A bipartisan bill that aims to protect children from social media algorithms is headed for a vote in the U.S. Senate.
The Kids Online Safety Act is being championed by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut. Blumenthal and Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced KOSA in 2023.
Blumenthal said the legislation would force big technology companies to protect kids from harmful algorithms that can push damaging and addictive content.
“It enables the strongest settings of safety by default. It requires companies to disable product features that are destructive. it gives young people and parents tools to opt-out and choose not to be a part of algorithm recommendations that fuel destructive mental health harms. It gives them safeguards to shield themselves against online predators and options to protect their own information," Blumenthal said.
He and Blackburn held a press conference before the Senate met for a procedural vote on the legislation on Thursday. They were joined by parents of children who were harmed by social media.
Todd Minor Sr. and his wife Mia lost their 12-year-old son Matthew to a viral TikTok challenge.
“The never-ending pain of his loss and never seeing his smiling face, coupled with the tragic memories of performing CPR on him to try to save his life, stays with us every day,” Minor said. “We heard from many of Matthew's classmates and friends that they could not turn off seeing these online challenges when they were on social media. They felt there was no way out. It was then that we decided that we would not rest until America's youth was safe from online harms on social media.”
The bill has support from Microsoft and Snap, which owns Snapchat.
The ACLU does not support the bill, citing concerns about the definition of “harm,” which they said is too narrow and may lead to censorship. Blumenthal denies that concern.
“There's no censorship in this bill,” Blumenthal said. “It's about product design. There is no invasion of privacy in this bill.”
Blumenthal has solicited input from Connecticut residents on the bill on numerous occasions.
The legislation is expected to pass the Senate when they vote next week, and has bipartisan support in the House, though it is unclear when or if the chamber will vote on it — they are out until September.
According to GovTrack.us, only 3% of introduced legislation has gotten a vote this congressional session.
