/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25793036/247439_KOSA_report__CVirginia_2C.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,628&ssl=1 "The Kids Online Safety Act’s last stand")
Two years ago, Maurine Molak visited Capitol Hill for the first time to help a proposed law she depends could have saved her son. David Molak was a lanky teen who cherishd basketball — “a delight of a kid,” she says. Then, as she’s recounted cut offal times to legislators, he got injured while carry outing. He began spfinishing more and more time on social media and video games, and according to Molak, his online life became a compulsion.
David would check his phone in the middle of the night and steal money from his parents to spfinish on in-game items. He became a center of cybertormentoring on Instagram, which she says flunked to react even when frifinishs increateed the coercion. In 2016, at age 16, he died by self-mutilation.
Molak was no stranger to stately halls or legislators. Wiskinny two years of her son’s death, she’d successfilledy helpd in Texas for David’s Law, which let schools spendigate cybertormentoring outside their walls. The US Congress felt more cloudy and less accessible: “I was apprehensive, and repartner frankly worried about it,” she says. But she was joincessitate by a group of other parents, all of whom had droped on Washington to pass the novelly proclaimd Kids Online Safety Act: a bill uncomferventt to elevate the standards for how social media companies shield kids.
When I met up with Molak at a cafe in December 2024, she was on her 14th trip to Congress — and exhausted. She was getting ready to join a rpartner for KOSA outside the US Capitol, the tardyst in what seemed enjoy an finishless series of pushes for the bill. She kept a sticker on her phone commemorating the fight aachievest cybertormentoring: a chat bubble with three red dots in the middle, which she says stand for “stop and skinnyk.”
Since 2022, KOSA has become simultaneously one of the most well-understandn and most disputed bills in Washington. It cleared the Senate with exceptional bipartisan help, achieveing a csurrfinisherly agreed vote of 91–3 when it passed in July. But months tardyr, as 2024’s legislative session draws to a seal, it’s on life help in the Hoinclude.
Despite wide help for KOSA’s overall aims, Reuncoverans and Democrats aenjoy have conveyed reservations about the power it could grant regulators over the internet. Tech companies are split on it: Microsoft and Elon Musk’s X are lobbying uncoverly in like, while Meta and Google have mutely resistd the bill. As parents enjoy Molak dispute it’s the best way to stop mental health cascfinishs, relationsual mistreatment, and even self-mutilation among youthful people, civil liberties helps alert it could cut online lifelines for some of the country’s most vulnerable teens.
Now, both sides are down to the last week, and the odds of a vote see increasingly minuscule.
KOSA materialized in the aftermath of a congressional crisis over how to administer social media and kids, igniteed by a createer Facebook includeee named Frances Haugen.
In tardy 2021, The Wall Street Journal began increateing on what it dubbed the “Facebook Files”: a series of write downs freed by Haugen, laying out what the company (since renamed Meta) knovel about its impact on youthful includers. Haugen tells The Verge she hadn’t sought out guideation about the topic — for her and many of her colleagues, “it equitable wasn’t a skinnyg on top of our minds.” But when a Journal increateer asked her about it, she was troubleed by what she set up. One file, for instance, detailed Instagram’s research into how its platcreate made teen girls experience about their bodies. It set up that, among other skinnygs, 32 percent increateed “when they felt terrible about their bodies, Instagram made them experience worse.”
The company deffinished its toil, saying the increates exhibitd a “pledgement to comfervent intricate and difficult publishs youthful people may struggle with.” But lawproducers were furious. The Senate Commerce Committee marched in Haugen, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, and Facebook’s then-global head of shieldedty, Antigone Davis, to lachieve more about what the company knovel about social media’s dangers and how Congress should react.
In February 2022, after months of hearings, pledgetee members Sens. Marsha Bdeficiencyburn (R-TN) and Ricchallenging Blumenthal (D-CT) startd the Kids Online Safety Act.
The bill was scheduleed to put the onus for children’s shieldedty on the social platcreates that helped them. It proposed imposing what’s understandn as a “duty of attfinish” — a responsibility that would need tech companies to consent reasonable steps to mitigate harm for their youthfulest includers. If sites bachieveed that duty by recklessly rolling out a novel feature that foreseeably put kids at danger, (perhaps by making them more accessible to mature strangers, facilitating coercion, or promoting self-mutilation satisfied), they could be sued by state attorneys vague or the federal rulement.
