The U.S. Senate on Tuesday easily passed the first laws in 26 years that are aimed directly at protecting children online. The Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA 2.0, were passed by a vote of 91-3.
The three senators who opposed the package were Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney, one of the many co-sponsors of KOSA, voted for the legislation.
Although KOSA, sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has a bipartisan list of dozens of co-sponsors in the Senate, it is expected to have a harder time when it reaches the House, in part because of freedom of speech concerns being raised on both sides of the aisle. In the case of COPPA 2.0, sponsored by Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the House has shown a stronger taste for broader data privacy protection that covers everyone, instead of focusing solely on minors.
COPPA 2.0 updates the existing federal privacy protections to include those 16 and younger, broadening parent consent for data collection to include children through age 16. It also prevents companies from targeted advertising aimed at children and teens. That measure has been less controversial than KOSA.
Meanwhile, according to Blumenthal’s office, the Kids Online Safety Act gives parents and their children “tools, safeguards and transparency they need to protect against online harms.” Among its features:
- Social media platforms have to provide minors with options to guard their information, disable addictive features and opt out of recommendations generated by algorithms. The strongest protective settings would be the default.
- Parents would get new controls over minors’ online use, and have a “dedicated channel to report harms to kids” directly to the social media platforms.
- Social media platforms would be required to monitor and prevent harmful messages to minors, including those related to suicide, eating disorders, substance use, sexual exploitation, and things like gambling and alcohol for which children are too young.
- An independent audit would be required to ensure companies comply with the legislation and that companies are “taking meaningful steps” to prevent harm to children.
- Academic and public interest organizations must be given access to important datasets so they can research how safety and well-being of children is being helped or harmed.
What Utah’s senators said about KOSA
“Social media is making our young people more vulnerable to cyberbullying, addiction, and long-term mental health challenges,” Romney said in a press release. “Social media companies have failed to institute measures to adequately protect children and teenagers from these hazards, and we have little indication that things will change without legislative action. With the passage of this legislation, we are taking strong strides toward better protecting our youth from the harmful effects that come with being online.”
Lee posted on X that “The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) fails to meaningfully address the most urgent threats to America’s children online, while opening the door to political censorship by the federal government. I cannot support it.” He wrote that the bill “ignores the grievous damage against children by online pornographers through both viewing and exploitation. 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.”
Lee is the sponsor of two bills that would mandate real age-verification on pornographic websites. One of the bills, he wrote, requires such sites to provide proof of consent from those being featured and imposes “serious consequences for uploading and hosting non-consensual pornographic content.”
He had offered his SCREEN Act as an amendment to KOSA, but said it was blocked and never voted on.
Utah’s senior senator said he deems the issue to be very important, he concluded his post by noting that “if our counterparts in the House of Representatives can amend this bill to address the serious (but very fixable) flaws I’ve identified, and send it back to the Senate, I will enthusiastically vote for an improved version of KOSA in the future.”
Free speech concerns
As for KOSA, according to The New York Times, “What was supposed to be a simple piece of legislation to protect children online has been dragged into a heated political war. At the heart of the battle are concerns about how the bill could affect free speech on culturally divisive issues, which both sides of the spectrum worry could be weaponized under the guise of child safety. Liberals worry about censorship of transgender care, while conservatives are concerned about the same with anti-abortion efforts. The tech industry has also latched onto the same First Amendment arguments to oppose the bill.”
As The Washington Post reported, “While KOSA has drawn broad bipartisan support in Congress, it has faced persistent opposition from tech industry and digital rights groups, who say it will chill speech online and force companies to collect even more data from users to comply with its obligations.”
Legal challenges likely
If the two bills passed by the Senate become law, legal challenges are deemed very likely. A coalition of tech companies has repeatedly and with success at more local levels raised concerns about free speech. NetChoice, a coalition of the tech companies, has secured injunctions in several states. Most of the group’s opposition has targeted KOSA. On its website, NetChoice said that “cases in California, Arkansas, Ohio, Mississippi and at the Supreme Court show the Kids Online Safety Act is very likely unconstitutional.” They have raised quieter concerns about the constitutionality of COPPA 2.0, as well.
According to Blumenthal’s office, groups supporting the measure include Common Sense Media, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Compass, Eating Disorders Coalition, Fairplay, Mental Health America, and Digital Progress Institute as well as “hundreds of advocacy and technology groups.”