Senate passes bipartisan bill to improve children's privacy and safety while online

After two years of negotiations, the Senate passed two bills to improve children's online safety and privacy. They are the Child Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) 2.0. Together, they were designed to prevent cases of self-harm, suicide, eating disorders and substance abuse by minors.

KOSA, pushed by Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)and Richard Blumenthal (D-CN), passed by a vote of 91 in favor and only three against. Senators Ron Wyden (OR), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Mike Lee (R-UT) were the only lawmakers to oppose. 

While KOSA would create a duty of care for social media platforms to prevent and mitigate harm to minors, COPPA 2.0 would add data privacy measures, including a ban on advertising targeting teens and children online.

"Today, the Senate took a major step forward in protecting children online by passing the bipartisan Child Online Safety Act. This legislation provides young people and parents with the tools, safeguards and transparency they need to protect themselves from harm online," Blackburn declared in celebration after the vote. 

"This moving and historic day marks a major win for our children. Anyone who doubted whether we’d reach this milestone has never met our advocates – the parents who have lost children and the young people who refused to be treated like Big Tech piggy banks," Senator Blumenthal said. 

Now the legislation is headed to the House of Representatives, where it is expected to be passed and sent directly to the desk of President Joe Biden, who has already said he will sign it into law. 

"This bill answers the call of the Unity Agenda from my first State of the Union Address, when I said it was time to strengthen privacy protections, ban advertising aimed at children, and require tech companies to stop collecting personal data about our children," the president said in a statement. 

"The last time Congress took meaningful action to protect children and teenagers online was in 1998 – before the ubiquity of social media and smartphones. Our kids have been waiting too long for the safety and privacy protections they deserve and which this bill would provide. This is more important than ever with the growing use of AI.. (...) I encourage the House to send this bill to my desk for signature without delay," he added.