Congress Wants to Keep Kids Safe Online – Concerned Women for America

Congress has taken an important first step toward making the Internet safer for kids by passing the Kids Online Safety Act.

The bill was first introduced in 2022 by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) in response to multiple congressional hearings on online child exploitation. Since then, the bipartisan outcry against this particular epidemic has only grown louder. Earlier this year, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, along with representatives from X, TikTok, and Discord, reappeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to defend their companies’ practices regarding child safety on their platforms. The questioning from senators became so intense that Zuckerberg was forced to apologize for the harm done to children on Meta’s platforms.

Despite the overwhelming consensus that the online community needs to be made safer for children, Congress has yet to pass meaningful legislation on the issue. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 was the last law signed into law addressing this issue — an outdated law that predates the age of social media. A major reason that nothing has been done since then is that lawmakers are unsure how to make social media more kid-friendly without infringing on First Amendment protections. The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) gained broad traction because, rather than policing social media content or intrusively meddling in the business of private companies, the bill’s goal is simply to make these platforms more kid-friendly.

The primary purpose of KOSA is to govern how big tech companies deliver content to minors. One of the bill’s provisions would establish a “duty of care,” requiring all covered companies to “exercise reasonable care” in creating and implementing any design or feature to prevent various forms of harm, including child sexual exploitation and abuse. That means limiting the ability of unknown adults to communicate with minors through the app.

KOSA would also prevent companies from adopting algorithmic designs or other modes that entice kids to spend too much time on the apps, such as infinite scrolling and auto-playing videos. As Senator Blumenthal noted, “Record levels of hopelessness and despair — a national crisis in teen mental health — have been fueled by black box algorithms that result in eating disorders, bullying, suicidal thoughts and more. Kids and parents want to take back control of their online lives.” The less time kids spend on these apps, the better off they’ll be.

Further, KOSA would require companies to implement many features, enabled by default, to protect minors, including limited public access to personal data. Under the law, companies would be required to implement tools that give parents control over their child’s social media accounts, allowing them to adjust privacy settings, limit purchases, and easily report harmful content. While many companies currently have reporting tools, they lack transparency about where those reports go and how they’re handled—or if they’re investigated at all. KOSA would ensure that these tools are actually effective.

While the bill enjoys broad support from both sides of the aisle, the loudest objections have come from the big tech companies themselves and the LGBTQ community. While several companies, including Facebook, have voiced support for strengthening protections, they say they disagree with the way KOSA does so. While those arguments may be valid, these companies have thus far shown themselves unwilling to address the problem themselves, so Congress must step in. On the latter point, they argue that KOSA could limit a child’s ability to access content about their “identity” online — a compelling reason for those opposed to gender ideology to support the bill.

The bill passed the Senate by an overwhelming 91-3 vote. It is unclear whether the House will pass it, but the overwhelming majority of votes gives the bill momentum. While there is still much work to be done when it comes to protecting vulnerable children from online exploitation, KOSA is an important first step that will hopefully pave the way for more in the future.