Sadly, it might actually pass this time.
“Senator Blackburn and I made a promise to parents and young people when we started fighting together for the Kids Online Safety Act – we will make this bill law. There’s undeniable awareness of the destructive harms caused by Big Tech’s exploitive, addictive algorithms, and inescapable momentum for reform,” said Senator Blumenthal. “I am grateful to Senators Thune and Schumer for their leadership and to our Senate colleagues for their overwhelming bipartisan support. KOSA is an idea whose time has come – in fact, it’s urgently overdue – and even tech companies like X and Apple are realizing that the status quo is unsustainable. Our coalition is bigger and stronger than ever before, and we are committed to seeing this measure protecting children on the internet signed into law.”
“Big Tech platforms have shown time and time again they will always prioritize their bottom line over the safety of our children, and I’ve heard too many heartbreaking stories to count from parents who have lost a child because these companies have refused to make their platforms safer by default,” said Senator Blackburn. “We would never allow our children to be exposed to pornography, sexual exploitation, drugs, alcohol, and traffickers in the physical space, but these platforms are allowing this every single day in the virtual space. Congress must not cave to the wills and whims of Big Tech, and we must not be bullied into submission. Now is the time to stand up and protect future generations from harm by passing KOSA.”
“I have been a longtime advocate for holding Big Tech accountable for its manipulative algorithms,” said Majority Leader Thune. “Consumers deserve more transparency about how these platforms amplify and suppress content, which is why I’m proud to support the Kids Online Safety Act. Senator Blackburn has done a tremendous amount of work to deliver a bill that takes real steps to empower families and mitigate the harm social media can do to children, and I’m grateful for her leadership on the issue.”
“I am proud to support this bipartisan legislation which provides necessary guardrails to protect our kids. Too many kids have had their personal data collected and used nefariously. Too many families have lost kids after they took their own lives because of what happened to them on social media. I thank these brave parents and families for sharing their stories. Keeping our kids safe from online threats should not be a partisan issue, I thank my Senate colleagues for championing these bills and I look forward to swift passage,” said Minority Leader Schumer.