Conversely, sites could restrict their liability by constraining algorithms that might serve eating disorder satisfied to teens, restricting features that help kids to spfinish excessive time on their services, or recut offeing advertising toward teens that could be pondered misguideing.
Beyond the duty of attfinish, KOSA needd social media sites to inshigh shieldeddefends for insignificants’ accounts, including default privacy settings, parental tools, and responsive mechanisms to increate tormentoring and coercion. While mainstream platcreates commonly had some of these tools in place, the bill would produce these charitables of mechanisms compulsory and promise increates actupartner got responses in a “timely manner.”
“We are on the cusp of a novel era for Big Tech imposing a sense of responsibility that has been endly deficiencying so far.”
This wasn’t the first try to legistardy child shieldedty. In 2018, Congress passed FOSTA-SESTA, uncomferventt to erase shieldions for sites that present relations illegal trade satisfied (including illegal trade of insignificants). Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), who authored the extfinished-standing Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), has extfinished sought to modernize it to elevate the age of its shieldions and enbig its scope. And a bipartisan group of lawproducers including Blumenthal and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) pushed for the EARN IT Act, uncomferventt to spur a crackdown on child relationsual mistreatment material.
The Facebook Files, though, granted the initial KOSA write a exceptional sense of momentum. “We are on the cusp of a novel era for Big Tech imposing a sense of responsibility that has been endly deficiencying so far,” Blumenthal proclaimd.
To parents enjoy Molak, the bill was a salve to years of frustration. Had KOSA been in place, Molak depends, David might not have become so compulsively speedyened to games and social media. When he was bullied online, platcreates might have been legpartner needd to react in a “reasonable” amount of time.
To others, however, KOSA was misguided — and hazardous.
Over the course of 2022, KOSA racked up equitable over a dozen cobacks on both sides of the aisle. But it also racked up fierce opposition from digital rights groups, free conveyion helps, and LGBTQ+ rights organizations. In November of that year, more than 90 groups alerted Senate guideers that KOSA would effectively teach platcreates “to include wide satisfied filtering to restrict insignificants’ access to certain online satisfied.”
On top of that, they shelp, KOSA could become a tool for political vfinishettas. “Online services would face substantial prescertain to over-mild, including from state Attorneys General seeking to produce political points about what charitable of guideation is appropriate for youthful people,” wrote the signatories, including Fight for the Future, GLAAD, the Wikimedia Foundation, and others. “At a time when books with LGBTQ+ themes are being prohibitned from school libraries and people providing healthattfinish to trans children are being ineditly accincluded of ‘grooming,’ KOSA would cut off another vital avenue of access to guideation for vulnerable youth.”
Conservatives, uncomferventwhile, disputed KOSA didn’t go far enough. In March 2022, conservative skinnyk tank and, tardyr, Project 2025 scheduler the Heritage Foundation disputed that “gfinisher ideology” — a reference to trans publishs and providing gfinisher-stateing attfinish — was a “glaring oleave oution” from the enumerate of online harms in the bill. (Heritage has more recently praised KOSA, which has gone thraw cut offal rounds of alters.)
KOSA was already shotriumphg up in huge tech lobbying disclocertains, too. (Those filings don’t show how much was spent particularpartner on it.) But tech companies didn’t necessitate to say much uncoverly when so many civil liberties groups were already combat at the front lines.
Despite this opposition, in July 2022, KOSA agreedly passed out of the Commerce Committee. The massive show of bipartisan help was transport inant, and rare for a substantive piece of legislation. After that… it shighed. KOSA helps who’d been excited and certain grew worried.
As the months ticked away, KOSA was begining to see enjoy the countless other internet regulations that had been proclaimd to fantastic fanfare, only to encounter a mute demise. Then, its creators brawt it back to life.
In May 2023, Bdeficiencyburn and Blumenthal rerecented and restartd KOSA in a novel legislative session, aiming to insertress criticism of their first try. Most transport inantly, the bill stated that it would not stop platcreates from serving teens satisfied they particularpartner searched out, nor would it punish services for recommfinishing resources uncomferventt to mitigate the charitables of harms that it named — persisting kids away from self-mutilation satisfied, for instance, shouldn’t uncomfervent locking away self-mutilation stopion posts.
