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Sunday, December 22, 2024

Senate passes Kids Online Safety Act co-sponsored by Senator Tillis

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Sen. Thom Tillis | Sen. Thom Tillis Official Website

Sen. Thom Tillis | Sen. Thom Tillis Official Website

The U.S. Senate has passed the Kids Online Safety Act, a bipartisan legislation co-sponsored by Senator Thom Tillis aimed at protecting children online and holding Big Tech accountable.

"Our kids deserve to be safe when they go online, and parents must have access to the tools and resources to protect their children from online harm," said Senator Tillis. "This commonsense legislation protects our children from harm online by ensuring social media companies promote a safe and transparent environment. I’m glad the Senate came together to pass this bipartisan legislation."

The Kids Online Safety Act provides young people and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency needed to protect against online harms. The bill mandates that social media platforms prioritize children's well-being, creating an environment that is safe by default. It also requires independent audits by experts and academic researchers to ensure meaningful steps are taken to address risks to children.

Specifically, the Kids Online Safety Act:

- Requires social media platforms to provide minors with options to protect their information, disable addictive product features, and opt out of algorithmic recommendations. Platforms must enable the strongest settings by default.

- Gives parents new controls to help support their children and identify harmful behaviors while providing a dedicated channel for reporting harms.

- Creates a responsibility for social media platforms to prevent and mitigate harms such as promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, and unlawful products for minors (e.g., gambling and alcohol).

- Mandates annual independent audits assessing risks to minors, compliance with this legislation, and whether meaningful steps are being taken to prevent those harms.

- Provides academic and public interest organizations with access to critical datasets from social media platforms for research on safety and well-being of minors.

Full text of the bill is available HERE.

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