Congress moves forward on the Kids Online Safety Act
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
The push to childproof the internet is reaching a tipping point. The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) was first introduced in 2023; over a year later, with the August recess looming, the Senate is poised to vote on the bill. With 70 cosponsors, the bill appears likely to pass.
Proponents of the bill believe that the law is necessary to safeguard children from harm that could result from the platforms’ relentless quest for user attention. Critics argue that KOSA not only erodes internet freedoms but could also prevent minors — particularly LGBTQ minors — from accessing potentially lifesaving information.
Indeed, lead cosponsor Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has publicly justified KOSA on the basis that “we should be protecting minor children from the transgender in this culture.”
The current text of KOSA creates a duty of care for platforms, requiring them to take reasonable steps to mitigate a specific list of harms to minors. Those include things like cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, and eating disorders.
On top of that, it would mandate certain kinds of parental tools, require the highest level of privacy settings to be on for kids by default, and let young users have a say in whether they get personalized recommendations, like through algorithmic feeds.
Because the House of Representatives is adjourning ahead of schedule next week, the fate of KOSA is very much up in the air.
Here’s all the news about KOSA:
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
The push to childproof the internet is reaching a tipping point.
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) was first introduced in 2023; over a year later, with the August recess looming, the Senate is poised to vote on the bill. With 70 cosponsors, the bill appears likely to pass.
Proponents of the bill believe that the law is necessary to safeguard children from harm that could result from the platforms’ relentless quest for user attention. Critics argue that KOSA not only erodes internet freedoms but could also prevent minors — particularly LGBTQ minors — from accessing potentially lifesaving information.
Indeed, lead cosponsor Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has publicly justified KOSA on the basis that “we should be protecting minor children from the transgender in this culture.”
The current text of KOSA creates a duty of care for platforms, requiring them to take reasonable steps to mitigate a specific list of harms to minors. Those include things like cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, and eating disorders.
On top of that, it would mandate certain kinds of parental tools, require the highest level of privacy settings to be on for kids by default, and let young users have a say in whether they get personalized recommendations, like through algorithmic feeds.
Because the House of Representatives is adjourning ahead of schedule next week, the fate of KOSA is very much up in the air.
Here’s all the news about KOSA: