Outlook for Big Tech Bills Dims as Omnibus Excludes Key Measures

Lawmakers rushing to shore up online privacy protections for kids — once seen as the most widely supported proposal to rein in big tech — are on the verge of defeat after their bills were excluded from the year-end spending deal released early Tuesday.

The 117th Congress brought some momentum for online privacy protections with the advancement of a bipartisan, comprehensive measure as well as two narrower bills focused on children. However, no provisions from any of the bills made it into a government spending package seen as one of the last shots to enact the measures.

“It is extremely ...