Congress moves forward on the Kids Online Safety Act

3 months ago 60

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) was archetypal introduced successful 2023; implicit a twelvemonth later, with the August recess looming, the Senate is poised to ballot connected the bill. With 70 co-sponsors, the measure appears apt to pass.

Proponents of the measure judge that the instrumentality is indispensable to safeguard children from harms that could effect from the platforms’ relentless quest for idiosyncratic attention. Critics reason that KOSA not lone erodes net freedoms, it could forestall minors — particularly LGBTQ minors — from accessing perchance life-saving information.

Indeed, pb co-sponsor Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has publically justified KOSA connected the ground that “we should beryllium protecting insignificant children from the transgender successful this culture.”

The existent substance of KOSA creates a work of attraction for platforms, requiring them to instrumentality tenable steps to mitigate a circumstantial database of harms to minors. Those see things similar cyberbullying, intersexual exploitation, and eating disorders.

On apical of that, it would mandate definite kinds of parental tools, necessitate the highest level of privateness settings beryllium connected for kids by default, and fto young users person a accidental successful whether they get personalized recommendations, similar done algorithmic feeds.

Because the House of Representatives is adjourning up of docket adjacent week, the destiny of KOSA is precise overmuch up successful the air.

Here’s each the quality astir KOSA:

KOSA sponsors impulse ‘quick and clean’ Senate ballot with a recess looming
Photo by Samuel Corum / Getty Images
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) volition yet get its infinitesimal connected the Senate level this week aft Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced he’d determination for a procedural vote connected the measure arsenic soon arsenic Thursday. It fulfills a committedness Schumer made to genitor advocates who person championed the bill, which would enforce a work of attraction for online platforms to mitigate definite risks to kids. But the timing means that adjacent if KOSA passes the Senate earlier the week is out, the House volition lone person a week to see the measure, with the August recess adjacent astatine hand.
At a property league connected Tuesday, advocates and measure sponsors urged different senators to rapidly ballot to walk the bill, without different amendments that could stall its advancement erstwhile again. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a pb sponsor of the measure on with Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), said helium hoped the level ballot would beryllium “quick and clean” and “without amendments.”
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Chuck Schumer plans to bring 2 large kids online information bills to the Senate level this week
Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) plans to denote successful a code that helium volition bring the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) to the Senate level this week for a procedural vote. This tees up the biggest measurement yet connected the national level to determination guardant with a instrumentality successful the country of children’s online information legislation.
“Over the past fewer months I’ve met with families from crossed the state who person gone done the worst happening a genitor could endure – losing a child,” Schumer said successful a statement. “Rather than retreating into the acheronian of their loss, these families lit a candle for others with their advocacy. I americium arrogant to enactment side-by-side with them and enactment connected the level authorities that I Believe volition walk and better support our children from the antagonistic risks of societal media and different online platforms. It has been agelong and daunting roadworthy to get this measure passed, which tin alteration and prevention lives, but today, we are 1 monumental measurement person to success.”
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The aftermath of the Supreme Court’s NetChoice ruling
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images
Last week’s Supreme Court determination successful the NetChoice cases was overshadowed by a ruling connected statesmanlike immunity successful Trump v. US that came down lone minutes later. But whether oregon not America adjacent noticed NetChoice happen, the determination is poised to impact a big of tech authorities inactive brewing connected Capitol Hill and successful authorities legislatures, arsenic good arsenic lawsuits that are percolating done the system. This includes the pending First Amendment situation to the TikTok “ban” bill, arsenic good arsenic a First Amendment lawsuit astir a Texas property verification instrumentality that the Supreme Court took up lone a time aft its NetChoice decision.
The NetChoice decision states that tech platforms tin workout their First Amendment rights done their contented moderation decisions and however they take to show contented connected their services — a beardown connection that has wide ramifications for immoderate laws that effort to modulate platforms’ algorithms successful the sanction of kids online information and adjacent connected a pending suit seeking to artifact a law that could prohibition TikTok from the US.
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Blackburn and Blumenthal effort to tack the Kids Online Safety Act to the FAA reauthorization.
The effort whitethorn beryllium an effort to unit a ballot connected KOSA, which has stalled successful some chambers contempt having wide enactment successful the Senate. The FAA instrumentality expires May 10th.
A bipartisan radical of legislators introduced a companion to the Senate’s KOSA measure successful April, but the House has yet to ballot connected it.
Kids Online Safety Act gains capable supporters to walk the Senate
Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Accountable Tech
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) has surpassed 60 Senate co-sponsors, capable supporters for it to walk done the chamber, the bill’s authors announced connected Thursday.
The enactment marks a large milestone for the legislation, which seeks to make a work of attraction for tech platforms to mitigate definite dangers to young users and let them to opt retired of algorithm-based recommendations. If it becomes law, it would beryllium among the astir important kids’ online information statutes since the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which went into effect successful 2000.
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How to ticker Linda Yaccarino, Mark Zuckerberg, and different tech CEOs attest successful Congress
It’s not Zuckerberg’s archetypal clip successful beforehand of Congress.
