The Senate Commerce Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to advance the Kids Online Safety Act, a key measure that would require companies to develop online platforms with children’s safety in mind — but offered few signs that Congress has reached consensus on the debate about how to protect young people on the internet.
The measure, championed by Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), would increase protections for minors’ data and require platforms to give users the option to opt out of personalized algorithms.
“We’re sending a message to Big Tech that the era of Big Tech profiting off of our children is over,” Blackburn said during the committee markup — while acknowledging that it differs dramatically from a competing kids’ safety bill in the House.
For now at least, the Senate bill’s advancement represents a major win for kids’ safety advocates who have repeatedly called on committee members to advance KOSA as written, including a crucial provision known as “duty of care.”
And not all the kids’ safety bills the panel considered Wednesday morning are moving forward.
Senate Commerce lawmakers earlier in the markup failed to advance an age verification measure because the panel did not reach quorum in a 15-13 voice vote. That legislation has provoked concerns from some Silicon Valley companies as well as free speech advocates, who contend it would imperil anonymity on the internet.
The duty of care provision, central to the Senate version, was omitted from the House measure in the kids’ safety package the chamber passed in June.
“The Senate cannot and will not accept the version that the House passed earlier. It is toothless, and it is a very pale imitation of the Senate version, and therefore it is a pale imitation of big tech accountability,” Blackburn said during the committee markup.
KOSA could now head to the Senate floor for a full vote. The bill previously passed the chamber overwhelmingly by a 91-3 vote in 2024 but subsequently stalled in the House.
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