The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill meant to protect children online on Tuesday.
The bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act was sponsored by the U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut and Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee.
Blumenthal, who chairs the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, said the bill is a historic landmark because, for the first time, it holds big tech companies accountable for protecting children’s online privacy and safeguarding them from dangerous online content.
“The bill ensures that if Meta or Google know or should know that a user is 18, or a child, they need to provide them the safeguards under this legislation. No more sticking their heads in the sand. No more platitudes,” Blumenthal said on the Senate floor prior to the vote.
“Social media platforms would be bound by a duty of care to prevent their product from causing self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse and other harmful impacts,” he said.
“There’s going to be a portal so bad actors in the virtual space can be reported, and the social media platforms would have to do something about it,” Blackburn said, who is the ranking Republican on the subcommittee.
“It shows the chamber can work on something important,” said Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate majority leader, commending lawmakers for passing the bill by a 91-3 bipartisan vote.
The bill is also expected to pass in the U.S. House and be signed into law by President Joe Biden before a new school year begins this fall.
