The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) will finally get its moment on the Senate floor this week after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced he\u2019d move for a procedural vote<\/a> on the bill as soon as Thursday. It fulfills a promise Schumer made to parent advocates who have championed the bill, which would impose a duty of care for online platforms to mitigate certain risks to kids. But the timing means that even if KOSA passes the Senate before the week is out, the House itself will only have a week to consider the measure, since the August recess is close at hand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n At a press conference Tuesday, advocates and bill sponsors urged other senators to quickly vote to pass the bill, without other amendments that could stall its progress once again. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a lead sponsor of the bill along with Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), said he hoped the floor vote would be \u201cquick and clean\u201d and \u201cwithout amendments.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The plea underscores the time crunch the bill faces to reach the president\u2019s desk before the August recess. That\u2019s an important timeline not just because it would be nice for the sponsors to have it squared away before vacation, but also because it is notoriously difficult to pass meaningful legislation after August in an election year. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n There are some potential hurdles the bill could face in beating the clock. Lawmakers in the Senate could propose amendments that slow down its progress or invite new opposition. Asked at the press conference whether the sponsors are hoping that other senators don\u2019t seek to tack their own kids online safety bills onto the measure, Blumenthal reiterated, \u201cmy hope is that we will have no amendments.\u201d Schumer already sought to pass the bill by unanimous consent, which would have expedited the process. But Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) stated he\u2019d oppose that route, due to concerns about the bill\u2019s potential impact on LGBTQ+ content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If it does clear the Senate, the House\u2019s Republican leadership would need to take it up. Republican leadership recently scuttled an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing<\/a> where the House version of KOSA was set to be discussed, due to concerns with a separate privacy bill. The ranking member on that committee, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), has expressed concerns about KOSA<\/a>. If it passes out of the committee, House leadership would still need to prioritize time for KOSA to get a vote on the floor in short order.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Blackburn said they\u2019d had conversations with members in the House, and \u201cvisited with House leadership.\u201d She added that, \u201cwe look forward to them moving it forward very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In a statement, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), said he is\u00a0\u201clooking forward to reviewing the details of the legislation that comes out of the Senate. Parents should have greater control and the necessary tools to protect their kids online. I am committed to working to find consensus in the House.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Even with possible hurdles ahead, advocates at the press conference appeared relieved, excited, and focused on finishing the job in both the Senate and House.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s no secret,\u201d Schumer said, \u201cit\u2019s been a long and bumpy road. But one thing I always knew for sure is that it would be worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ava Smithing, advocacy and operations director at the Young People\u2019s Alliance, who\u2019s shared her story<\/a> with lawmakers about how social media algorithms steered her toward eating disorder content, said it\u2019s \u201ca very exhausting process having to retell really deeply personal stories again, and again, and again.\u201d But with Schumer\u2019s announcement, \u201ctoday feels rewarding, and like those conversations and those long days aren\u2019t going to be unanswered.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThis floor vote is a momentous occasion after a two year-long effort,\u201d said ParentsSOS Co-Founder Maurine Molak, whose son David died by suicide at age 16 after experiencing cyberbullying. \u201cIt seems our elected leaders have heard us, and they are ready to help. They are ready to save children\u2019s lives.\u201d Molak added, \u201cwhile I would do anything to have my son back, seeing this bill across the finish line is my second-greatest wish.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tracy Ann Bancroft, whose son has suffered from an eating disorder to which she believes social media was \u201ca major contributing factor,\u201d said that it\u2019s not too late to act. \u201cWe need this legislation passed urgently,\u201d Bancroft said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The bill was first introduced in 2022 and faced a barrage of criticism from a variety of groups including LGBTQ+ organizations, that feared the duty of care it imposed on social media companies to mitigate harms to kids could be weaponized to target positive resources for marginalized teens. But the sponsors have since quelled concerns for many with changes to the bill\u2019s language including specifying it\u2019s aimed at design features and that elements can\u2019t be enforced by state attorneys general.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But the bill still has its share of critics. The Electronic Frontier Foundation\u2019s Director of Federal Affairs India McKinney, for example, called KOSA in a statement, \u201can unconstitutional censorship bill that would give the Federal Trade Commission, and potentially state Attorneys General, the power to restrict protected online speech they find objectionable.\u201d According to McKinney, \u201cPlatforms will respond to KOSA\u2019s vague new liability standard by censoring users\u2019 lawful speech on topics that KOSA deems harmful. KOSA is ambiguous enough that different administrations could censor content all along the political spectrum, from guns to vaccines to transgender issues to abortions.\u201d Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer said on X<\/a> that, \u201cSchumer is throwing LGBTQ youth under the bus for a bill that won\u2019t even pass the House just so he can say he\u2019s \u2018protecting the kids\u2019 ahead of the election.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But Smithing, who said her group withheld support of KOSA until its most recent changes, pointed the limitation section of the duty of care, which lets minors search for what they want and receive \u201cevidence-informed information.\u201d Specifying the bill is aimed at design features, Smithing said, \u201chelps us feel confident that this bill is not about content,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Smithing said she\u2019s feeling optimistic. \u201cI\u2019ve been really tapping into this feeling of delusional optimism over the past couple of months. Like if I keep pushing forward, something good will happen,\u201d Smithing said. \u201cAnd today feels like a day where a little bit of that optimism was realized and a little bit of that delusion was set to the side.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If the bill becomes law, it will likely face challenges in the courts, which now must contend with a new Supreme Court opinion<\/a>, which made clear that social media curation and content moderation is expressive.<\/a> Blumenthal said he is confident KOSA could survive any challenges. \u201cI think this bill is constitutionally bulletproof,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n