{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://trahan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2261", "Trahan, Markey and Castor Urge FTC to Use Authority to Make Tech Companies Abide by New Platform Policies", "2021-10-08", "2021", "2021-10", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Lori Trahan", "T000482", "trahan.house.gov", "trahan", "https://trahan.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, in response to a new United Kingdom children\u2019s privacy law intended to protect young users online, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03), Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), and Congresswoman Kathy Castor (FL-14) sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging the agency to use its full authority \u2014 including its authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act \u2014 to ensure major tech companies comply with their new policies. The Age Appropriate Design Code (AADC) took effect in the U.K. this September and requires online services available to children and teens to meet 15 key children\u2019s privacy standards.\n\n\u201cThe need to protect young people from privacy threats online is more urgent than ever. Since 2015, American children have spent almost five hours each day watching their screens, and children\u2019s and teens\u2019 daily screen time has increased by 50 percent or more during the coronavirus pandemic,\u201d the lawmakers wrote in their letter. \u201cWe therefore encourage you to use every tool at your disposal to vigilantly scrutinize companies\u2019 data practices and ensure that they abide by their public commitments.\u201d\n\nA copy of the letter can be found HERE.\n\nIn response to the AADC, Instagram publicly announced it is \u201cdefaulting young people into private accounts, making it harder for potentially suspicious accounts to find young people, [and] limiting the options advertisers have to reach young people with ads.\u201d Google and its subsidiary YouTube announced they will be \u201ctailoring product experiences for kids and teens\u201d by changing to \u201cprivate\u201d the default video upload setting for teens between the ages of 13 and 17; turning off location history (without the option of turning it back on) for users under 18; and \u201cblock[ing] ad targeting based on the age, gender, or interests of people under 18,\u201d among other changes. Last year \u2014 in a similar vein prior to the enactment of the AADC \u2014 TikTok stated that it had disabled messaging for the accounts of those under the age of 16 and increased parental controls.\n\nThe lawmakers note, \u201cThese policy changes are no substitute for congressional action on children\u2019s privacy, but they are important steps towards making the internet safer for young users.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-06T14:36:19Z", "2026-04-06T15:53:59Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://trahan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2261"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.582285087555647, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}