this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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This is not true. From an adtech perspective, child user data is virtually worthless. Because COPPA exists, most demand platforms (including those outside COPPA jurisdiction) simply will not issue any bid for that type of traffic. To try to bypass this, sketchy publisher groups will try to issue a regs.coppa=0 in their bid requests with the justification of "we couldn't determine that info". COPPA is largely self-reporting based if you didn't know.
Outside of that, what you are describing is called the Chilling Effect. It is were legitimate activities on a site are restricted out of fear that they may break a vaguely worded law. This is a genuine concern and one that federated services had when Lemmy first started to take off. Instance owners were faced with the possibility that without CSAM detection processes in place that they could be held liable for that material being present on their instance.
I don't think that COPPA says that companies can't collect data on kids l at all. Just that there are limitations on how they can use that data while the kids are still kids. When the kids grow up then the previously collected data is fair game. (Why the do you think Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, etc. are so willing to invest in "for Kids" products?)
And, we'll probably disagree on this, but I generally think that people and companies that provide a service are responsible for that service. That includes the Boy Scouts, the Catholic Church, and Lemmy hosts. And everyone in between. (Including parents, but the responsibility is no only on them alone.)
We aren't talking about publishing side groups like Youtube, FB, etc. We're talking about advertisers like DV360 or Tradedesk (the largest ad firms). COPPA has vastly decreased value on the demand side. And user data isn't stored for 20+ years expecting to capitalize on it. After several weeks that data becomes stale and useless. In the 11 years I've worked in adtech engineering, I can confirm that how you think this works vs how this actually works is not the same thing.
And what you are talking about for responsibility is part of the Section 230 amendments being made to force liability on hosts for the "sake of the children". These amendments have nothing to do with children though. They have to do with opening hosts up to liability in defamation suits raised against them to force silence of political critics (this has been WELL documented).
What should Lemmy hosts have to do, out of interest?