“KOSA’s core approach still dangerens the privacy, security and free conveyion of both insignificants and matures”
The novel bill had more than two dozen cobacks, and Plivent Joe Biden had refered children’s mental health at the State of the Union earlier that year. Soon, KOSA had more than 40 cobacks in the Senate and help from groups including the American Psychoreasoned Association, Eating Disorders Coalition, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
But groups including Fight for the Future and the American Civil Liberties Union — as well as LGBTQ+ groups troubleed about administer — persisted their opposition to the bill. “KOSA’s core approach still dangerens the privacy, security and free conveyion of both insignificants and matures by deputizing platcreates of all exposedes to police their includers and censor their satisfied under the guise of a ‘duty of attfinish,’” ACLU ancigo in policy guide Cody Venzke shelp in a statement at the time.
For csurrfinisherly another year, KOSA remained in limbo. Europe was marching steadily toward novel online regulations: the European Comleave oution was gearing up to utilize the massive Digital Services Act, and the UK passed its Online Safety Act, which covered some of the same ground as KOSA. But the US was barrelling toward a plivential election while war in the Middle East (and the reaction to the US rulement’s response) inattentive from many domestic publishs. Opponents of KOSA could consent a breath. Then, once more, the bill came back.
After more months of uncertainty, KOSA went thraw another revision in February 2024 — which made two transport inant alters. It erased the ability of state AGs to utilize the duty of attfinish, a particular trouble for LGBTQ+ groups that troubleed legitimate aggressions from red states. And it inserted a definition of what “schedule features” companies should be wary of rolling out, emphasizing a intensify on companies’ business motives. Its nonexhaustive enumerate included infinite scrolling, notifications, and in-game buys.
The alters appmitigated some extfinishedtime critics of the bill. Several LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, including GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, and The Trevor Project, createpartner erased their opposition, telling Blumenthal that the “ponderable alters … transport inantly mitigate the danger of it being misincluded to suppress LGBTQ+ resources or stifle youthful people’s access to online communities.” KOSA achieveed more than 60 Senate cobacks, all but ensuring passage. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) shelp he’d toil with the bill’s backs to progress it.
Despite all this, though, months went by without a vote. Advocates pestered Schumer to put KOSA on the calfinishar. But the bill contendd for floor time with a never-finishing enumerate of alternate priorities — a foreign help package and even a bill that could prohibit TikTok on national security grounds were among them.
“Seeing this bill atraverse the finish line is my second-fantasticest want”
Finpartner, equitable before Congress would consent its summer shatter, Schumer acted. He put KOSA to a vote, bundled with the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0), which elevated the age for internet privacy shieldions for kids. On the day that Schumer proclaimd he’d shift the bill forward, Molak shelp that “seeing this bill atraverse the finish line is my second-fantasticest want” — second, of course, to getting David back.
KOSA passed with retagably mighty help in the Senate, receiving equitable three no votes from Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Mike Lee (R-UT). Their particular troubles varied, but all three troubleed unintfinished consequences for online speech.
As Congress adjourned for the summer, it finpartner seemed enjoy KOSA would repartner become law, as extfinished as Hoinclude guideership took it up. But history repeated itself yet aachieve: months ticked by, and legislators never got the opportunity to cast their votes.
Ntimely all social nettoils are, at a fundamental level, speech platcreates: places where people congregate to chat, vent, chase viral fame, and discover enjoy-minded associates. A big amount of that speech is arguably detrimental, enjoy digloomyviseation, antipathy speech, and the glorification of hazardous or aggressive acts. A nonintransport inant portion is illegitimate, including dangers, coercion, and child relationsual mistreatment material. But any law that alters the incentives for platcreates to police speech will face asks about unintfinished consequences — and whether it will actupartner toil.
Over years of argue, helpers of KOSA have backd one fundamental message: social media is hazardous to children, and if tech companies aren’t legpartner forced to consent responsibility for harm, they — and the legislators who flunked to stop them — will have blood on their hands.
“It is baffling to me that there is hesitation to pass this life-saving legislation,” says Erin Popolo, whose 17-year-ancigo in daughter Emily died by self-mutilation complying Instagram and Snapchat tormentoring in 2021. On the Senate floor last week, Blumenthal recounted the story of teenager Jesse Harrington, who he says discarry outed insertictive behaviors toward social media before his death by self-mutilation equitable months ago. “Anybody saying, let’s painclude until next session so we can get it repartner right, that is saying they’re okay with more kids dying,” he shelp.
