Don’t Sell Kids’ Data Act of 2025

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Bill ID: 119/hr/6292
Last Updated: January 6, 2026

Sponsored by

Rep. Pallone, Frank [D-NJ-6]

ID: P000034

Follow the money

The bill

Don’t Sell Kids’ Data Act of 2025

HR. 6292, 119th Congress — read as touching Big Tech Platforms.

The sponsor

Rep. Pallone, Frank [D-NJ-6]

Every bill has someone who introduced it. That name is where the paper trail starts.

The money

$82,625 raised

30 itemised contributions to this sponsor, pulled from FEC filings.

Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law

Track this bill's progress through the legislative process

Latest Action

Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by Voice Vote.

December 10, 2025

Introduced

Committee Review

📍 Current Status

Next: The bill moves to the floor for full chamber debate and voting.

🗳️

Floor Action

Passed House

🏛️

Senate Review

🎉

Passed Congress

🖊️

Presidential Action

⚖️

Became Law

📚 How does a bill become a law?

1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.

2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.

3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.

4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.

5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.

6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.

7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!

Bill Summary

Another bill that's about as effective as a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. Let's dissect this mess, shall we?

**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The Don't Sell Kids' Data Act of 2025 is a half-hearted attempt to protect minors from data brokers who collect, use, and sell their personal information without consent. The bill aims to prohibit data brokers from collecting, using, or maintaining the personal data of children and teens.

**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** The bill introduces some minor changes to existing law:

* Data brokers are prohibited from collecting, using, or maintaining personal data of minors. * An exception is made for data collection necessary for compliance with the act. * Data brokers must delete any personal data of minors upon request. * The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will enforce this act.

**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** The usual suspects are involved:

* Data brokers, who will have to pretend to care about children's privacy. * Minors and their parents, who might feel a false sense of security thinking their data is protected. * Lobbyists from the tech industry, who will try to water down the bill or find loopholes.

**Potential Impact & Implications:** This bill is a joke. It's like trying to stop a tsunami with a broken sandcastle. The real issue is that data brokers are just symptoms of a larger disease – our addiction to surveillance capitalism. This bill doesn't address the root cause, and its provisions are too weak to make a significant impact.

The FTC will be responsible for enforcing this act, but we all know how effective they've been in regulating tech giants (hint: not very). The bill also relies on minors or their parents to request deletion of personal data, which is unrealistic. How many 12-year-olds do you think will bother to submit a request?

The real winners here are the data brokers and tech companies that will continue to exploit loopholes and find ways to collect and sell personal data. They'll just rebrand themselves as "compliance experts" and charge more for their services.

In conclusion, this bill is a token effort to appease the masses while doing nothing to address the real issue. It's like putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound – it might look pretty, but it won't stop the bleeding.

**Diagnosis:** The patient (Congress) has a severe case of "Legislative Theater-itis," characterized by grandstanding and empty promises. The symptoms include:

* A lack of understanding of the underlying issue (surveillance capitalism). * A reliance on weak provisions that won't make a significant impact. * An overemphasis on optics rather than actual change.

Treatment: A strong dose of reality, followed by a healthy dose of skepticism towards any bill that claims to "protect" our data.

Related Topics

Cybersecurity & Data Privacy
Generated using Llama 3.1 70B (Dr. Haus personality)

💰 Campaign Finance Network

Rep. Pallone, Frank [D-NJ-6]

Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle

Total Contributions
$82,625
23 donors
PACs
$0
Organizations
$13,225
Committees
$0
Individuals
$69,400

No PAC contributions found

1
PUYALLUP TRIBE OF INDIANS
3 transactions
$6,600
2
SHAKOPEE MDEWAKANTON SIOUX COMMUNITY
2 transactions
$3,300
3
CHOCTAW NATION OF OKLAHOMA
2 transactions
$1,825
4
HOLMDEL FUNERAL HOME
1 transaction
$500
5
MISSISSIPPI BAND OF CHOCTAW INDIANS
1 transaction
$500
6
HIGHLANDS DEMOCRATIC CLUB
1 transaction
$500

