Kids Online Safety Act

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Kids Online Safety Act
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Long titleA bill to protect the safety of children on the internet.
Acronyms (colloquial)KOSA
Announced inthe 118th United States Congress
Legislative history

The "Kids Online Safety Act" (KOSA) is a bill introduced in the United States Senate by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D ‑ CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R ‑ TN) in February 2022 [1] and reintroduced in May 2023; the bill establishes guidelines meant to protect minors on social media platforms. [2] The bill charges individual state attorneys general with enforcing the bill. [3] The bill has been criticized by civil rights organizations for potentially enabling censorship, including of material important to marginalized groups. [4]

Contents

Bill summary

The bill is summarized by the Congressional Research Service with the following:

This bill sets out requirements to protect minors from online harms.

The requirements apply to covered platforms, which are applications or services (e.g., social networks) that connect to the internet and are likely to be used by minors. However, the bill exempts internet service providers, email services, educational institutions, and other specified entities from the requirements.

Additionally, covered platforms must provide (1) minors (or their parents or guardians) with certain safeguards, such as settings that restrict access to minors' personal data; and (2) parents or guardians with tools to supervise minors' use of a platform, such as control of privacy and account settings.

Covered platforms must also;

—  Congressional Research Service summary, 118th Congress S. 1409

History

KOSA was introduced to the Senate by senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn on February 16, 2022. The bill was a direct result after Frances Haugen, a data scientist for Facebook, leaked internal files through The Wall Street Journal in 2021 that showed negative effects of Instagram on minors' mental health, among other topics. The leak led to a Congressional investigation of Big Tech's lack of protection for young users with Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri testifying to Congress in December 2021. [5] Blumenthal, citing the leaked Facebook data, stated that the bill's intention was "not to burn the internet to the ground, not to destroy tech platforms or the internet or these sites; it is simply to enlist the social media platforms in this joint effort to achieve what should be a common goal—protecting children." [6]

The bill was advanced by the Senate Commerce Committee in July 2022, alongside an updated version of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act (also known as COPPA 2.0). [7] Both were poised to be passed in the Senate as part of larger legislation near the end of the term for the 117th Congress, but failed to pass. [8]

President Joe Biden pushed Congress to pass legislation to protect children online during his 2023 State of the Union Address, leading Blackburn and Blumenthal to reintroduce KOSA in the Senate on May 2, 2023. [9] KOSA along with COPPA 2.0 were approved by the Senate Commerce Committee on July 27, 2023. [10] By February 2024, the bill had gained more than 60 backers in the Senate to assure its passage, though there had yet to be a companion bill introduced in the House of Representatives by this point. [11]

Commentary

KOSA has been supported by over 200 groups, including the National Education Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Foundation on Suicide Prevention and the American Psychological Association. [12]

The bill has been criticized by members of the "Don't Delete Art" (DDA) movement and anti-censorship groups due to the chances of increased online surveillance and censorship of artists' work. Along with support from the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Coalition Against Censorship, Fight for the Future, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, DDA has encouraged people to signal their opposition through an online petition that labels KOSA as one of several "Bad Internet Bills." [13]

A letter sent to the United States Congress by Evan Greer—director of Fight for the Future—and signed by multiple civil society groups warns that KOSA could backfire and cause more harm to minors. [14] [15] Fight for the Future has set up a Stop KOSA website for people to sign a petition and contact lawmakers against the bill. [16]

Interpretation of harms

Critics, including the EFF, note that the bill's definition of harm toward minors leaves room for broad interpretation by the state attorneys general who are charged with enforcing the bill, [17] [18] likening it to the FOSTA-SESTA bills. [19] The bill was revised in February 2024 as to shift the enforcement of the "duty of care" aspects of the bill from state attorneys to the Federal Trade Commission, though states would still be able to enforce other parts of the bill. [20]

The conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation wrote that the initial 2022 iteration of KOSA didn't go far enough, as the bill didn't explicitly list transgender health care as a harm. [21] [22] The inclusion of the phrase "consistent with evidence-informed medical information" [23] could be used by attorneys general to cherry-pick anti-trans sources as justification since there is no definition of what "evidence-based medical information" can include. [24] Senator Blackburn, co-author of the bill, has argued that some education about racism and the civil rights movement overlaps with critical race theory, which she labels a "dangerous ideology" that can inflict "mental and emotional damage" upon children. [25] She has also explicitly stated that the bill will be used to censor content involving the transgender community. [26] EFF columnist Jason Kelly states that in the framework provided by the bill, that KOSA could be used to censor education about racism in schools since it could be claimed that it impacts mental health. [27]

In September 2023, a video from the Family Policy Alliance showed Blackburn saying that there should be a priority to "protecting minor children from the transgender in this culture", alongside her promotion for KOSA, stating "This would put a duty of care and responsibility on the social media platforms, and this is where children are being indoctrinated." [28] This drew criticism from LGBT advocacy groups, fearing that the bill would allow LGBT information for minors to be censored. A spokesperson for Blackburn stated that KOSA was not intended to censor LGBT information. [28] To address these concerns, the bill's language was altered so that the "duty of care" only focused on the product design features that influenced minors' behavior with the platforms, and not the content. As a result, several LGBTQ groups, including GLAAD and GLSEN, dropped their opposition to the bill. [29] However, the EFF, Fight for the Future, and the American Civil Liberties Union found the revisions far from adequate, arguing that LGBTQ content could still be suppressed by targeting any design feature that makes that content available. [20] [30] [31] [32]

