\n<\/p>\n
With just weeks left to pass legislation before Congress adjourns, X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced she worked with the authors of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) to update the bill<\/a> in what seems like a play to win over the Republican House leaders standing in the way of it becoming law. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The striking announcement is the latest example of how Elon Musk and his companies are taking on significant roles in influencing government output<\/a>. While it\u2019s not unusual for outside stakeholders, including companies, to weigh in on pending legislation, the fact that the bill\u2019s sponsors, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), announced X\u2019s input indicates they view it as helpful to the bill\u2019s chances of passing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cLed by X, the new changes made to the Kids Online Safety Act strengthen the bill while safeguarding free speech online and ensuring it is not used to stifle expression,\u201d\u00a0Blumenthal and Blackburn said in a joint statement. \u201cThese changes should eliminate once and for all the false narrative that this bill would be weaponized by unelected bureaucrats to censor Americans. We thank Elon and Linda for their bold leadership and commitment to protecting children online and for helping us get this bill across the finish line this Congress.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n KOSA aims to make the internet safer for kids by imposing a duty of care on tech platforms to prevent and mitigate certain harms when they implement certain design features, including photo filters and infinite scroll. The bill passed overwhelmingly in the Senate<\/a> over the summer but has stalled in the House, with the bill\u2019s critics fearing<\/a> it could be weaponized against disliked speech or lead to a more restricted internet due to platforms\u2019 fears of legal risk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The changes include a clarification that the bill can\u2019t be used to enforce the platforms\u2019 duty of care \u201cbased upon the viewpoint of users expressed by or through any speech, expression, or information protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.\u201d It also narrows the duty of care with respect to anxiety and depressive disorders to make it enforceable only when those conditions are \u201cobjectively verifiable\u201d and linked to \u201ccompulsive usage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But Republican leadership in the House has also become a hurdle for the bill\u2019s passage. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told Punchbowl News<\/em><\/a> in October, \u201cI love the principle, but the details of that are very problematic.\u201d He worried about \u201cunintended consequences.\u201d House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) is viewed as potentially even harder to win over<\/a>, Punchbowl<\/em> reports, and is concerned about the scope of the duty of care in the bill.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n