WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate advanced online safety legislation Thursday aimed at protecting children from targeted advertising, data harvesting, bullying and sexual exploitation on popular social media platforms.
But the rare bipartisan effort by Senate lawmakers did not escape criticism from advocates who warn the legislative package would curtail free speech online.
The body voted 86-1 on a procedural vote to move ahead with the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act. Both were rolled into one legislative vehicle.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the sole no vote.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised the “ground-breaking step” just before the vote began.
The bill arrived on the chamber floor with the support of nearly 70 co-sponsors, well beyond the 60 votes needed for the procedural vote.
The New York Democrat thanked parents sitting in the Senate gallery to watch the vote — including those who lost children to suicide after cyberbullying — calling them the “true heroes of this effort.”
“We met together, we’ve felt pain together, we’ve cried together. What they have endured is incomprehensible,” Schumer said. “Today the Senate tells these parents: ‘We hear you, we’re taking action.’”
Schumer said the proposal will now be on a “glide path” for final passage next week before the chamber heads into August recess.
Updates from 1990s
The proposal, in part, updates a 1998 law meant to protect children under 13 on the internet.
The Kids Online Safety Act, co-sponsored by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, would require social media platforms to take “reasonable measures” to mitigate harm when designing products and would also tighten age verification tools.
The bill mandates companies take into consideration “evidence-informed medical information” on mental health disorders including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance use disorders and suicidal behaviors.
The bill would also prohibit hidden “black box algorithms,” as Blumenthal put it, that are used to target content to minors.
If enacted, the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, would prohibit social media companies from collecting minors’ personal data for the purpose of targeted marketing.
The legislation would require companies to provide a mechanism for removal of children and teens’ personal information from the platforms.
Lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Commerce favorably passed both bills, separately, out of committee in December.
After likely passage next week in the Senate, the legislation will then head to the House, which just began its six-week summer recess.
“I am looking forward to reviewing the details of the legislation that comes out of the Senate,” House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said in a statement provided by his office. “Parents should have greater control and the necessary tools to protect their kids online. I am committed to working to find consensus in the House.”
The internet ‘not designed with kids in mind’
Sustained support from health advocacy groups and concerned parents bolstered the long process for the bills to finally reach the Senate floor.
The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a series of videos featuring pediatricians explaining why they want to see lawmakers approve the online protections.
“The internet was not designed with kids in mind — and every day, pediatricians see the impacts of social media in their offices. That’s why they are making their voices heard,” according to the academy’s advocacy materials.
The organization has long advocated for safeguarding children and adolescents from addictive social media platforms and targeted digital advertising.
Opposition from ACLU
The legislation faces continued opposition from various advocacy groups across the political spectrum, including the American Civil Liberties Union, which planned to lobby on Capitol Hill with hundreds of teens Thursday against the Kids Online Safety Act.
“At its core, KOSA is an internet censorship bill that would harm the very communities it claims to protect,” Jenna Leventoff, the ACLU’s senior policy counsel, said in a statement Wednesday.
“The First Amendment guarantees everyone, including children, the right to access information free from censorship. We urge lawmakers to protect young people by listening to their concerns and voting no on the bill that could be used to silence them,” Levenoff said.
Paul, the no vote, described the legislation Thursday as “vague,” “bizarre” and a “Pandora’s box of unintended consequences.”
“While proponents of the bill claim that the bill is not designed to regulate content, imposing a duty of care on the internet platforms associated with mental health can only lead to one outcome, the stifling of First Amendment protected speech,” Paul said on the Senate floor Thursday specifically about the Kids Online Safety Act.
Paul criticized the legislation’s mandate for a Kid Online Safety Council housed within the Federal Trade Commission, dubbing the potential body as “the speech police.”
Blumenthal, Blackburn, Markey and Cassidy rebuked Paul on the Senate floor after he delivered his comments and offered an amendment to weaken the legislation.
Cassidy called the bills “bipartisan no-brainers.”
Blackburn rebutted Paul, saying the legislation was “years in the making.”
“We have worked tirelessly over three years to get this bill in shape,” she said.
“Without real and enforceable reforms,” Blackburn said, “social media companies will only continue to pay lip service to the issue of protecting children while putting profits over their safety.”
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