate Design Code (AADC) to American users.

“Today, children and teens encounter constant threats to their privacy online,” the letters shared with The Hill read.

“It is imperative that Congress acts with urgency to enact a strong privacy law for children and teens in the 21st century,” they continue. “As we work towards that goal, we urge you to extend to American children and teens any privacy enhancements that you implement to comply with the AADC.”

The AADC requires all commercial online services that are likely to be used by minors — such as a social media platform or search engine — to meet a set of 15 standards that include data minimization, defaulting against collecting geolocation data and barring the use of “nudge” techniques to encourage data sharing.

Companies are being asked to conform with the code in the U.K. starting Sept. 2, a year after it came into force.