Senate Committee Advances Controversial Bill to Keep Kids Off Social Media

American legislators have floated yet another law to ban children from accessing social media. This week, the Senate Commerce Committee approved legislation prohibiting children under 13 from social media.

As Politico reports, the panel of lawmakers approved the Kids Off Social Media Act (KOSMA), which sets the stage for KOSMA to go to the entire senate for consideration.

The bill is still a long way from becoming law, as it still requires legislative approval and to be signed into law by President Trump, but it is the latest in a series of legal propositions in the United States, both at state and federal levels, to enact roadblocks between minors and social media apps and platforms.

The bipartisan Senate Commerce Committee pushed the legislation through with just one no vote from Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts).

“When you’ve got Ted Cruz and myself in agreement on something, you’ve pretty much captured the ideological spectrum of the whole Congress,” Sen. Schatz (D-Hawaii) told Politico.

The United States would not be the first country to enact legislation to keep kids off social media. Australia passed landmark legislation last year to ban children younger than 16 years old from using social media. The law will go into effect later this year.

As for KOSMA, it sets its sights on slightly different users. Those older than 13 would not be restricted from using social media, although it is worth noting that kids under 13 are already not allowed to sign up for accounts on most social media platforms. However, the bill also aims to prevent companies from using recommendation algorithms to target content for users under 17, as The Verge reports.

If passed by Congress and signed into law, KOSMA will join other recent federal efforts to protect children online, including the federal Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0), both of which were approved last year.

KOSMA has detractors, including NetChoice, a trade association with Meta, Snap, Amazon, and Google backing.

“Today, the Senate Commerce Committee marked up the Kids Off Social Media Act (KOSMA). KOSMA creates serious cybersecurity risks, undermines parental rights and autonomy and violates the Constitution. Lawmakers should reject this flawed approach and instead focus on real, effective solutions to online safety,” NetChoice writes. (https://netchoice.org/kosma-is-yet-another-proposal-that-would-harm-cybersecurity-parental-rights-and-speech-congress-must-find-another-way/)

NetChoice notes that KOSMA “effectively requires” every internet user, whether they are a child or not, to submit personal documentation to access social media platforms, which would further eradicate online privacy.

“KOSMA also strips parents of the ability to decide what online tools they feel are appropriate for their families. The bill bans minors under 13 from social media entirely and imposes sweeping restrictions on content for users under 17. Blanket bans and burdensome restrictions to online tools for teens are Washington saying it knows better than parents when it comes to raising a family,” NetChoice adds.

NetChoice says KOSMA is unconstitutional. If it ultimately receives congressional approval, its constitutionality may ultimately be determined by the courts, as is an increasingly common outcome for new legislation concerning social media apps.

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