Senator Blackburn says there is an ‘urgent need’ to pass a child online safety bill amid House roadblock

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) posted a video Monday emphasizing the “urgent need” to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which aims to improve children’s digital safety and privacy.

In the two-and-a-half-minute video, titled “Why We Need to Pass the Kids Online Safety Act,” Blackburn spoke to a Tennessee woman whose 17-year-old son, Vaugh-Thomas, took a pill laced with fentanyl that he may have purchased on Snapchat.

Thomas suffered fentanyl poisoning and died after taking what his mother called “fake Xanax.”

“When Vaughn-Thomas didn’t wake up to his alarm, we found him,” the mother, Kathy, told Blackburn. “He took what he thought was a Xanax, it was a fake Xanax (laced with fentanyl).”

When Blackburn asked how he got it, Kathy replied that he may have obtained some of it through the social media platform Snapchat.

“One mistake should not have meant the death penalty for Vaughn-Thomas,” Kathy said.

Blackburn, one of the authors of the KOSA bill along with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), said the bill would require social media platforms “to design for safety and have that duty of care.”

The bill would create rules to regulate the types of features that tech and social media companies can offer to minors online. It comes after years of advocacy about the potential risks of social media and its impact on young people’s mental health.

“We’ve found so many kids who are meeting these drug dealers online, and the precursors are coming from China to Mexico, and then the drug cartels are bringing it into the country,” Blackburn said. “Over 100,000 Americans are dying every year.”

KOSA passed the Senate in a 91-3 vote in late July as part of a package that also included the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Action Act, also known as COPPA 2.0.

Although the legislation received overwhelming support in the Senate, it stalled in the House of Representatives due to opposition from leadership.

The House Republican leadership said last month that the legislation cannot be brought forward in its current form, saying it would censor speech and give the Federal Trade Commission new powers.

Pressure is mounting on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to review the legislation before lawmakers leave Washington for a campaign recess that will last until after the November elections.

A group of parents whose children have died or been seriously injured as a result of social media gathered outside the Capitol on Thursday morning to call on the committee to support the bill.

Blackburn and Blumenthal’s offices told The Hill that dozens of parents and youth from various advocacy groups will meet with House offices this week to urge them to adopt KOSA.