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References

  1. ↑ "Blackburn, Blumenthal Introduce Bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act". blackburn.senate.gov . May 2, 2023. Archived from the original on July 26, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  2. ↑ "S.1409 — 118th Congress (2023-2024)". Congress.gov . Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  3. ↑ "S.1409 — 118th Congress (2023-2024)". Congress.gov . Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023. (Section 11 B) In any case in which the attorney general of a State has reason to believe that an interest of the residents of that State has been or is threatened or adversely affected by the engagement of any person in a practice that violates this Act or a regulation promulgated under this Act, the State, as parens patriae, may bring a civil action on behalf of the residents of the State in a district court of the United States or a State court of appropriate jurisdiction... S. 1409
  4. ↑ Lorenz, Taylor (February 1, 2024). "Online safety legislation is opposed by many it claims to protect". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved February 1, 2024.
  5. ↑ Sorkin, Andrew Ross; Kessler, Sarah; Gandel, Stephen; de la Merced, Michael J.; Hirsch, Lauren; Livni, Ephrat (February 17, 2022). "Child Safety Is the New Tech Battleground". The New York Times . Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  6. ↑ McKinnon, John D. (February 16, 2022). "Lawmakers Seek Tougher Online Safety Standards for Children". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  7. ↑ Klar, Rebecca (July 27, 2022). "Bills to boost kids' online safety advance in Senate with bipartisan support". The Hill . Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  8. ↑ Gold, Ashley (November 16, 2022). "Kids' privacy online gets yearend push in Congress". Axios . Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  9. ↑ Fiener, Lauren (May 2, 2023). "Lawmakers update Kids Online Safety Act to address potential harms, but fail to appease some activists, industry groups". CNBC . Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  10. ↑ Killy, Makena (July 27, 2023). "Senate panel advances bills to childproof the internet". The Verge . Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  11. ↑ Lima-Strong, Cristiano (February 15, 2024). "Senate poised to pass biggest piece of tech regulation in decades". Washington Post . Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  12. ↑ Tenbarge, Kat (December 6, 2023). "200 groups push Senate to vote on Kids Online Safety Act in 2024". NBC News . Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  13. ↑ Nayyar, Rhea (July 26, 2023). "Artists Call on Congress to Stop 'Bad Internet Bills'". Hyperallergic . Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Letter: 90+ LGBTQ and human rights organizations oppose KOSA". Fight for the Future. November 28, 2022. Archived from the original on July 26, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  15. ↑ Feiner, Lauren (May 2, 2023). "Lawmakers update Kids Online Safety Act to address potential harms, but fail to appease some activists, industry groups". CNBC . Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Stop KOSA". Fight for the Future. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  17. ↑ Kelley, Jason (May 2, 2023). "The Kids Online Safety Act is Still A Huge Danger to Our Rights Online". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Archived from the original on July 26, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023. It will be based on vague requirements that any Attorney General could, more or less, make up.
  18. ↑ Molloy, Parker (July 27, 2023). "Congress is About to Pass a Very Bad Internet Bill. Here's How You Can Stop It". Substack. Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023. The bill would enforce monitoring of anyone under the age of seventeen and give state attorneys general the power to censor content.
  19. ↑ Philips, Sarah (July 27, 2023). "This Bill Threatens Access to LGBTQ+ Online Communities". Teen Vogue. Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023. Like SESTA/FOSTA, KOSA creates the aforementioned duty of care for social media companies, giving state attorneys general the power to sue sites like Instagram or Twitter if they put up content they deem "harmful" for kids and teens. With SESTA/FOSTA, we saw that tech companies preferred to shut down already-policed content about reproductive justice, LGBTQ+ identities, and sex education than risk a lawsuit.
  20. 1 2 Feiner, Lauren (February 15, 2024). "Kids Online Safety Act gains enough supporters to pass the Senate". The Verge . Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  21. ↑ Eckert, Jared (March 21, 2022). "How Not To Keep Children Safe Online". The Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  22. ↑ Philips, Sarah (July 27, 2023). "This Bill Threatens Access to LGBTQ+ Online Communities". Teen Vogue. Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023. KOSA's supporters might want to ignore the fact that it's a censorship bill in disguise, but the Heritage Foundation is saying the quiet part out loud. The hard-line conservative organization has openly said KOSA will help them censor the content conservatives don't want young people to have access to.
  23. ↑ "S.1409". Congress.gov. May 2, 2023. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023. Sec 3.b.2: the covered platform or individuals on the platform from providing resources for the prevention or mitigation of suicidal behaviors, substance use, and other harms, including evidence-informed information and clinical resources.
  24. ↑ Molloy, Parker (July 27, 2023). "Congress is About to Pass a Very Bad Internet Bill. Here's How You Can Stop It". Substack. Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023. (In a block quote from Evan Greer) The phrase "consistent with evidence-informed medical information" does nothing to prevent that, because AGs can always find cherry-picked studies to support their wild claims. They're doing this right now. In his "emergency" order attempting to ban gender-affirming care, Missouri's attorney general cited a Swedish study that claims there is a lack of evidence to support the efficacy and safety of gender-affirming care. There is no legal definition of "evidence-based." Those are just words. This bill will absolutely allow AGs to go after platforms for recommending speech they don't like to younger users. Tying the duty of care to specific mental health outcomes is also problematic because it will lead to suppression of all discussion around those important but controversial topics.
  25. ↑ "Why Is Critical Race Theory Dangerous For Our Kids?". U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. July 12, 2021. Archived from the original on July 2, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023. While parents struggle to help their children manage the mental and emotional damage inflicted by this dangerous ideology, the left will continue to re-write our education system to fit their woke agenda—and they won't stop until CRT is in every classroom in America. I will gladly stand with Tennessee parents to demand an end to this latest, unhinged attempt to brainwash our nation's children.
  26. ↑ "Senator appears to suggest bipartisan bill would censor transgender content online". NBC. Archived from the original on September 6, 2023. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  27. ↑ Kelley, Jason (May 2, 2023). "The Kids Online Safety Act is Still A Huge Danger to Our Rights Online". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Archived from the original on July 26, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023. KOSA's co-author, Sen. Blackburn of Tennessee, has referred to education about race discrimination as "dangerous for kids." Many states have agreed and recently moved to limit public education about the history of race, gender, and sexuality discrimination.
  28. 1 2 Latieves, Matt (September 5, 2023). "Senator appeared to suggest bipartisan bill would censor transgender content online". NBC News . Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  29. ↑ Kane, Christopher (February 15, 2024). "LGBTQ groups drop opposition to Kids Online Safety Act". Washington Blade . Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  30. ↑ Silberling, Amanda (February 15, 2024). "Lawmakers revise Kids Online Safety Act to address LGBTQ advocates' concerns". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  31. ↑ Kelley, Jason; Mackey, Aaron; Mullin, Joe (February 15, 2024). "Don't Fall for the Latest Changes to the Dangerous Kids Online Safety Act". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  32. ↑ Feiner, Lauren (February 29, 2024). "Passing the Kids Online Safety Act just got more complicated". The Verge. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
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