Bilirakis, Castor, Houchin, and Schrier Introduce Comprehensive Bill to Better Protect Kids Online

Washington, D.C. - House Innovation, Data and Commerce Subcommittee Chairman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), together with Representatives Kathy Castor (D-FL), Erin Houchin (R-IN), and Kim Schrier (D-WA) have introduced the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).This comprehensive legislation will provide kids and parents with the safeguards, tools, and transparency they need to better protect against serious online threats to children's health and emotional wellbeing. A companion to this legislation authored by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has been marked up in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

"The online, digital world is not designed with children and teens in mind, and action is needed to counter the unscrupulous ways tech platforms addict children and steal their attention," said Rep. Castor. "That's why I am proud to introduce the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) with Reps. Bilirakis, Houchin, and Schrier to provide young people and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency needed to keep children and teenagers safe and hold Big Tech companies accountable. KOSA will help keep kids safe by outlawing manipulative design practices, amplification of harmful content, and damaging design features that can lead to mental anguish, eating disorders, physical violence and suicide. It's time the Congress steps up to keep our kids safe online."

"As a pediatrician and a mother, the health and safety of our children will always be a top priority. Today, kids are constantly online and exposed to harmful content," said Rep. Schrier. "I'm proud to take action on this issue by introducing the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which will hold big tech companies accountable, improve online safety for children, and empower parents to protect their kids."

"With over 65 Senate co-sponsors, the overwhelming bipartisan support for the Kids Online Safety Act is clear. Now that the legislation has passed the Senate Commerce Committee and is ready to advance out of the Senate, we are pleased that the House will begin consideration of this life-saving bill. I thank Representatives Gus Bilirakis, Kathy Castor, Erin Houchin, and Kim Schrier for their willingness to take this fight up in the House. We must listen to the kids, parents, experts, and advocates, and finally hold Big Tech accountable by passing the Kids Online Safety Act into law," said Senator Blackburn.

"I appreciate the House recognizing the importance of the Kids Online Safety Act and using our bill as a basis to move forward. I look forward to working with the new House sponsors to give all parents and young people the protections they deserve online,"said Senator Blumenthal.

KOSA delineates a series of required safeguards that Big Tech must take to protect minors under the age of 17. Specially, the bill would:

• Outline a set of harms to children under the age of 17 requiring Big Tech companies and large online video games to take reasonable measures to prevent and mitigate, including promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, and certain unlawful products for minors (i.e., narcotic drugs, tobacco products, gambling, and alcohol).
• Empower parents and inform policymakers about individual social media platforms' efforts to implement meaningful steps to reduce risks to kids by requiring independent audits and supporting access to important data for experts and academic researchers.
• Direct covered entities to implement controls to protect against stalking and exploitation of children.
• Require covered platforms to provide parents with tools to help manage a minor's use of a platform, including options to control safety settings, track their time, limit purchases, and address harmful usage. Those tools must be enabled by default.
• Implement a reporting mechanism by directing covered platforms to establish a dedicated reporting channel to alert the platform to harms to minors, and requires them to substantively respond in a reasonable and timely manner, taking into account the size of the platform and the urgency of the request.
• Ensure that covered platforms offer controls and options in a manner that is easy to use and does not encourage parents or kids to weaken their privacy or safety, and prohibits the use of 'dark patterns' that mislead or confuse consumers. These controls and options must be provided in the same language and manner that the minor uses the platform.
• Improve transparency by requiring an annual public report identifying the risks of harm to minors, based on an independent, third-party audit conducted through reasonable inspection of the covered platform, and describing the prevention and mitigation measures taken by the platform.
• Directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to conduct a study evaluating the most technologically feasible options for developing systems to verify age at the device or operating system level, with an emphasis on the privacy of minors.
• Require the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Education to issue guidance to support covered platforms on compliance and address emerging harms to minors, as well as to assist schools in taking advantage of the protections offered under the Act within 18 months of the bill's enactment.
• Create a Kids Online Safety Council for the purpose of providing advice on the implementation of this Act. The Council will be made up of parents, experts, representatives from covered platforms, federal agencies, state Attorneys General, youth voices, and underserved communities.

See the bill text here.