Not much on Capitol Hill is bipartisan but the Kids' Online Safety Act passed this week by a 91-3 margin. A similar bill, the Children and Teen's Online Privacy Act, passed 86-1. They are now headed to the House where they are expected to pass.
Alleigh Marré, founder of the American Parents Coalition, tells AFN passage of the bills is a “great step” for “robust” online protections for kids.
“Better monitoring for harmful content, like self-harm or eating disorders; improvement of privacy restrictions; and defaulting accounts, that are registered to minors, to be the safest and most restrictive possible,” she says of the legislation’s goals.
A related story by NRO describes the twin bills as the “most significant tech-regulation package” introduced in the last 20 years.
“The last time Congress debated these types of protections for online safety and kids,” Marré similarly advises, “was back in 1998 which, as far as the Internet is concerned, is ancient history.”
Marré, a mother of three, formed American Parents after starting Free to Learn, an education-based advocacy group.
As the bills’ names state, the legislation will make it harder for predators or other malign actors to gain access to teens. The privacy bill would keep kids' private information from being collected, or sold, and help them to put their phones down from time to time.
Marré says the legislation has a promising vote in the House but it's still up to parents to be the main gatekeepers for their children's safety and welfare.
“The less interaction with social media and screen time, before they're those kids' brains are mature at 15, 16, 17 years old, the better,” she says.
According to the NRO story, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn) and Sen. Richard Blumental (D-Conn.) introduced the Kids Online Safety Act.
The second bill, Children and Teen's Online Privacy Act, was introduced by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass).