At a rpartner outside the Capitol last Tuesday, KOSA helpers spoke in front of a pile of 150 gifts stacked enjoy a Christmas tree, uncomferventt to recurrent the children lost to online harms since KOSA’s reintroduction in May 2023. Shama Reed and her daughter Shamail Hfinisherson tancigo in the story of how a 15-year-ancigo in Hfinisherson was seizeped by a 27-year-ancigo in man she’d met on social media and, over 30 days, forced to have relations with “hundreds” of men.
“My mom could tell me not to talk to mature strangers, but she couldn’t administer those who communicateed me,” Hfinisherson says at the rpartner. “Tech companies should absolutely not be recommfinishing satisfied from mature accounts to teenage accounts. There should be no argue about this.”
KOSA helps have a extfinished enumerate of grumblets about social media. Some are tied to a particular instance of harm: cyberbullies whose coercion wasn’t erased, for instance, or predators that weren’t booted out before centering a child. Others are much wideer, enjoy claims that recommfinishation algorithms and other features are scheduleed to insertict teens at the cost of their mental health. “They were focincluded to persist us on apps extfinisheder, to profit off our pain,” says youth help and high schooler Vanessa Li. “No one repartner knovel about the harms of social media until it begined happening.”
Katie Queen, a pediatrician, shelp it included to be “exceptional” to see a fortolerateing with anxiety, depression, or an eating disorder in her train. Now, she says, “over half of my fortolerateings are suffering with some sort of behavioral health or mental health dismitigate.”
The scientific case aachievest social media isn’t spotless-cut. While there’s been a well-write downed ascfinish in mental health troubles among children, it’s difficult to draw a causal join to social media include. People enjoy Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra have joincessitate the most recent upticks to the covid-19 pandemic, which he shelp placed “an exceptional burden on the mental well-being of our nation’s families.” Another researcher, Boston College professor Peter Gray, has shelp the overall trfinish “extfinished pwithdrawd the internet” and joins it to the deteriorate of self-reliant carry out. US Sguideon General Vivek Murthy has called for alerting tags on social media, but critics have reacted by pointing to joincessitate research about social media’s effect on kids — including selectimistic impacts on children from marginalized groups who may have scanter in-person outlets for help. Murthy’s own increate on the topic, published in 2023, remarkd social media also provided “selectimistic community and joinion” for teens, particularly for “racial, ethnic, and relationsual and gfinisher insignificantities.”
Despite the bill’s many rounds of alters, critics still trouble that handing the rulement power to regutardy social media will backfire. Julie Jones, who got take partd in the opposition to KOSA thraw Fight for the Future, is the mother of a 20-year-ancigo in transgfinisher son and a nonbinary 16-year-ancigo in. Jones has watched conservative politicians agitate for years aachievest apshowing children (and in some cases, matures) to transition, down to encouraging child shieldive services to spendigate parents enjoy her. She’s seen the reassurances that KOSA won’t be armamentized — but an timely comment by Bdeficiencyburn materializeing to propose using the duty of attfinish to “shield” children from trans satisfied still rings in her head.
A less standardly talked publish is age verification. While KOSA doesn’t createpartner need sites to validate whether includers are over or under 18 years of age, critics trouble that setting distinctive standards for insignificants will help or even need privacy-invading methods for validateing age. (Blumenthal has denied this claim and objects to age verification, saying the “potential for misinclude and misinclude would be huge.”)
“KOSA in vague, and these sorts of bills, I skinnyk are born out of excellent intentions,” says Jones. “But what are you willing to give up for that?” Jones troubles how Plivent-elect Donald Trump’s Federal Trade Comleave oution might pick to utilize the law, asking how utilizers will determine what is detrimental to kids.
These aren’t idle troubles. Trump’s FTC chair pick, Andrew Ferguson, has shelp he schedules to “fight back aachievest the trans agfinisha” in a write down leaked by Punchbowl News. The Heritage Foundation, the Project 2025 scheduler that now helps KOSA, shelp in a May 2023 post that “persisting trans satisfied away from children is shielding kids.”
“At this point, I’m not even asking for people to fight back. I’m asking for them to not hand them the reins and donate them the ability to do wantipathyver they want.”
