The Kids Online Safety Act Bill Just Passed The Senate – Proud Moment For Biden Administration

Democrats, who run the Senate, pushed through ambitious legislation Tuesday that would provide powerful online protections for children. President Joe Biden signed into law the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act that even saw an unusually bipartisan 91 Senators voting in favor of it when it reached them.

According to a press release from Senator Marsha Blackburn’s (R-TN) office, KOSA seeks to “require platforms to enable the strongest privacy settings by default, force platforms to prevent and mitigate specific dangers to minors, provide parents and educators new controls to help protect children, and require independent audits and research into social media companies.”

According to Blackburn’s website, the bill would create “a duty for online platforms to prevent and mitigate specific dangers to minors, including promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, and advertisements for certain illegal products (e.g. tobacco and alcohol).” It also says KOSA would require “social media platforms to provide minors with options to protect their information, disable addictive product features, and opt out of personalized algorithmic recommendations.”

The only Republicans to vote against the bill were Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rand Paul (R-KY), while Ron Wyden (D-OR) was a Democrat who also opposed it. They voiced fears about KOSA around free speech and censorship.

Paul added in a post on X, “The internet may pose new problems but there is an age old solution to this issue. Free minds & parental guidance are the best means to protect our children online.”

The bills will now go to the Republican-controlled House, which is gone for summer break. Earlier this month, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) reportedly told CNBC that he loved “the idea” behind the bills.

President Joe Biden called on the House to pass KOSA promptly. 

“While my Administration has taken important steps to address the harms of social media and online platforms, we need action by Congress to protect our kids online and hold Big Tech accountable for the national experiment they are running on our children for profit,” he said in a statement.