WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate today passed bipartisan legislation cosponsored by Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) to provide young people and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency they need to protect against online harm to minors. The Senate-passed Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSPA) includes the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)—led by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)—which requires social media platforms to put the well-being of children first by providing an environment that is safe by default. The legislation, which is first major reform to the tech industry since 1998, passed by a vote of 91-3.
“Social media is making our young people more vulnerable to cyberbullying, addiction, and long-term mental health challenges,” Senator Romney said. “Social media companies have failed to institute measures to adequately protect children and teenagers from these hazards, and we have little indication that things will change without legislative action. With the passage of this legislation, we are taking strong strides toward better protecting our youth from the harmful effects that come with being online.”
“Today, the Senate took a major step forward in protecting children online by passing the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act,” said Senator Blackburn. “This legislation provides young people and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency they need to protect against online harms. I want to thank Senator Blumenthal for his excellent partnership, along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for helping us carry this across the finish line in the Senate. I also appreciate our House champions for pushing this legislation. The Senate passage of KOSA could not have been possible without the support of the over 240 organizations lined up behind this legislation and the hundreds of parents that have flown to Washington on their own dime to lobby Congress and push this legislation forward. The 91 Senators from across the political spectrum that stood up to Big Tech and voted in favor of this legislation have helped save countless innocent lives from being exploited online.”
“This moving and historic day marks a major win for our children. Anyone who doubted whether we’d reach this milestone has never met our advocates – the parents who have lost children and the young people who refused to be treated like Big Tech piggy banks,” said Senator Blumenthal. “Through their shared grief, these families worked with grit and grace to be some of the most dedicated and devoted advocates my colleagues have ever seen. I am deeply grateful to Senators Schumer and McConnell for moving the Kids Online Safety Act through the Senate and to Chair Cantwell and Ranking Member Cruz for their leadership on the Commerce Committee. We are excited now to work with our champions in the House of Representatives. I am confident that the support of our large, diverse, determined coalition will get this bill across the finish line. It will be the first internet safety reform in nearly three decades – a resounding bipartisan achievement showing democracy still works.”
Background:
The Kids Online Safety Act will help keep our children safer online by:
- Requiring social media platforms to provide minors with options to protect their information, disable addictive product features, and opt out of personalized algorithmic recommendations.
- Giving parents new controls to help protect their children and spot harmful behaviors, and provides parents and educators with a dedicated channel to report harmful behavior;
- Creating a duty for online platforms to prevent and mitigate specific dangers to minors, including promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, and advertisements for certain illegal products (e.g. tobacco and alcohol); and
- Ensuring that parents and policymakers know whether online platforms are taking meaningful steps to address risks to kids by requiring independent audits and research into how these platforms impact the well-being of kids and teens.
As part of Romney’s efforts to protect our youth from the harmful effects smartphones and social media, he also recently introduced the Smart Kids Not Smartphones Act, bipartisan legislation aimed at reducing the usage of smartphones by children in the classroom. The legislation would establish a non-competitive, non-monetary recognition award program—administered by the Department of Education (ED)—to highlight and celebrate any school that has and enforces a policy prohibiting the use of smartphones by students during instructional hours.