Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) are reviving their push for a landmark piece of legislation intended to boost kids’ safety and privacy online.
The bipartisan pair of senators reintroduced the Kids Online Safety Act on Wednesday, with hopes the bill will be well received in the upper chamber, which passed it in a 91-3 vote in the last Congress.
Blumenthal and Blackburn were joined by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on the bill.
The measure seeks to create regulations for the kinds of features tech and social media companies offer kids online and reduce the addictive nature and mental health effects of these platforms.
“Big Tech platforms have shown time and time again they will always prioritize their bottom line over the safety of our children, and I’ve heard too many heartbreaking stories to count from parents who have lost a child because these companies have refused to make their platforms safer by default,” Blackburn wrote in a statement Wednesday.
Following widespread support in the Senate last year, it was sent to the House, where GOP leadership’s concerns over censorship and freedom of speech stopped the bill from hitting the floor.
The senators tried to appease these concerns with last-minute text changes last December. Elon Musk’s social media platform X negotiated the updated text in December to boost the protection of freedom of speech for minors online.
The negotiated text is the same language used in the latest bill, with senators noting there are “several changes to further make clear that KOSA would not censor, limit, or remove any content from the internet, and it does not give the FTC [Federal Trade Commission] or state Attorneys General the power to bring lawsuits over content or speech.”
Blumenthal touted the Kids Online Safety Act now also has the endorsement of Apple.
“KOSA is an idea whose time has come – in fact, it’s urgently overdue – and even tech companies like X and Apple are realizing that the status quo is unsustainable,” he wrote.
“Apple is pleased to offer our support for the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Everyone has a part to play in keeping kids safe online, and we believe [this] legislation will have a meaningful impact on children’s online safety,” Timothy Powderly, Apple’s senior director of government affairs in the Americas, said.
Tech safety groups, joined by parents, teens and families, have long advocated for the passage of the bill, though some free speech groups and LGBTQ groups argue it will limit content on social media platforms.
