• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, August 1, 2024

The controversial Kids Online Safety Act, which was passed by the Senate earlier this week, reportedly will not move forward in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill aimed to address potential harms associated with social media use by teens, including depression, eating disorders, and online bullying.

The measure would have required tech platforms to guard against those harms when implementing design features such as personalized recommendations, notifications and appearance-altering filters.

The proposed law would have tasked the Federal Trade Commission with issuing guidance to platforms.

Lawmakers in the Senate voted 91-3 in favor of the bill, but House leadership plans to let the measure die without a vote, according to a report in Thursday's Punchbowl News.

While some youth advocates supported the bill, a broad array of critics -- including the Interactive Advertising Bureau, civil liberties groups and conservative organizations -- expressed concern that it could unconstitutionally restrict publishers' ability to serve content to teens.

Among the opponents was Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who argued that the measure “opens the door to nearly limitless content regulation.”

“While the intent of this legislation is laudable, the bill raises significant First Amendment concerns, imposes vague, undefined requirements on internet platforms, and empowers politically motivated enforcers to advance their own ideological interests to the detriment of the American people,” he wrote in a July 24 letter to colleagues.

“Should platforms stop children from seeing climate-related news because climate change is one of the leading sources of anxiety amongst younger generations?” he wrote. “Should they stop children from seeing coverage of international conflicts because it could lead to depression? Should pro-life groups have their content censored because platforms worry that it could impact the mental well-being of teenage mothers?”

The advocacy group Fight for the Future, which opposed the bill, cheered news that the House won't vote on the measure.

Evan Greer, the group's director, called the bill “dangerous and misguided.”

“It’s infuriating that Congress wasted so much time and energy on a deeply flawed and controversial bill while failing to advance real measures to address the harms of Big Tech,” Greer stated Thursday, citing concerns about “surveillance capitalism,” among other issues.