Chuck Schumer plans to bring two important online safety bills for children to the Senate floor

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) plans to announce in a speech that he will bring the Children’s Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teen Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) to the floor Senate this week for a procedural vote. This represents the biggest step ever taken at the federal level to advance a law in the area of ​​online safety legislation for children.

“Over the past few months, I have met with families across the country who have experienced the worst thing a parent can endure — losing a child,” Schumer said in a statement. “Instead of retreating into the darkness of their loss, these families lit a candle for others with their advocacy. I am proud to work side by side with them and introduce legislation that I believe will enact and better protect our children from the negative risks of social media and other online platforms. It has been a long and difficult road to pass this potentially life-changing and life-saving bill, but today we are a monumental step closer to success.”

KOSA would impose a duty of care on online platforms to take reasonable steps to mitigate certain harms to minors, require the option of parental controls for minors’ accounts, and prevent features such as autoplay. COPPA 2.0 would be based on a existing children’s privacy law raise the age for privacy protection from 13 to 17 and ban advertising targeted at this group.

Some advocacy groups such as Fight for the Future and the Electronic Frontier Foundation remained critical of KOSA, fearing that it would stifle speech on the Internet and could limit access to certain resources for children marginalized for ideological reasons. While other groups, including prominent LGBTQ+ groups like GLAAD and The Trevor Project, have previously raised concerns that KOSA could be weaponized against resources for LGBTQ+ youth, they abandoned their opposition after the project’s sponsors made several changes.

Schumer tried to pass the bills by unanimous consent — a quick way to pass legislation if no senators objected — but late last year, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) announced he would oppose such a move due to concerns about the previous version’s impact on LGBTQ+ content. Still, the bills have overwhelming support that should ensure their success in the Chamber, as long as they are given time to move forward. KOSA, for example, had more than 60 co-sponsors for months, exceeding the threshold needed to pass the chamber.