After passing the Senate nearly unanimously last week, the future of the Children’s Online Safety Act (KOSA) appears uncertain. Congress is now on a six-week recess, and reports from Punchbowl News indicate that House Republican leadership may not prioritize bringing the bill to a vote when lawmakers return.
In response to the Punchbowl report, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released a statement saying, “Just a week ago, Speaker Johnson said he would like to end KOSA. I hope that hasn’t changed. Rental of KOSA and [the Children and Teens’ Online Protection Act] gathering dust in the House would be a terrible mistake and an instinct — an instinct for these brave, wonderful parents who have worked so hard to get this far.” The bill also received support from Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
But the bill created a huge divide among the digital rights and technology accountability community. If passed, the legislation would require online platforms to block users under 18 from viewing certain types of content the government deems harmful.
Supporters of the measure, which include the Tech Oversight Project, a nonprofit focused on technology accountability through antitrust law, saw the bill as a significant step toward holding tech companies accountable for how their products affect children.
“Too many young people, parents, and families have experienced the terrible consequences resulting from the greed of social media companies,” Sasha Howarth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, said in a statement in June. “The accountability that KOSA would provide for these families is long overdue.”
Others, such as the digital rights nonprofit Center for Technology and Democracy, said that if enacted, the law could be used to prevent young users from accessing critical information on topics such as sexual health and LGBTQ+ issues . That meant some organizations that regularly lobbied for Silicon Valley accountability sided with tech companies and their lobbyists in trying to kill the bill.
“KOSA is not ready for a vote,” Alia Bhatia, a policy analyst at the Center for Technology and Democracy’s Free Expression Project, said in a statement in July. “In its current form, KOSA can still be abused to target marginalized communities and politically sensitive information.”