No committee contributions found

1
MARINO, ROBERT
3 transactions
$13,300
2
GOODSTEIN, DEBBIE
2 transactions
$6,600
3
HEALEY, PATRICK J.
1 transaction
$3,300
4
SINGH, JASPREET
1 transaction
$3,300
5
O'KELLEY, BRAD
1 transaction
$3,300
6
BOYADJIAN, NISHAN
1 transaction
$3,300
7
ARONSON, LAUREN
1 transaction
$3,300
8
OBERHELMAN, DIANE
1 transaction
$3,300
9
GATES, WILLIAM H. III
1 transaction
$3,300
10
BRENNER, DEAN R.
1 transaction
$3,300
11
HEREDIA, GEOFF
1 transaction
$3,300
12
GRAHAM, JOHN F X
1 transaction
$3,300
13
TSAI, TENNY
1 transaction
$3,300
14
PARKER, FAITH
1 transaction
$3,300
15
PETKANICS, DONNA
1 transaction
$3,300
16
ALEXANDER, STACEY
1 transaction
$3,300
17
ELMENDORF, STEVEN
1 transaction
$3,300

Donor Network - Rep. Pallone, Frank [D-NJ-6]

PACs
Organizations
Individuals
Politicians

Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.

Loading...

Showing 61 nodes and 30 connections (79 secondary connections hidden)

Total contributions: $82,625

Top Donors - Rep. Pallone, Frank [D-NJ-6]

Showing top 23 donors by contribution amount

6 Orgs17 Individuals

Industry Impact

Which industries are materially affected by specific provisions in this bill. 5 harmed.

  • Big Tech Platformsconfidence 0.90

    Section 2(a)(1)(A)-(B) prohibits data brokers from collecting, using, maintaining, selling, licensing, renting, trading, transferring, releasing, disclosing, providing access to, or otherwise making available personal data of minors. This directly impacts big tech platforms that rely on data brokerage for targeted advertising and user profiling, imposing compliance costs and restricting data practices.

  • Telecommunicationsconfidence 0.85

    Section 2(a)(1)(A)-(B) applies to data brokers, which includes telecom companies that collect and sell user data (e.g., location, browsing) to third parties. The ban on such activities for minors forces telecoms to alter data practices, implement deletion mechanisms, and face enforcement actions, imposing operational and compliance costs.

  • Crypto & Fintechconfidence 0.80

    Section 2(a)(1)(A)-(B) covers data brokers, which includes fintech and crypto firms that aggregate and sell user financial and behavioral data. The prohibition on handling minors' data requires these firms to build age-gating, deletion systems, and monitoring, increasing compliance burdens and limiting data monetization.

  • Section 2(a)(1)(A)-(B) applies to data brokers, which includes e-commerce platforms that track and sell user behavior data. The ban on collecting/maintaining minors' personal data forces these companies to implement age verification, data deletion workflows, and cease certain analytics, imposing direct compliance costs.

  • Section 2(a)(1)(A)-(B) applies to data brokers, which includes AI and cloud providers that train models on or sell access to user data. The restriction on using minors' data limits data availability for model training and imposes deletion obligations, increasing compliance costs and potentially reducing model accuracy or service offerings.

Who funds the sponsor on these industries

For each industry this bill affects, here's what the sponsor (Rep. Pallone, Frank [D-NJ-6])received from donors associated with that industry during the 2022–present cycles. Donations are not proof of intent — they are a record of who funds the people writing the law.

Industries this bill HARMS

  • from 14 contributions
    • ERGEN, CANTEY M.$6,600
    • ERGEN, CHARLES W.$6,600
    • GREATREX, MARK$2,000
    • SHRUM, JESSICA$2,000
    • REINSDORF, ANDREW$1,000
  • from 7 contributions
    • WALKER, KENT$3,300
    • CHALFANT, JAMES$3,300
    • JACKSON, LISA$1,000
    • MARKS, ALEXIS$500
    • POWDERLY, TIMOTHY$500
  • from 1 contribution
    • FOSTER, HEATHER$500

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