Reed Seeks to Improve Online Safety & Hold Social Media Companies Accountable

WASHINGTON, DC - In an effort to provide parents with tools to protect children online and hold big tech platforms accountable, the U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote this week on a bipartisan pair of children's online safety bills backed by U.S. Senator Jack Reed. A cloture vote to end debate on the package is scheduled for later today.

Amid rising concerns over children's mental health, Reed, a cosponsor of the Kids Online Safety Act (S. 1409), says it is past time for Congress to better protect minors online from the dangers of harassment, bullying, anxiety, sex abuse, and extortion on social media platforms. After years of hearings and debate, Reed supports a legislative package that would place needed guardrails on popular social media sites used by children, such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and X.

The Kids Online Safety Act, also known as KOSA, would provide kids and parents with better tools to protect themselves online, hold tech and social media accountable for harms to children, and provide transparency into black box algorithms. Essentially, the bill would require companies to default to stringent privacy and safety settings, rather than putting the onus on youth and parents to navigate through complicated platforms. Tech companies would be required to "exercise reasonable care" to prevent their products from endangering child users, including through design features that could exacerbate depression, sexual exploitation, bullying, harassment and other harms. It also would require online companies to provide guardians with more control over minors' use of a platform and prevent certain features, such as autoplay. And it would require these companies to offer a dedicated page on which users can report harmful content.

The second bill in the legislative package, known as the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) modernizes the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998. COPPA 2.0 would institute basic privacy protections for users under age 13, strengthen data privacy rights, and target Big Tech's underlying incentive to keep young people scrolling, clicking, and 'liking' content online for as long as possible. This legislation would prohibit internet companies from collecting personal information from teenage children without their consent and it would ban targeted advertising to children and teens. It would also help create an 'Eraser Button' by requiring companies to permit users to eliminate personal information from a child or teen when technologically feasible.

"Social media can have a profound impact on children, offering both benefits and serious health risks. There can and should be commonsense, appropriate guardrails to help parents protect their kids, while also upholding civil liberties and free speech. This week, the Senate is coming together on a bipartisan basis to strengthen children's online privacy and safety laws and give parents more tools to protect their kids. After healthy debate and careful consideration, this targeted, bipartisan legislation would protect children's privacy and restrict algorithms from pushing harmful content and endless scrolling onto kids. It would hold social media companies accountable for their actions and crack down on the practice of targeting teens with manipulative content," said Senator Reed, who noted that U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has called for a surgeon general's warning label on social media platforms.

According to Social Media and Youth Mental Health, there is growing evidence that social media is causing harm to young people's mental health. Additionally, the American Psychological Association (APA) issued a health advisory on Social Media Use in Adolescence that outlines the science behind why certain features, functions, and content on social media can be harmful to young people.

COPPA 2.0 was unanimously approved by the Senate Commerce Committee last July and KOSA was unanimously approved by the same committee last August.

If the combined measure is approved by the full U.S. Senate it would then require passage in the U.S. House of Representatives before it could be sent to President Joe Biden's signature to become law.

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