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After 2 years, child online safety bill passes in Senate

by Will Tubbs

Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News

It’s a fitting commentary on the American federal system that it took multiple years for a bill that virtually everyone supported to clear the first of three hurdles on its way to potentially becoming law. However, this week, the Senate sent the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) to the House with a strong signal of bipartisan support. 

Ninety-one senators, which also equals 91 percent of the upper chamber, voted yes on KOSA, a bill sponsored by Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn and Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal. 

“Today, the Senate took a major step forward in protecting children online by passing the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act,” Blackburn said in a statement. “This legislation provides young people and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency they need to protect against online harms.”

Blumenthal added, “This moving and historic day marks a major win for our children. Anyone who doubted whether we’d reach this milestone has never met our advocates – the parents who have lost children and the young people who refused to be treated like Big Tech piggy banks. Through their shared grief, these families worked with grit and grace to be some of the most dedicated and devoted advocates my colleagues have ever seen.”

While some insiders think the bill’s fate in the House is uncertain, there are strong signs that KOSA will become law sooner rather than later, at least as soon as the oft-sluggish Legislative Branch is capable of moving. 

President Joe Biden has already stated that he supports the legislation and issued a statement praising the Senate for passing the bill. Similarly, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was a vocal proponent of KOSA. That should shore up a sizable chunk of House Democrats. 

On the right, few can argue with Blackburn’s conservative credentials and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) has already said that he supports the idea of a bill like KOSA. 

“I am looking forward to reviewing the details of the legislation that comes out of the Senate. Parents should have greater control and the necessary tools to protect their kids online. I am committed to working to find consensus in the House,” Johnson told ABC News. 

Blumenthal has expressed optimism about the bill’s future. 

“We are excited now to work with our champions in the House of Representatives,” Blumenthal posted on X. “I am confident that the support of our large, diverse, determined coalition will get the Kids Online Safety Act across the finish line.”

It’s an equally appropriate reflection of contemporary America that the nine senators who did not vote yes on the bill were as diverse as the 91 who did. 

Importantly, just three senators voted against the bill, Republicans Rand Paul (Ky.) and Mike Lee (Utah) and Democrat Ron Wyden (Ore.). 

Six others – John Fetterman (D-Penn.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), and Mark Warner (D-Va.) – did not vote. 

While motivations vary, not voting at all is often a matter of not being in the room to vote. 

For example, Vance is campaigning to be vice president and away from Washington. Menendez, who is weeks away from resigning over federal convictions, is keeping a noticeably low profile. 

The always perplexing “present” vote – made famous by then-Senator Barack Obama and more recently the cause of criticism for the likes of Tulsi Gabbard and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez – did not factor into KOSA. Every senator who was in the room took a stance. 

WHAT LED TO KOSA?

In short, KOSA is the result of a series of whistleblower complaints and bombshell news reports suggest social media companies are rife with negative impacts on minors. 

Scores of scientific studies suggest children who engage with social media experience more depression and self-image issues, to say nothing of feeling more isolated and being less adept at social interactions. 

The true nexus of KOSA’s creation, though, was the revelation from whistleblowers, first to journalists and then on Capital Hill, that several American-owned social media companies – in particular Meta, but inclusive of others – were aware of the negative impact but, at a minimum, have done little to address the issues and, at worse, sought to profit despite it. 

Concurrently, reports began circulating of ever more children being groomed and abused online and of criminals sharing images and videos of exploited children on any number of social media.

The chaotic virtual scene was more than enough to place pressure on lawmakers in Washington to do something. 

WHAT KOSA WOULD DO?

Blackburn’s website features a more thorough breakdown of the act but, in general, the bill hinges on providing “young people and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency they need to protect against online harms. The bill requires social media platforms to put the well-being of children first by providing an environment that is safe by default.”

More specifically, KOSA is structured around four new laws: 

  • A requirement for social media companies to help minors protect their personal information while simultaneously disabling addictive features and personalized algorithmic recommendations. 
  • An expansion of the control parents have over their children’s accounts as well as forcing companies to maintain a dedicated channel to report harmful behavior.
  • The legal establishment of a “duty for online platforms to prevent and mitigate specific dangers to minors, including promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, and advertisements for certain illegal products (e.g. tobacco and alcohol).”
  • A requirement of social media companies to allow for independent audits and research into how these platforms impact the well-being of kids and teens.

“KOSA will require platforms to enable the strongest privacy settings by default, force platforms to prevent and mitigate specific dangers to minors, provide parents and educators new controls to help protect children, and require independent audits and research into social media companies,” a joint release from Blackburn and Blumenthal reads. 

COMMUNITY SUPPORT STRONG FOR KOSA

KOSA enjoys immense support from well north of 100 nonpartisan, conservative, and progressive groups, a fact Blackburn touted during an appearance on Fox News. 

Donna Rice Hughes – CEO and president of Enough is Enough as well as the Emmy Award-winning Producer of the PBS show “Internet Safety 101: Empowering Parents” – said the matter should be supported by people of all political stripes. 

“Preventing the online exploitation of children is a non-partisan issue that has wide bi-partisan support, as it should,” Hughes said in a statement. “Unfortunately, while every child deserves a protected age of innocence, sadly, the very digital environment where so many vulnerable children seek companionship and compassion, has become the very vehicle that has backfired to cause them harm and in some instances, their very lives.”

