Senators signal bipartisan support for kids’ online safety proposal

Senators emerged unified from a Tuesday hearing about the ways social media affects children and teenagers, pledging to tackle the issue in a divided Congress.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee heard from a panel of advocates and experts, including Kristin Bride, the parent of a son who died by suicide in 2020 after receiving anonymous messages on a feature through Snapchat, and Emma Lembke, the founder of the Generation Z-led group Log Off Movement. 

The advocates warned about the harmful impact social media can have on kids and teens, from anonymous cyberbullying online to apps boosting pro-eating disorder content, that they said must be checked by new regulations from Congress. 

“Make no mistake, unregulated social media is a weapon of mass destruction that continues to jeopardize the safety, privacy and well-being of all American youth,” Lembke said. 

“It’s time to act. And I urge you senators to take meaningful steps to regulate these companies, not just for our generation and my generation but with my generation,” she added.  

Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said the panel plans to invite leaders of social media companies to appear before it soon and pledged to hold a markup of legislative proposals meant to mitigate the concerns raised by the panel of experts. 

Lawmakers rallied around one proposal in particular: the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) led by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).

The legislation would create a duty of care for social media platforms to prevent and mitigate harm to minors from content involving self-harm, suicide and pro-eating disorder views, meaning they would be legally obligated to prevent such content from being promoted to minors online.

It would also require platforms to put the strictest privacy settings in place as the default setting for minors. 

KOSA received rare unanimous support in the Senate Commerce Committee last year following a series of hearings with executives from Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok, but the Senate adjourned last year with holding a vote to pass the bill out of the chamber.

“Beyond heartbreak, what I feel is outrage,” Blumenthal said of the Senate not passing KOSA.

The senator slammed “Big Tech” for “pillaging the public interest with its armies of lobbyists and lawyers despite their pledges of collaboration.” 

Social media companies broadly have said they are taking action to mitigate these concerns themselves. For example, Facebook parent company Meta, which faced scrutiny after whistleblower Frances Haugen came forward in the fall of 2021, touted the launch of safety features such as anti-bullying tools that let users delete comments in bulk and expert-backed eating disorder resources.

Social media companies have also made design changes to comply with new regulations in other countries, such as the United Kingdom’s Age Appropriate Design Code, which calls for similar action as KOSA.

Although KOSA has bipartisan support, it is also facing opposition from some critics who are concerned about its potential impact on children’s privacy.

A coalition of more than 90 human rights and LGBTQ groups sent a letter to Senate leaders in November, amid a push from supporters to add KOSA to must-pass omnibus legislation, warning them that the bill could in fact undermine the goals it sets out to protect children. 

The groups argued the bill could “effectively” force tech companies to use “invasive filtering and monitoring tools” that jeopardize private and secure communications and put pressure on tech companies to “over-moderate” content in a way that could limit access to information for LGBTQ youth.

Mitch Prinstein, chief science officer at the American Psychological Association, testified at Tuesday’s hearing that it is important for senators to recognize that online discrimination, including anti-LGBTQ posts, has a direct effect on users’ mental health. At the same time, he warned lawmakers that the online community provides “vital health information” and online social support to youth in the LGBTQ community. 

“It is a complex situationbut one that deserves tremendous attention,” he said. 

Other proposals discussed Tuesday face more roadblocks ahead. 

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), for example, is proposing creating a federal mandate to require users to be at least 16 years old to use social media. Many mainstream social media platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, require users to be at least 13 years old. 

Lembke warned that even if age restrictions are in place, kids and teens will find ways to circumnavigate them. 

Blumenthal told reporters before the hearing that age or other restrictions are “meaningless” if they are not enforceable, citing KOSA as the way forward to add guardrails to help kids and parents.