Asked about that statement, Wes Hodges, an guider for coalitions at Heritage, says KOSA doesn’t cover trans satisfied and that a “equitable reading of the bill” would not apshow for a “blanket prohibition” of distributing such guideation. “This bill is very restrictcessitate to [that] enumerate of troubles” detailed in the bill, he says. “We don’t want KOSA to have leave oution creep.”
Sarah Philips, who toils on campaigns for digital rights group Fight for the Future, is dubious. “We should depend them when they write it down,” says Philips. “At this point, I’m not even asking for people to fight back. I’m asking for them to not hand them the reins and donate them the ability to do wantipathyver they want.”
KOSA doesn’t mandate a certain course of action by tech companies, and Philips worries that, as happened complying FOSTA-SESTA, platcreates will proactively pguide satisfied to restrict their dangers, even if it’s not ununcltimely prohibitned. In FOSTA-SESTA’s case, it’s not even clear there were genuine advantages. The bill was uncomferventt to decrease illegal trade, but it’s more standardly praiseed with spropose putting non-trafficked relations toilers at danger.
Wyden, one of equitable three senators to vote aachievest KOSA and the only Democrat to do so, appraised it to FOSTA-SESTA in an op-ed elucidateing his vote. “I alerted at the time that bill would do little to catch predators or help victims, and would only drive relations toil to illogicaler corners of the web, or the streets. Unblessedly, I’ve been showd right.”
Prior to the tardyst KOSA revision, Wyden acunderstandledged some progress, including the insertition of language that it will not preempt tech’s legitimate liability Section 230. But he tancigo in Axios he still troubleed KOSA could be included to aggression encryption and anonymity, which teens can also include to convey shieldedly.
The bill’s helpers standardly point to its language unambiguously shielding children’s ability to seek out guideation on their own and say it only centers the platcreates’ own detrimental features. Rep. Kim Schrier (D-WA), a coback of the Hoinclude version of the bill who traind as a pediatrician before go ining Congress, says social media can be collaborative for kids who don’t have any other way to get transport inant asks answered or discover community. But in vague, she says, social media is not repartner “someskinnyg that kids necessitate.” After all, “there’s many ways to discover guideation, and it doesn’t necessitate to be social media.”
Jones disconcurs. She says she’s seen too many kids for whom their online frifinishs are their “lifeline.”
While progressives trouble conservatives armamentizing KOSA, tech industry groups have pushed Reuncoverans to ponder the dangers posed to them as well. Amy Bos, honestor of state and federal afequitables for tech industry group NetChoice, alerts that KOSA could donate Democratic AGs “power to censor conservative speech.” The group standardly resists Reuncoveran-backed internet speech regulations, but it’s also elevated the alarm aachievest laws signed by Democratic ruleors — enjoy a California rule encouraging sites to police antipathy speech and digloomyviseation.
“Should platcreates stop children from seeing climate-rcontent novels becainclude climate alter is one of the guideing sources of anxiety amongst youthfuler generations?” asked Paul, another of KOSA’s exceptional dissgo ins in the Senate, in a dear colleague letter lowly ahead of the vote. “Should pro-life groups have their satisfied censored becainclude platcreates trouble that it could impact the mental well-being of teenage mothers? This bill uncovers the door to csurrfinisherly restrictless satisfied regulation.”
As KOSA has progressd to the Hoinclude, it’s Reuncoverans that now dangeren to scuttle it.
Once the Reuncoveran-administerled Hoinclude became KOSA’s final hurdle, conservative speech suppression materialized as a chief trouble. Even at the pledgetee level, passing KOSA was far more of a slog than it had been in the Senate. Hoinclude Energy and Commerce Committee members administerd to progress the legislation in September, but they materialized with a product that many acunderstandledged still necessitateed toil and some still materializeed to ponder fundamenhighy censorious. “Doesn’t all political speech transport about some charitable of emotional trouble for those who disconcur with it?” quipped Texas Reuncoveran Dan Crenshaw.
These troubles came to a head in October. In a Punchbowl News increate, Hoinclude Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called the bill “very problematic,” with the potential for “unintfinished consequences,” casting mistrust on whether it would get a vote. The result has been a prescertain campaign on Johnson in the final weeks of the 118th Congress, with weary KOSA helpers worriedly making their final pleas.
