Senate advances bills that boost privacy and safety for kids

The legislation would force tech companies to do more to prevent harm. Subscribe to get the "Make Me Smart" newsletter every Friday!

The News Fix

Boosting privacy and safety for kids and teens. Senators moved a pair of bills forward this week— the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act 2.0 — that would give privacy standards an update for the 21st century. 

Taking “reasonable steps” to prevent harm. If passed, the laws would force tech companies to restrict content for age-restricted products like alcohol and tobacco and censor content that promotes harmful behaviors like violence, suicide and disordered eating.

The bills would also require platforms to add optional parental controls, eliminate addictive features like video autoplay and ban targeted advertising for users ages 17 and under.

Safety vs. speech. Civil liberties groups that oppose the bills have said the proposed definitions of harm are too broad and therefore could be politicized.

Challenges remain. While Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expects to easily pass the bills in the Senate, the House of Representatives hasn’t shown a similar sense of urgency. Republicans voted Thursday to start the August recess a week early after failing to push forward several key spending bills.

Smart in a Shot

The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris kick off today, with 329 medal events planned for 32 different sports, including the debut of breaking and the return of sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing. The Paris organizers said they chose these sports because they’re easy for beginners to pick up and popular with young, social media-savvy fans.

Maintaining relevance is crucial for the International Olympic Committee to justify the more than $3 billion it’s charging media companies to broadcast and stream the games. But many of the criteria that the IOC uses to select new events relate to much more practical concerns. 

Games organizers dropped polo as an Olympic sport in the ’30s because it was too expensive to host  — each team needs at least 25 polo ponies and matches are played on pitches about nine times bigger than a football field.

The host city of the Games also gets to weigh in on which sports get added, often at the expense of others that are less popular in its country. That helps explain why baseball and softball won’t compete in 2024, but will return for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Whether karate returns to future games is less clear.(This writer argues that the return of the Olympic tug of war would be highly entertaining.)

The Numbers

For McDonald’s, it’s the summer of “value.” The fast food chain is extending their new value meal deal into August, and other chains are adding their own to win back cost-conscious consumers. Let’s do the numbers.

100%

When FinanceBuzz reviewed 10 popular items at McDonald’s, it found average prices doubled over the last decade. In that same period, overall inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, was 31%. (Prices at McDonald’s vary greatly depending on location, a limitation FinanceBuzz disclosed in its methodology.)

$5

The $5 value meal offer was only supposed to last until the end of July, but most McDonald’s in the U.S. will keep offering it for the rest of summer. Business Insider estimated that ordering all the items included in the meal on their own would cost $10.26 before tax.

-2.2%

Offering value doesn’t always lead to growth. When McDonald’s launched its $1, $2, $3 Dollar Menu in 2018, U.S. traffic still declined 2.2% that year. Fast food restaurants face stiffer competition these days from fast casual restaurants like Chipotle and Sweetgreen.

80%

Fast food also has a perception problem, as 80% of people now consider it a luxury.

$20

The cost of fast food has outpaced inflation, but so have wages. California raised the minimum wage for fast food chain employees from $16 per hour to $20 per hour in April. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the move hasn’t reduced the number of jobs available, but some franchise owners told the Associated Press they’ve cut hours to control costs.

None of us is as smart as all of us

Tell us what’s making you smarter at smarter@marketplace.org. We’d love to include your recommendation in a future newsletter.

Separating the sexes

The Olympic Games in Paris are close to reaching gender parity, but debates persist over how biological differences can or should separate athletes.

Newsletter writer Ellen Rolfes (hi!) is listening to “Tested,” a special series from NPR’s “Embedded” podcast and the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, which delves into historical and ongoing debates over who qualifies for women’s sports. 

Seeking gamers 

Credit card companies are leveling up, offering gamers credit card rewards to use in their favorite video games, like in-game perks and virtual currencies. Producer Courtney Bergsieker recommends a Wall Street Journal article about how players in the credit card industry are courting millennial and Gen X players as their next customers.

Living in a post-newspaper world

Richmond, California, once had multiple newspapers. Now it has none. In their place is a new journalism startup funded by petroleum giant Chevron, which operates a massive refinery in the city. Producer Marissa Cabrera is reading a Los Angeles Times story about how communities are navigating civic life without a traditional newspaper.