• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, June 27, 2024

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday morning abruptly cancelled a scheduled markup of the controversial American Privacy Rights Act.

The surprise move came after days of criticism by a broad array of groups -- ranging from ad industry organizations that said the measure would “eviscerate” advertising to civil rights groups that argued the bill wouldn't adequately protect people from discrimination.

It's not clear whether there is path forward for the bill, which was unveiled as a discussion draft in April and significantly revised in May and again last week.

The most recent version of the proposed law would prohibit businesses from targeting ads to consumers based on their activity across unaffiliated sites and apps.

That restriction “would eviscerate the modern advertising industry, devastate small and mid-sized businesses that depend on advertising to reach customers, force families to pay huge amounts of money for popular ad-supported digital services they use now for free or low cost, and drag down our nation’s economic growth and innovation for decades to come,” leaders of the Association of National Advertisers and American Association of Advertising Agencies said earlier this week in a letter to lawmakers.

More than 50 organizations separately opposed the current version of the bill due to the removal of civil rights provisions that were in earlier versions.

The original discussion draft had a section that would have prohibited businesses from collecting or harnessing personal data in ways that discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, or disability. The most recent version lacked that provision.

The Energy and Commerce committee on Thursday also cancelled a scheduled markup of the Kids Online Safety Act, which would regulate how social media platforms display material to minors under 17.

That measure aims to tackle potential harms associated with social media use, such as depression, eating disorders, and online bullying. The bill would require large tech platforms to use “reasonable care” to avoid harming minors via design features such as notifications, automatic playing of videos, personalized recommendations and appearance-altering filters.

Some youth advocates support the proposed law, arguing that it will force tech platforms to protect teens from content that could encourage drug use, self-harm or suicide.

But the bill drew opposition from civil liberties groups, who say it's unconstitutional to restrict publishers' ability to recommend content.