Photo by Aurora Samperio/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Today, the US Senate Judiciary Committee volition perceive grounds from 5 CEOs of large tech companies: Linda Yaccarino of X, Shou Zi Chew of TikTok, Evan Spiegel of Snap, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, and Jason Citron of Discord. The executives volition reply questions connected the taxable of “Big Tech and the online kid intersexual exploitation crisis,” an ongoing contented for a Congress that’s introduced galore kid information bills successful caller years.
The proceeding has been months successful the making and seemingly progressive a small strong-arming from Congress, which reportedly sent US Marshals to subpoena Yaccarino and Citron. It begins astatine 10AM ET and volition apt past respective hours arsenic lawmakers prehend their accidental to outcry astatine immoderate of some parties’ favourite bêtes noires. Chew and Zuckerberg person some been the taxable of legislature hearings — Zuckerberg starting successful 2018 aft Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica privateness scandal, Chew successful 2023 amid efforts to prohibition TikTok successful the US. (Zuckerberg was besides astir held successful contempt of Congress past year, too.)
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Why Sen. Brian Schatz thinks kid information bills tin trump the First Amendment
Photo illustration: The Verge | Photo Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images
Today, I’m talking with Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii. He’s been successful the Senate for a small much than a decennary now, and he’s seen a batch successful that time.
We gag that Decoder is yet a amusement astir org charts, but there’s a batch of information to it. A CEO tin upend their full company’s org illustration if they deliberation it volition amended their business, but a subordinate of the national authorities — particularly a legislator — can’t unilaterally ditch the structures that person been woven into the cloth of our state for much than 200 years. That tin pb to… immoderate inefficiencies, let’s say, and you’ll perceive Schatz speech astir the 4 abstracted offices helium has to equilibrium against each different and the concessions helium has to marque to enactment wrong that structure.
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Child information bills are reshaping the net for everyone
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
By the extremity of this month, porn volition get a batch harder to ticker successful Texas. Instead of clicking a fastener oregon entering a day of commencement to entree Pornhub and different big sites, users volition request to supply photos of their authoritative government-issued ID oregon usage a third-party work to verify their age. It’s the effect of a caller instrumentality passed earlier this summertime intended to forestall kids from seeing porn online. But it’s besides portion of a wide — and worrying — effort to age-gate the internet.
Texas whitethorn beryllium the biggest authorities rolling retired anti-porn rules, but it’s not the first. In the past twelvemonth alone, much than fractional a twelve states have passed akin legislation and adjacent much are looking to travel suit. While these rules are focused connected big content, different raft of laws is aimed astatine locking down minors’ entree to the net much mostly — including banning teens from societal media without parental consent.
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How the Kids Online Safety Act puts america each astatine risk
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
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Today let’s speech astir a close we presently instrumentality for granted that whitethorn soon disappear: the quality to browse and station to astir websites anonymously.
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Senate sheet advances bills to childproof the internet
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Congress is person than ever to passing a brace of bills to childproof the internet aft lawmakers voted to nonstop them to the level Thursday.
The bills — the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and COPPA 2.0 — were approved by the Senate Commerce Committee Thursday by a unanimous dependable vote. Both pieces of authorities purpose to address an ongoing intelligence wellness crisis amongst young radical that immoderate lawmakers blasted societal media for intensifying. But critics of the bills person agelong argued that they person the imaginable to origin much harm than good, similar forcing societal media platforms to cod much idiosyncratic accusation to decently enforce Congress’ rules.
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Louisiana passes measure banning kids from the net without parental consent
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge
State lawmakers successful Louisiana passed a caller measure Tuesday banning minors from creating their ain societal media accounts.
The bill, HB61, would prohibition “interactive machine services” from allowing radical nether 18 to motion up for their ain accounts without parental consent. The bill’s explanation of online services is highly broad, seemingly barring minors from creating societal media accounts connected sites similar Instagram, accessing fashionable online games similar Roblox and Fortnite, oregon adjacent registering for an email address. The measure besides goes arsenic acold arsenic allowing parents to cancel the presumption of work contracts their children entered into erstwhile signing up for existing accounts.
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Congress is flooded with bills for childproofing the internet
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
This week, lawmakers and regulators made a caller propulsion to fortify privateness and information protections for children online, introducing a flood of bills and enforcement proposals with varying amounts of enactment from their colleagues, civilian liberties groups, and tech commercialized associations alike. The burst of enactment comes connected the heels of an ongoing younker intelligence wellness crisis that seemingly each stakeholders privation to resolve, but galore fearfulness these proposals could make caller problems for children and members of marginalized communities online.
The mostly bipartisan bills were filed successful speedy succession. Last Wednesday, a radical of senators introduced the Protecting Kids connected Social Media Act, which would found a nationwide property verification aviator programme and prohibition kids nether 13 from societal media. On Tuesday, the Kids Online Privacy Act made a long-rumored reappearance successful the Senate. The time aft that, Sen. Ed Markey reintroduced “COPPA 2.0,” which would rise the property of extortion nether the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act from 13 to 16 years of age. And yesterday, the arguable EARN IT Act precocious retired of committee for a 2nd time.
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