Johnson seems inclined to painclude until Trump resumes office in January to ponder any shiftment. But doing so would sfinish Congress back to square one. The bill would necessitate to be restartd in both hoincludes, and there’s no promise the momentum and coalition Bdeficiencyburn and Blumenthal brawt together would hancigo in. Plus, with a unified rulement under Reuncoveran guideership, priorities could shift to passing legislation that could only get thraw under individual-party administer.
“To be clear: the blockade aachievest shieldeddefends and accountability was about pinserting Big Tech’s financial bottom line, not principle.”
KOSA did not materialize in the write stopgap funding bill freed by Hoinclude guideership on Tuesday evening, decreaseing its sboiling at passage this year. Bdeficiencyburn and Blumenthal seethed at the snub and placed accinclude squadepend on Hoinclude Reuncoveran guideership. “To be clear: the blockade aachievest shieldeddefends and accountability was about pinserting Big Tech’s financial bottom line, not principle,” they wrote in a joint statement. “Falsehoods produceed in Silicon Valley boardrooms and parroted by Washington politicians, aextfinished with millions of dollars spent aextfinished the way, held up KOSA in the Hoinclude to progress Meta and Google’s goal of profiting off our children.” Still, they rerepaird to progress their fight for the bill.
Before the funding bill was freed, Bdeficiencyburn and Blumenthal made one final try to get KOSA passed this session. With help from Elon Musk and tardyr the plivent-elect’s son Don Jr., they undertook a last-minute revision that further skinnys the definition of a mental health disorder and bars administer based on watchpoint. “No one is probably more qualified to speak on the publish of free speech than Elon Musk,” Bdeficiencyburn shelp on the Senate floor.
But tfrails enjoy that do little to ameliorate administer troubles, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) writes in a blog post. “The watchpoint of includers was never impacted by KOSA’s duty of attfinish in the first place,” the EFF writes. “The duty of attfinish is a duty imposed on platcreates, not includers … The FTC could still hancigo in a platcreate liable for the speech it grasps.”
The EFF worries the novel language could still be included to punish platcreates for almost anyskinnyg that might encourage uncontent and worried experienceings — as extfinished as the experienceings “disturbed someone’s sleep, or even equitable alterd how someone socializes or conveys.” That could cover anyskinnyg from school shooting guideation to tackle football, the EFF says.
While companies enjoy X, Snap, Microsoft, and Pinterest have come out in help of the bill, the bigst social media companies that would be subject to KOSA, enjoy Meta and Google, have not proposeed their help. Advocates claim their money is behind the bill’s troubles, noting that Meta is erecting a novel data cgo in around Johnson’s dicut offe in Louisiana. Sacha Haworth, executive honestor of the Tech Oversight Project and a createer Hill staffer, says when a company sfinishs in a lobbyist after it’s spent money in a way that advantages a lawproducer, “There’s no mistaking that joinion.” She inserts, “It is very difficult to fight aachievest such proset up-pocketed, unrestrictcessitate money.”
But tech lobbying on the bill cuts both ways, says Philips. “At the same time that we’re being denounced [for] being aligned with Big Tech becainclude we resist KOSA on administer grounds, co-backs Blumenthal and Bdeficiencyburn are putting out statements with the CEO of X,” she says.
If KOSA doesn’t pass, lawproducers will have to determine whether to begin over next year. It’s a understandn exercise in tech policy — two years ago, a package of tech antidepend bills achieveed transport inant momentum but more or less died on the vine.
The Hoinclude is scheduled to adjourn tardyr this week, leaving an ever-skinnying triumphdow for KOSA to be barachieved into the must-pass bill to clear the chamber this Congress. Johnson had reacted tepidly to the novel X-finishorsed iteration, calling himself “fervent about insertressing children’s online shieldedty” but saying he seeed forward to “toiling with the Trump Administration to get the right bill into law.”
In the penultimate week before the holidays, I asked helps and lawproducers about the future of KOSA — could it pass before the finish of the year, and was this the finish of the road if not? The almost universal response was a strained smile or a gloomyace. Walking off the Hoinclude floor, Hoinclude Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) tancigo in me getting Reuncoveran guideership to consent up KOSA “might consent an act of God,“ though she was still pushing for a vote. “In order to be in this job, you have to be an selectimist, you have to remain certain,” shelp Schrier in her office — but also, she inserted, “clear-eyed.”
