Schumer to bring kids’ online safety bills to vote this week

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will bring two bipartisan bills aimed at boosting online safety and privacy for kids to a vote this week after mounting pressure from advocates, Schumer’s office said Tuesday.

Schumer will announce the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) 2.0 will be brought to the floor this week during a floor speech Tuesday, the leader’s office said.

Children’s online safety advocates, including teens and parents of children who died after facing online harms, have been pushing the Senate to act on the bills for years — especially KOSA, which has more than 60 co-sponsors in the Senate, giving it enough support to pass even with filibuster rules in place.

“Over the past few months I’ve met with families from across the country who have gone through the worst thing a parent could endure — losing a child. Rather than retreating into the darkness of their loss, these families lit a candle for others with their advocacy,” Schumer said in a statement.

“It has been long and daunting road to get this bill passed, which can change and save lives, but today, we are one monumental step closer to success,” he added.

KOSA, led by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), would put in place regulations for how social media companies operate for minors online, aimed at mitigating risks the apps have for making children addicted and impacting their mental health. In part, it would add a duty of care standard to mitigate the promotion of harmful content and addictive features.

It faced some opposition from groups funded by tech companies, as well as some LGBTQ organizations. In February, though, seven LGBTQ advocacy groups, including GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign, withdrew their opposition based on updates to the bill they said mitigated concerns the duty of care standard could be interpreted in a way to limit teens from accessing information about gender identity, sexuality and reproductive health.

COPPA 2.0, led by Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) , would update privacy standards tech companies need to follow for minors on their platforms. It would also ban targeted advertising to kids online.

The bills face a less certain path in the House. A House version of KOSA was scheduled for a House Energy and Commerce Committee markup in June, but the markup was canceled after GOP House leaders pushed back on a separate bill — the American Privacy Rights Act — that was also slated for discussion at the meeting.

Advocates blasted the House committee for canceling the hearing, and the markup of KOSA along with it, over the partisan debate on the separate comprehensive data privacy bill.

As the election nears, and the fate of who controls both chambers and the White House is unknown, the timeline is dwindling for lawmakers to get a full vote in both chambers.

Updated at 11:44 a.m. EDT.

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