Dear Majority Leader Thune, Minority Leader Schumer, Chair Cruz, Ranking Member Cantwell, Speaker Johnson, Minority Leader Jeffries, Chair Guthrie, and Ranking Member Pallone:
The undersigned organizations—who collectively represent advocates, citizens, health care professionals, law enforcement officers, researchers, parents, academicians, students, and family members who have survived preventable deaths of beloved children—appeal to you in sorrow to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), S.1748, the most effective legislative response to the indisputable dangers facing children online, this Congress.
As you are aware, KOSA passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 91-3 on July 31, 2024. The version introduced in the U.S. Senate this Congress, S.1748, has been scrutinized by first amendment attorneys and scholars to verify that the bill protects the free speech rights of all Americans. It addresses the conduct of companies prioritizing profit over safety, not the content of online communication. S. 1748 does not give the FTC or state attorneys general the power to bring lawsuits over content or speech.
Every industry in America, from car makers to toy producers to nuclear energy companies, must assure their products and services are safe for consumers. Industry spends money and time testing products and perfecting services to avoid causing harm that could trigger liability claims. Requiring companies to ensure that their products are safe is a bedrock U.S. legal concept. However, digital platforms have largely avoided this requirement when courts interpreted the Communications Decency Act of 1996 as providing near blanket immunity from responsibility for what happens to users while they are online.
But large social media companies are highly aware of the impact that their addictive algorithms have on America’s youth—something that we know as a result of 40 congressional hearings since 2019, multi-state litigation, and reports from whistleblowers who informed Big Tech executives about disturbing results of internal research.1
The strength of KOSA is the legal concept at its heart: a “duty of care” to its users. This provision will compel covered social media companies to center online safety and wellbeing rather than profit alone. Implementing the duty of care will lead to decreased exposure of minors to algorithms that promote suicide and eating disorders, online bullying, illegal drug use, and sexual predators.
We know social media is fueling a youth mental health crisis in the United States. And we have seen time and again large social media companies refuse to police themselves in the absence of regulations. Just last month, an internal Meta policy document revealed how the company permits chatbots to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual.”2 With this bipartisan legislation, Congress has the potential, and the obligation, to significantly improve young people’s overall wellbeing by transforming the digital environment for children and teens.
Thank you for using your power to prioritize the health and safety of 73.1 million children under the age of 18 in the United States.3 On June 27, in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the Supreme Court affirmed an “important government interest” in protecting children online.4
We will not rest until KOSA is law.
