The Senate on Tuesday passed legislation nearly unanimously that is aimed at protecting minors from possibly dangerous online content, delivering lawmakers a major bipartisan victory as partisan politics dominate ahead of November.
The bill included two measures: the Kids Online Safety Act and updates to the existing Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act. The package cleared the upper chamber 91-3 and now heads to the House, which is on a six-week summer break until September.
KOSA would require online platforms, including social media and gaming sites, to establish a legal obligation known as a “duty of care” to take reasonable protections against potentially harmful content for children and teenagers. That content includes the promotion of illegal products, eating disorders, tobacco or alcohol, substance abuse, bullying, and sexual abuse.
COPPA would also ban certain ads targeted at children and bars tech companies from collecting personal information of minors.
Industry opponents warn more data collection may be required in order to verify the ages of users while others cite concerns over free speech. The Federal Trade Commission would oversee enforcement of the laws.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) urged the GOP-led House to pass the legislation as soon as it returns.
“As we all know, social media has many benefits. But we also know about the many risks social media can pose, especially to our kids,” Schumer said. “Too many kids experience relentless promotion of suicide or substance abuse material. Too many kids have their personal data collected and then used nefariously.”
Congress has not passed online protections for minors since 1998. KOSA was spearheaded by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who first introduced it in 2022 and have altered it over the years to its current form. The revision of COPPA was led by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Ed Markey (D-MA).
"This legislation provides young people and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency they need to protect against online harms," Blackburn said.
The bipartisan win marked a departure from the messaging votes on contentious topics, such as immigration and abortion, that Schumer has largely focused on in recent months as Senate Democrats fight this November to keep their one-seat majority.
Those who voted against the bills were Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Mike Lee (R-UT) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (R-OR).
Wyden said positive changes were made to KOSA to alleviate concerns from LGBT advocates of censoring content and that the current version was "less likely that the bill can be used as a tool for MAGA extremists to wage war on legal and essential information to teens." But he said the improvements "remain insufficient."
"I fear KOSA could be used to sue services that offer privacy technologies like encryption or anonymity features that kids rely on to communicate securely and privately without being spied on by predators online," Wyden said.
Paul feared KOSA could threaten free speech and overburden internet platforms with addressing the mental health problems of minors that are not in tech companies’ control or their responsibility.
“Government mandates and censorship will not protect children online,” Paul wrote in a USA Today op-ed. “The internet may pose new problems, but there is an age-old solution to this issue. Free minds and parental guidance are the best means to protect our children online.”
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Lee expressed similar concerns of "political censorship by the federal government."
"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," Lee said.
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