Kid’s Online Safety Act – What It Is and Why It’s a Big Deal

by Emily Washburn | August 30, 2024 | Government Updates

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Congress could pass landmark social media regulations in as little as a month, pending the House of Representatives’ vote on the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).

The bill, which the Senate passed in a near-unanimous 91-3 vote on July 30, would expand online child safety protections and regulate how online platforms interact with minors. It’s the first online child protection bill to pass the chamber since the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in 1998.

Supporters laud KOSA for curtailing some of social media’s most addictive and dangerous features. Critics say it’s a regulatory and privacy nightmare waiting to happen.

There are pro-family advocates on both sides.

The Act

KOSA aims to reduce the harms minors experience after spending too much time online, including mental illness, addiction-adjacent behavior, physical and cyberbullying, sexual exploitation and abuse, and financial harms. The bill primarily applies to social media platforms, though some interactive gaming platforms could also be affected.

KOSA requires affected platforms offer a set of default safeguards for minors’ accounts:

Limiting who can communicate with the minor or view their profile.
Stopping other entities from viewing and tracking minors’ data.
Limiting addictive features like infinite scrolling, auto-play and rewards for spending time on the platform.
Limiting personalized recommendation systems by organizing content chronologically or limiting the types of content that are suggested.
Restricting location sharing and notifying the user if their location is being tracked.

These settings help keep kids from accidentally stumbling into something inappropriate, but they don’t hide inappropriate results if kids search for them. That’s why KOSA also requires platforms create tools allowing parents to:

Manage a minor’s privacy and account settings.
Restrict the minor’s ability to purchase or engage in other financial transactions.
View and limit how much time a minor can spend on the platform.

KOSA includes revisions to COPPA, a law preventing online companies from collecting some kinds of personal data from children without permission. The revisions expand the kinds of companies that must follow COPPA and the kinds of data that can’t be collected without permission. In practice, it would require social media companies to obtain parental consent for a child under 13 years old to begin using their service.

KOSA also requires an increased degree of transparency from affected companies. Platforms would have to:

Warn parents and minors about the potential dangers of using their services.
Clearly disclose marketing and advertising content.
Explain how they create personal recommendation algorithms — and allow users to opt out.

Affected platforms would also have to set up a reporting system for parents, children and schools to alert the company if their safety tools aren’t working.

Companies could be sued by state attorneys general if they fail to comply with KOSA. The bill charges the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with determining what compliance would look like — and what kinds of conduct could get a business sued.

The FTC would also be allowed to investigate KOSA violations as “unfair or deceptive business practices.”

Regulatory Infrastructure

KOSA does more than impose regulations on social media companies — it creates a federal system to determine and enforce the requirements.

It requires affected platforms to comply with an annual third-party audit to determine if — and how — it harmed minors. The findings would be released in a mandatory transparency report.

KOSA creates a Kids Online Safety Council, which would consult with the FTC to create compliance guidelines for affected companies.

It commissions no less than five national studies on the ways social media harms minors. The Kids Online Safety Council would help design these projects.

With an apparent eye toward future age verification systems built into smart devices, KOSA also commissions a study on the plausibility and impact of age verification at the device level.

Supporters

Michael Toscano, executive director of the Institute for Family Studies, puts the problem in perspective:

Despite the fact that a huge portion of social media consumers are kids, these platforms have been totally exempted from any regulation for child safety whatsoever.

Toscano blames this lack of regulation for the sneaky and addictive tactics social media companies use to hook kids. KOSA, he argues, will help break social media’s hold.

[The bill] gives parents and young Americans effective tools to make their own experiences on these platforms more age-appropriate, granting them the freedom to disable the most addictive features.

Senator Marsha Blackburn, one of KOSA’s authors, argues the legislation will “[help save countless innocent lives from being harmed online.

Parents whose children have suffered, and even died, from social media-related harms agree, welcoming KOSA as a way to force companies like Meta to take responsibility for their young users.

Perhaps unexpectedly, technology giants like X, Snap and Microsoft also support KOSA as a “necessary step in regulating tech companies … and protecting children from dangerous online content.”

Critics

Critics say the bill gives the government the power to determine what kinds of content are safe for kids. People on both sides of the political spectrum worry censorship could obscure information about important issues like abortion. In an X post explaining why he voted against KOSA, Senator Mike Lee from Utah wrote,

KOSA ignores the grievous damage against children by online pornographers, through both viewing and exploitation. Instead, this legislation empowers the FTC to censor any content it deems to cause “harm,” “anxiety,” or “depression,” in a way that could (and most likely would) be used to censor the expression of political, religious and other viewpoints disfavored by the FTC.

Senator Rand Paul joined Lee in voting against the bill, telling The New York Post,

The whole idea that we’re going to set up a committee and we’re going to give a vague definition of anxiety — and then say anything that causes anxiety we’re going to give a group the power to regulate — is bizarre.

Others worry about KOSA’s apparent support of age verification technology, which detractors claim violates user privacy.

Some tech companies stand by the age-old argument that third-party host platforms shouldn’t be held responsible for the content people post.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, one of KOSA’s authors, argues the bill doesn’t change social media company’s responsibility for inappropriate content — only for their business practices.

“[We’re making] social media platforms accountable for the harms they’ve caused with the product design and business decisions they’ve made,” he explains.

Blumenthal and Blackburn assuage worries about censorship on the KOSA information page, which explains that the bill doesn’t create any content regulations or give officials extra authority to prosecute people for what they post.

Looking Ahead

House Speaker Mike Johnson hasn’t committed to bringing up the bill, though he told the Verge he’s “committed to working to find a consensus in the House.” Should KOSA pass the House, President Joe Biden has all but said he will sign it. The representatives will reconvene on September 9.

Even if KOSA becomes a law, opponents could challenge it in court and stall its implementation.

Why It Matters

Like many worthy endeavors, protecting kids online is a painstaking and controversial process. Parents and concerned citizens must exercise self-discipline and discernment — especially when the issue divides people who support families. So keep up with KOSA, do your research and don’t be afraid to join the conversation.

To learn about protecting kids in your state, contact your state Family Policy Council.

Additional Articles and Resources

Survey Finds Teens Use Social Media More Than Four Hours Per Day — Here’s What Parents Can Do

Surgeon General Recommends Warning on Social Media Platforms

Four Ways to Protect Your Kids from Bad Tech, from Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt

Social Psychologist Finds Smartphones and Social Media Harm Kids in These Four Ways

The Harmful Effects of a Screen-Filled Culture on Kids

Florida School District Bans Cellphones, Gets Results

‘Big Tech’ Device Designs Dangerous for Kids, Research Finds

Horrifying Instagram Investigation Indicts Modern Parenting

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