Kids Online Safety Act
Updated: Wikipedia source
The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSPA) (S. 2073), known in the House and the general public commonly as the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) (H.R. 7891), is a proposed legislation first introduced in Congress in 2022. The bill aims to establish guidelines to protect minors from harmful material on social media platforms through a duty of care system and requiring covered platforms to disable "addicting" design features to minors. The bill originates from the 2021 Facebook leak, which led to a congressional investigation of Big Tech's lack of protection for minors. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D‑CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R‑TN) co-sponsored the bill and introduced it to the Senate in 2022. It was revived for the 2023–2024 congressional term and while passed by the Senate in July 2024, it failed to advance out of the House of Representatives before the end of the session. Though KOSA has bipartisan support by politicians, it has been criticized by both liberals and conservatives for potentially enabling censorship, including material important to marginalized groups, as well as material related to racism, abortion, and transgender issues.