The Senate Commerce Committee scheduled a Feb. 5 markup for the Kids Off Social Media Act and several other items, Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, announced Wednesday, as expected (see 2501240040).

Palo Alto Networks supports passage of a comprehensive federal privacy law, a senior official at the cybersecurity company said Tuesday.

Congress should pass a federal privacy law, which would benefit startup compliance and the application of AI throughout the economy, industry groups from several sectors wrote the Senate Commerce and House Commerce committees Tuesday.

President Donald Trump’s attempt to remove Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board would “kneecap” a key independent watchdog on government surveillance, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement Wednesday. The White House reportedly told the PCLOB’s three Democratic members -- Chair Sharon Bradford Franklin, Ed Felten and Travis LeBlanc -- to resign or be fired by Thursday.

Bipartisan, bicameral legislation filed Tuesday seeks a 270-day delay for ByteDance’s Jan. 19 deadline to divest TikTok (see 2501100058). Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and Cory Booker, D-N.J., along with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced the Extend the TikTok Deadline Act. “The TikTok ban was rushed through without sufficient consideration of the profound consequences it would have on the 170 million Americans who use the platform,” said Markey. The bill “is a straightforward, one-sentence bill designed to give Congress the time needed to fully assess the implications of this ban.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is among the seven Democrats joining the House Commerce Committee in 2025, the committee minority announced Thursday. Reps. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts; Troy Carter of Louisiana; Rob Menendez of New Jersey; Kevin Mullin of California; Greg Landsman of Ohio; and Jennifer McClellan of Virginia; are also joining.