Kids’ Safety Bill Poison Pilled, Supporters Allege
▼ Summary
– A powerful House committee held a hearing to discuss a package of 19 bills aimed at making the internet safer for children, including a revised version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).
– The revised House version of KOSA has removed its key “duty of care” provision for tech platforms and added a strong preemption clause that would block related state laws, which has angered both its original supporters and longtime opponents.
– The package also includes controversial age verification bills, like the App Store Accountability Act, which critics argue pose privacy risks and may not be as effective as a strong KOSA.
– There is significant disagreement over the legislative approach, with supporters wanting stronger platform accountability and critics fearing the bills could chill free speech or preempt better state laws.
– The legislative path is challenging, with a committee vote delayed until next year and potential conflicts ahead with the Senate, which previously passed a much stronger version of KOSA.
A major legislative effort to enhance children’s online safety has hit a significant roadblock in the House of Representatives, with critics arguing the proposed package has been fundamentally weakened. A key House committee recently bundled 19 separate bills, including a revised version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), aiming to create a comprehensive federal framework. However, the compromise has sparked intense criticism from both longtime supporters and opponents of the original legislation, leaving the path forward uncertain.
The most contentious change involves the removal of KOSA’s central “duty of care” provision. This clause would have legally obligated tech platforms to avoid designs that could contribute to specific mental health harms for minors, such as promoting eating disorders or deepening depression. In its place, the new House version introduces a far more expansive preemption standard. This clause would prevent states from enacting or enforcing their own laws on the same issues covered by the federal bill, a move that alarms advocates who see state legislatures as crucial testing grounds for new protections.
Original champions of the Senate’s KOSA, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, have denounced the House rewrite as a “poison pill” that guts the bill’s core purpose. Groups representing families who have lost children to online-facilitated harms argue that a hollowed-out federal law could actually undermine stronger existing state statutes. “Passing this shell of a bill is worse than inaction,” warned one executive director, stating that all current state child protection laws would be put in jeopardy.
Committee leaders defended their revisions, arguing they were necessary to craft legislation that would survive legal challenges. They pointed to similar state laws that have been struck down on First Amendment grounds, with one chair stating, “A law that gets struck down protects no one.” This rationale provided little comfort to grieving parents present at the hearing, who expressed skepticism and blamed House leadership for placing committee members in a difficult political position.
The legislative package also brings new focus to age verification at the app store level, seen by some lawmakers as a streamlined solution. Proposals like the App Store Accountability Act would require store operators to verify users’ ages through methods more robust than self-reporting. Proponents believe this approach centralizes data collection and reduces the burden on individual apps. Yet, this too is fraught with disagreement, as other draft bills in the package propose simpler, less invasive methods, creating a patchwork of conflicting requirements within the same proposal.
Critics of age verification mandates, including some KOSA supporters, worry they will force users to surrender excessive personal data and could chill legitimate online speech without addressing underlying platform design issues. Even lawmakers who see value in the approach caution that age verification technology is not a complete substitute for holding companies accountable for their product designs. Meanwhile, longtime opponents of KOSA remain wary, concerned that even the revised language could be weaponized to suppress legal content, particularly resources for LGBTQ+ youth.
With a compressed legislative calendar and the looming shadow of upcoming elections, the prospects for the package are dim. The committee does not expect to vote on advancing the bills until next year, and even if the House passes its versions, a fierce battle awaits in the Senate. Authors of the original, stronger Senate bills have already voiced their disappointment. This stalemate leaves all sides frustrated, with advocates lamenting that Congress continues to offer inadequate solutions for a crisis that has been decades in the making.
(Source: The Verge)
