WASHINGTON — The Senate is set to take up a pair on Tuesday children’s online safety accounts — a rare sign of bipartisan cooperation in the midst of a volatile and tough presidential campaign.
But the legislation won’t reach President Joe Biden’s desk anytime soon. The house has just started six weeks of summer vacation and will not return to Washington until September 9. And while he supports the “intent” of the bills, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he is still reviewing the legislation and has not scheduled a vote.
Two bills – known as Children’s Online Safety Actor KOSA and the Children and Adolescent Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA 2.0—represents the most significant congressional action in decades to regulate the impact of social media on children and adolescents.
“That’s why we’re here — to get things done and to do it bipartisanly, and it’s going to literally save lives,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a former state attorney general who partnered with Sen. Marsha Blackburn. R-Tenn., said of KOSA’s author in an interview last week.
“What we’re doing is giving parents and kids the tools to separate themselves from harmful content, violence, eating disorders, things that really hurt them, and also take care of Big Tech, which has said, ‘trust us,’ for too long, and betrayed that trust,” Blumenthal continued. did “And now they will have to comply with the law, which places a duty on them to reduce or prevent harm.”
KOSA, written by Blumenthal and Blackburn, will require social media companies to provide better protections for users under 17. It will also require companies to have guardians monitor minors’ use of the platform more closely and block certain features such as autoplay. And it will require companies to provide a dedicated page for users to report harmful content.
Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass. and Bill Cassidy, R-La. COPPA 2.0 will create stronger online privacy protections for anyone under the age of 17. It will also ban and create a spoiler for ads targeted at children and teenagers. button for parents and kids, asking companies to allow users to delete data.
Some tech companies, such as Microsoft and Snap, which owns Snapchat, have backed KOSA. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has proposed improvements to the bill, while some other social media companies have not taken an official position.
“We support the development of age-appropriate standards for teenagers online and appreciate KOSA’s attempt to create a consistent set of rules for the industry to follow,” a Meta spokesperson said. “However, we believe there is a better way to help parents monitor their teens’ online experiences: federal legislation requiring app stores to obtain parental consent when teens under 16 download apps.”
Opponents, including the American Civil Liberties Union and other free speech and civil liberties groups, argue that the bill’s definition of harm is too broad and could lead to censorship of content promoting politically polarizing issues, gender equality or abortion rights.
But in recent months, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. and the bills’ sponsors — Blumenthal, Blackburn, Markey and Cassidy — worked closely to address concerns and build support. .
“Today, after a lot of hard work and a lot of twists and turns, we will pass KOSA and COPPA,” Schumer said in a speech before Tuesday’s vote. “KOSA and COPPA will be perhaps the most significant updates to federal laws protecting children online in decades. And this is a very good first step.”
The leader said that alongside the benefits of social media, there are also significant risks to children’s safety. When he returns to the House in September, he urged the House to quickly get the online security package.
“These bills have real bipartisan momentum, so we should take the opportunity to send them to the president’s desk,” Schumer said.
But the Republican-led House is trying to put its stamp on the legislation. Before the recess, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, D-Wash., said her full committee “plans to move forward” with marking up both bills — a process that could include changes needed to pass the bills. the full House and then the Senate again before becoming law.
“It’s critical that Congress act,” McMorris Rodgers, who is retiring from Congress at the end of the year, said in an interview.
Meanwhile, Johnson appeared bullish on getting the bills through the House before this Congress ends in January.
“We are looking into the details of this. Frankly, I believe in the intent of the legislation. I think this is really important,” said the speaker. “But we have a few questions about the details, but I think we can work it out and I’d like to do that.”
KOSA was developed after a series of events emotional and powerful listening focused on the harm of social media to young people. Parents have expressed how social media has pushed their children to commit suicide or cause other harm. And the senators demanded that social media executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, apologize to parents in the room for holding photos of their deceased loved ones.
These parents argued that “our children are not products that can be exploited by these social media companies,” Blackburn said in a joint interview with Blumenthal. “As we auditioned, they came forward and told their stories. They came to us and said let’s be a part of this. Let’s help.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for addition support.