• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, July 30, 2024

The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bill that would impose sweeping restrictions on tech companies' ability to serve content to minors and handle their data.

But the measure's fate is uncertain, given that it's expected to face opposition in the House of Representatives.

The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, approved 91-3, combines two previously separate bills -- the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), introduced by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0), introduced by Senators Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) and Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana).

The online safety portions of the bill aim to tackle potential harms associated with social media use, including depression, eating disorders, and online bullying. Those safety provisions would require tech platforms to use “reasonable care” to avoid harming minors via design features such as personalized recommendations, notifications and appearance-altering filters.

The bill tasks the Federal Trade Commission -- which is led by the president's party -- with issuing guidance to platforms regarding online safety.

Some youth advocates support KOSA, contending the restrictions will force tech companies to protect teens from material that could encourage drug use, self-harm or suicide.

But a broad array of opponents -- including civil liberties groups and tech industry organizations -- say the bill could empower government officials to effectively censor content they deem inappropriate for teens.

The digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation warned Tuesday that the bill gives the FTC the ability "to decide what kind of content 'harms' minors, then investigate or file lawsuits against websites that host that content.” 

The tech industry-funded think tank Chamber of Progress expressed similar concerns.

“Giving the next president the power to crack down on online speech poses a massive threat to our constitutional rights,” Todd O'Boyle, Chamber of Progress senior tech policy director, stated Tuesday. “If there’s one thing the far left and far right agree on, it’s that the next chair of the FTC shouldn’t get to decide what online posts are harmful.”

The Interactive Advertising Bureau executive vice president Lartease Tiffith likewise stated last week that the organization “is particularly worried about provisions that may limit free speech, effectively placing government oversight on platform content decisions.”

Some opponents have expressed specific concerns that the bill would allow government officials to target platforms that allow teens to access LGBTQ content, on the theory that such material is harmful.

Conservatives also have voiced fears that the bill will encourage platforms to aggressively filter any controversial speech, including posts that carry right-wing messages.

The anti-abortion group Students for Life Action tweeted last week that KOSA threatens “pro-life free speech.”

“Already the Pro-Life Generation faces discrimination, de-platforming, and short-and-long term bans from social media based on the whims of others,” the group posted to X (formerly Twitter). “Students for Life Action calls for a NO vote on KOSA to prevent viewpoint discrimination from becoming federal policy at the FTC.”

Earlier this year, a House subcommittee advanced a companion version of KOSA, but with the expectation that the bill would be revised before reaching the House floor.

Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-New Jersey) said at the time that KOSA “runs the risk of creating additional harm” to young people by giving social media companies an incentive to suppress material.

Critics also argue that the bill could lead tech companies to implement age verification systems, which could compromise people's privacy as well as their ability to access content anonymously.

The other portion of the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, COPPA 2.0, would prohibit websites and apps from collecting personal information -- including data stored on cookies, device identifiers and other pseudonymous information used for ad targeting -- from teens between the ages of 13 and 15, without first obtaining their explicit consent.

That portion of the bill would also ban targeted marketing to children and teens, and would require tech companies to allow users to delete personal information from users under the age of 17.

The self-regulatory privacy group Network Advertising Initiative praised the Senate's move, stating that “responsible companies” don't want to collect or use children's data for targeted advertising.

Federal law already prohibits websites and apps from knowingly collecting personal information from children under 13 without parental consent.

The proposed updates would revise that standard by imposing liability if websites and apps have “knowledge fairly implied on the basis of objective circumstances that a user is a child or teen.”