More from Congress moves forward on kids online safety
Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed the state’s own laws to protect kids online, exemplifying how states have been the first to move on this kind of legislation. Hochul said in a statement that when she signed those bills, “we were sending a message to the nation. Now, I’m excited to see the Senate take steps to help safeguard more young people nationwide.”
The bill they’re contained in passed the 60 vote threshold to close debate, but the Senate must still vote to fully pass it. Schumer indicated that could happen early next week. Should it pass, it goes to the House – but that could take a while considering members are leaving early for summer recess.
“Once the Senate clears today’s procedural vote, KOSA and COPPA will be on a glide path to final passage early next week,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said ahead of the cloture vote, which closes debate and sets up the bills for a full vote.
That bill is being used as the vehicle for KOSA and COPPA 2.0. They’re basically tucked in as an amendment to this unrelated bill that deals with duplicative reporting requirements for federal agencies.
The Tennessee Republican, another of the bill’s lead sponsors, began her remarks with what KOSA doesn’t do. It doesn’t cover nonprofits, it doesn’t include rule-making, it doesn’t include news outlets, and it doesn’t give the government new authority, she said.
“There’s no censorship in this bill. None. Zero,” the Connecticut Democrat who’s the bill’s lead sponsor said on the Senate floor. “It is about product design. Much as it would be about a car that is unsafe and is required to have seatbelts and airbags.”
The Kentucky Republican said the bill “promises to be pandora’s box of unintended consequences.” He added that “there’s enough to hate this bill from the right and left,” describing, for example, how discussion of sexuality, climate change, and abortion could cause anxiety, which the duty of care mandates platforms try to mitigate.
Here’s what the SCOTUS decision might mean for everything from kids online safety laws to the TikTok ‘ban.’
The effort may be an attempt to force a vote on KOSA, which has stalled in both chambers despite having broad support in the Senate. The FAA law expires May 10th.
A bipartisan group of legislators introduced a companion to the Senate’s KOSA bill in April, but the House has yet to vote on it.
The series of bills Google endorsed would do things like fund investigations of child exploitation and make it easier for victims to request child abuse images to be removed from social media.
So far only Microsoft, Snap, and X have come out in favor of the Kids Online Safety Act. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and Fight for the Future say they still have serious concerns about KOSA.
The Democratic senator from Hawaii on regulating social media: ‘An algorithm doesn’t have a First Amendment right.’