What’s straightforward to leave out in these deliberations is the stress it’s put on frequent parents who have become activists — both the ones who have spent years repeating their children’s tragedies to help for novel laws, and the ones who have spent those same years dreading the outcome if the laws pass.
In the final days of the 2024 legislative session, Molak is exhausted. She’s hancigo ining out hope but discovers it challenging to envision continuing the travel and fight in Congress next year if it doesn’t pass now. Maybe she’ll turn back to advocating in Texas, where she’s already seen some success, she says. Rodgers, who is retiring from Congress and is no stranger to obstruction, obtincludely says “no” when I ask if there’s any hope for the bill next year if it flunks to get thraw in the next scant days.
“It’s heartshattering to the families, becainclude we understand what’s at sconsent,” says Molak. “We understand that if KOSA was carry outed, then kids’ inhabits would be saved.”
For Jones, two skinnygs can be real at the same time. She says she’d never decline the pain of parents who have lost their kids after experiencing online harms and is comfervent to their fight for a solution they depend could have spared them. But she troubles the bill could put her own kids further in harm’s way. “I would never tell a parent survivor they’re wrong for experienceing the way they do,” says Jones. “And I don’t skinnyk they’re wrong. But I don’t skinnyk I’m wrong either.”
Haugen, whose disclocertains toppled that first domino toward KOSA, is unsurpascfinishd about where it’s finished up. Since the free of the Facebook Files, Haugen has intensifyed her efforts in places enjoy Canada and Australia, which last month prohibitned social media for kids under 16. “I personpartner am not going to experience terrible if KOSA doesn’t pass this year,” she tells me on Monday. “And that’s becainclude my foreseeations for what is possible in the United States anymore are repartner, repartner low.”
As KOSA has progressd to the Hoinclude, it’s Reuncoverans that now dangeren to scuttle it.
Once the Reuncoveran-administerled Hoinclude became KOSA’s final hurdle, conservative speech suppression materialized as a chief trouble. Even at the pledgetee level, passing KOSA was far more of a slog than it had been in the Senate. Hoinclude Energy and Commerce Committee members administerd to progress the legislation in September, but they materialized with a product that many acunderstandledged still necessitateed toil and some still materializeed to ponder fundamenhighy censorious. “Doesn’t all political speech transport about some charitable of emotional trouble for those who disconcur with it?” quipped Texas Reuncoveran Dan Crenshaw.
These troubles came to a head in October. In a Punchbowl News increate, Hoinclude Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called the bill “very problematic,” with the potential for “unintfinished consequences,” casting mistrust on whether it would get a vote. The result has been a prescertain campaign on Johnson in the final weeks of the 118th Congress, with weary KOSA helpers worriedly making their final pleas.
Johnson seems inclined to painclude until Trump resumes office in January to ponder any shiftment. But doing so would sfinish Congress back to square one. The bill would necessitate to be restartd in both hoincludes, and there’s no promise the momentum and coalition Bdeficiencyburn and Blumenthal brawt together would hancigo in. Plus, with a unified rulement under Reuncoveran guideership, priorities could shift to passing legislation that could only get thraw under individual-party administer.
“To be clear: the blockade aachievest shieldeddefends and accountability was about pinserting Big Tech’s financial bottom line, not principle.”
KOSA did not materialize in the write stopgap funding bill freed by Hoinclude guideership on Tuesday evening, decreaseing its sboiling at passage this year. Bdeficiencyburn and Blumenthal seethed at the snub and placed accinclude squadepend on Hoinclude Reuncoveran guideership. “To be clear: the blockade aachievest shieldeddefends and accountability was about pinserting Big Tech’s financial bottom line, not principle,” they wrote in a joint statement. “Falsehoods produceed in Silicon Valley boardrooms and parroted by Washington politicians, aextfinished with millions of dollars spent aextfinished the way, held up KOSA in the Hoinclude to progress Meta and Google’s goal of profiting off our children.” Still, they rerepaird to progress their fight for the bill.
Before the funding bill was freed, Bdeficiencyburn and Blumenthal made one final try to get KOSA passed this session. With help from Elon Musk and tardyr the plivent-elect’s son Don Jr., they undertook a last-minute revision that further skinnys the definition of a mental health disorder and bars administer based on watchpoint. “No one is probably more qualified to speak on the publish of free speech than Elon Musk,” Bdeficiencyburn shelp on the Senate floor.