Other groups cited KOSA as a means of holding to account social media companies that have been lackadaisical, sometimes even flippant, about the risks of their products to children. 

“Despite the fact that a huge portion of social media consumers are kids, these platforms have been totally exempted from any regulation for child safety whatsoever,” Michael Toscano, executive director of the Institute for Family Studies, said in a statement. “And this is the sad result: America’s kids are suffering from a mental health crisis of epochal proportions, driven by social media platforms that are designed to be highly-addictive.”

CONFLUENCE OF WORRIES DRIVES NAYS

In a strange moment of the dovetailing of fears, all three of KOSA’s senatorial opponents expressed a novel reason for their no vote. 

One Republican worried about the First Amendment while another warned that KOSA could be abused by the left; and the Democrat was concerned that it would be abused in the opposite direction. 

Paul, noted for his libertarian views, cited concerns that the bill would infringe upon the First Amendment. 

“Government mandates and censorship will not protect children online,” Paul posted on X.”The internet may pose new problems but there is an age-old solution to this issue. Free minds & parental guidance are the best means to protect our children online.”

Paul expanded upon this position during a speech on the Senate floor. 

“The bill they’ve written promises to be Pandora’s box of unintended consequences,” Paul said “It is perhaps understandable that those who sit in this body might seek a government solution to protecting children from any harms that may result in spending too much time on the internet. But before we impose a drastic first-of-its-kind legal duty on online platforms, we should ensure that the positive aspects of the internet are preserved. That means we have to ensure that the First Amendment rights are protected.”

Wyden, who issued a statement, was equally skeptical about the bill’s ability to protect children without hampering free speech. Unlike Paul, though, Wyden opposed the bill primarily because it was a threat to both abortion and LGBT advocacy. 

“Unfortunately, KOSA’s improvements, while constructive, remain insufficient,” Wyden said. “I fear this bill could be used to sue services that offer privacy-enhancing technologies like encryption or anonymity features that are essential to young people’s ability to communicate securely and privately without being spied on by predators online. I also take seriously concerns voiced by the American Civil Liberties Union, Fight for the Future, and LGBTQ+ teens and advocates that a future MAGA administration could still use this bill to pressure companies to censor gay, trans and reproductive health information.”

Lee’s position was a unique one since he favors the general idea behind KOSA but opposed it because he felt it did not go far enough. 

“KOSA ignores the grievous damage against children by online pornographers, through both viewing and exploitation,” Lee wrote in a lengthy post on X. Instead, this legislation empowers the FTC to censor any content it deems to cause “harm,” “anxiety,” or “depression,” in a way that could (and most likely would) be used to censor the expression of political, religious, and other viewpoints disfavored by the FTC.”

KOSA AUTHORS SEEK TO DISPEL FEARS

Wyden’s fears of anti-LGBT biases are perhaps overstated. The American Psychological Association, long held as an ally and advocate of LGBT causes, has been a vocal supporter of KOSA.

“Psychological science continues to provide evidence that social media platforms are sometimes associated with harm to young people,” Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, CEO of the American Psychological Association, said in a statement. “We are heartened by the attention given to this issue by the White House and a growing bipartisan group of members of Congress. The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act represents an important step toward mitigating that harm and holding the platforms accountable for these impacts. It is time for Congress to pass this legislation.”

Over on Blackburn’s website, the bill’s chief backers argue that KOSA does not present the threats to freedom of speech that its detractors suggest.

“The Kids Online Safety Act would not censor, block, or remove any content from the internet,” a section labeled “Fact vs. Fiction” reads. “[KOSA} targets the harms that online platforms cause through their own product and business decisions – like how they design their products and applications to keep kids online for as long as possible, train their algorithms to exploit vulnerabilities, and target children with advertising.”

Much had been made about the “duty of care” provision in KOSA, which detractors argued could open social media companies to unwarranted lawsuits – conservatives worry about them coming from the Biden FTC – and create a situation in which the companies could not comply with the law without effectively ceasing to operate in a manner that would satisfy consumers. 

The KOSA information page argues that the new law would not change existing laws that immune social media companies, and indeed all online platforms, from lawsuits over third-party content. 

“As a result, any lawsuits brought by the FTC over the content that online platforms host are likely to be quickly tossed out of court,” the information page reads. “[KOSA also] includes a specific, express provision ensuring that a company cannot be liable for providing content to young users when the user has searched for that content.”

Later on the page, the authors specificy that “the ‘duty of care’ requires social media companies to prevent and mitigate certain harms that they know their platforms and products are causing to young users as a result of their own design choices, such as their recommendation algorithms and addictive product features.

WHEELS OF CHANGE MOVED SLOWLY 

If child online safety is a priority in Washington, D.C., it isn’t so much of one that the gears of government could be asked to speed up even a little. 

Blackburn and Blumenthal, among numerous other Republicans and Democrats in the upper chamber, have spoken of the need for this type of legislation for years. 

FISM News has covered the story since 2021, when Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D), Blackburn, Blumenthal, and others unreservedly bashed social media bigwhigs during a hearing. 

In 2022, as reported by FISM at the time, Blackburn and Blumenthal ramped up their efforts to get a child online safety bill through the Senate. 

Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal first introduced the Kids Online Safety Act in February 2022 following reporting by the Wall Street Journal and after spearheading a series of five subcommittee hearings with social media companies and advocates on the repeated failures by tech giants to protect kids on their platforms.

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