WASHINGTON, DC – As the Senate held a landmark cloture vote on the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, with 86 Senators voting to move forward to final passage of the bill, The Tech Oversight Project Executive Director Sacha Haworth released the following statement:
“As advocates for children’s health, online safety, and tech accountability, we’re thrilled to see this day. Today’s vote is a huge win for holding companies like Meta, TikTok, Google, and Snap accountable and protecting America’s youth. In the face of fierce Big Tech lobbying, this victory shows the power of youth and parent advocates who pushed tirelessly for change. The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act will shift responsibility to platforms, demanding that companies stop prioritizing engagement metrics and ad revenue over children’s well-being and instead give young people and parents better controls and a safer online experience. Now, we urge Senators to vote overwhelmingly for final passage and the House to act quickly. This is a public health crisis, and protecting young lives can’t wait.”
About the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act
The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act includes provisions from Senator Markey’s COPPA 2.0 bill as well as the following provisions from KOSA:
- Requiring social media platforms to proactively design their platforms and algorithms with safety and well-being in mind— such as specific mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and suicidal behaviors, addiction, bullying, sexual exploitation, and the sale of illicit drugs to minors.
- Giving minors tools to restrict the collection and public visibility of their private information.
- Disabling addictive product features like autoplay and infinite scroll.
- Allowing minors to opt out of manipulative algorithmic recommendations.
- Enabling the strongest safety settings by default.
- Holding online platforms accountable through annual, independent auditing.
Big Tech’s fight against KOSA
Since its introduction in 2022, Big Tech has viewed KOSA as a must-defeat bill because its passage would mark a significant bipartisan breakthrough in their anti-regulation stormwall. But lawmakers and the American public increasingly recognize the Big Tech lobby’s true agenda: maximizing profits for Silicon Valley giants while denying any and all consumer safeguards.