But tfrails enjoy that do little to ameliorate administer troubles, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) writes in a blog post. “The watchpoint of includers was never impacted by KOSA’s duty of attfinish in the first place,” the EFF writes. “The duty of attfinish is a duty imposed on platcreates, not includers … The FTC could still hancigo in a platcreate liable for the speech it grasps.”
The EFF worries the novel language could still be included to punish platcreates for almost anyskinnyg that might encourage uncontent and worried experienceings — as extfinished as the experienceings “disturbed someone’s sleep, or even equitable alterd how someone socializes or conveys.” That could cover anyskinnyg from school shooting guideation to tackle football, the EFF says.
While companies enjoy X, Snap, Microsoft, and Pinterest have come out in help of the bill, the bigst social media companies that would be subject to KOSA, enjoy Meta and Google, have not proposeed their help. Advocates claim their money is behind the bill’s troubles, noting that Meta is erecting a novel data cgo in around Johnson’s dicut offe in Louisiana. Sacha Haworth, executive honestor of the Tech Oversight Project and a createer Hill staffer, says when a company sfinishs in a lobbyist after it’s spent money in a way that advantages a lawproducer, “There’s no mistaking that joinion.” She inserts, “It is very difficult to fight aachievest such proset up-pocketed, unrestrictcessitate money.”
But tech lobbying on the bill cuts both ways, says Philips. “At the same time that we’re being denounced [for] being aligned with Big Tech becainclude we resist KOSA on administer grounds, co-backs Blumenthal and Bdeficiencyburn are putting out statements with the CEO of X,” she says.
If KOSA doesn’t pass, lawproducers will have to determine whether to begin over next year. It’s a understandn exercise in tech policy — two years ago, a package of tech antidepend bills achieveed transport inant momentum but more or less died on the vine.
The Hoinclude is scheduled to adjourn tardyr this week, leaving an ever-skinnying triumphdow for KOSA to be barachieved into the must-pass bill to clear the chamber this Congress. Johnson had reacted tepidly to the novel X-finishorsed iteration, calling himself “fervent about insertressing children’s online shieldedty” but saying he seeed forward to “toiling with the Trump Administration to get the right bill into law.”
In the penultimate week before the holidays, I asked helps and lawproducers about the future of KOSA — could it pass before the finish of the year, and was this the finish of the road if not? The almost universal response was a strained smile or a gloomyace. Walking off the Hoinclude floor, Hoinclude Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) tancigo in me getting Reuncoveran guideership to consent up KOSA “might consent an act of God,“ though she was still pushing for a vote. “In order to be in this job, you have to be an selectimist, you have to remain certain,” shelp Schrier in her office — but also, she inserted, “clear-eyed.”
What’s straightforward to leave out in these deliberations is the stress it’s put on frequent parents who have become activists — both the ones who have spent years repeating their children’s tragedies to help for novel laws, and the ones who have spent those same years dreading the outcome if the laws pass.
In the final days of the 2024 legislative session, Molak is exhausted. She’s hancigo ining out hope but discovers it challenging to envision continuing the travel and fight in Congress next year if it doesn’t pass now. Maybe she’ll turn back to advocating in Texas, where she’s already seen some success, she says. Rodgers, who is retiring from Congress and is no stranger to obstruction, obtincludely says “no” when I ask if there’s any hope for the bill next year if it flunks to get thraw in the next scant days.
“It’s heartshattering to the families, becainclude we understand what’s at sconsent,” says Molak. “We understand that if KOSA was carry outed, then kids’ inhabits would be saved.”
For Jones, two skinnygs can be real at the same time. She says she’d never decline the pain of parents who have lost their kids after experiencing online harms and is comfervent to their fight for a solution they depend could have spared them. But she troubles the bill could put her own kids further in harm’s way. “I would never tell a parent survivor they’re wrong for experienceing the way they do,” says Jones. “And I don’t skinnyk they’re wrong. But I don’t skinnyk I’m wrong either.”
Haugen, whose disclocertains toppled that first domino toward KOSA, is unsurpascfinishd about where it’s finished up. Since the free of the Facebook Files, Haugen has intensifyed her efforts in places enjoy Canada and Australia, which last month prohibitned social media for kids under 16. “I personpartner am not going to experience terrible if KOSA doesn’t pass this year,” she tells me on Monday. “And that’s becainclude my foreseeations for what is possible in the United States anymore are repartner, repartner low.”
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