The Senate voted to pass two bills aimed at boosting safety and privacy for kids online in a broad bipartisan vote Tuesday after months of mounting pressure from advocates.
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Action (COPPA) 2.0 together would create regulations governing the features tech and social media companies offer to minors online and the way they use young users’ data.
The bills passed by a 91-3 vote. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) voted against the bills.
In a floor speech before the final vote, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a lead sponsor of KOSA, said the bill does not block content but creates an environment for young users that is “safe by design.”
“At its core this bill is a product design bill,” Blumenthal said, likening it to requirements for seat belts and airbags in cars, or choking warnings on toys with small parts.
“This society steps forward to make products safer, putting people and particularly children over product, and that is what we are requiring social media to do,” he added.
The Senate’s passage of the bills followed years of pressure from children’s online safety advocates to regulate social media’s impact on youth mental health and its potentially addictive features.
The pressure led to a series of hearings, including ones featuring the CEOs of tech companies, as advocates pressured Congress to put regulations in place.
KOSA creates a duty of care for social media platforms to prevent and mitigate harm to minors, such as that caused by content promoting self-harm, suicide, eating disorders and substance abuse. COPPA 2.0 would add data privacy measures including the ban of targeted advertising to teens and kids online.
Children’s online safety advocates, including parent advocates who lost their children to cyberbullying and other online harms, cheered the Senate vote on Tuesday. But the bills still need to pass in the House, and the timeline for legislative action is dwindling, especially ahead of a contentious election.
President Biden issued a statement in support of the bill after it passed and urged the House to send it to his desk to sign “without delay.” He underscored the need for regulations given the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).
“The last time Congress took meaningful action to protect children and teenagers online was in 1998 – before the ubiquity of social media and smartphones. Our kids have been waiting too long for the safety and privacy protections they deserve and which this bill would provide. This is more important than ever with the growing use of AI,” Biden said in a statement.
KOSA still faces some opposition, mainly centered on concerns some tech industry groups and advocacy groups raised that the bill would pose issues of censorship online or limit minors from accessing information about sensitive topics, including about gender identity or reproductive health.
Read more in a report at TheHill.com.
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