On September 18, 2024, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce passed the Kids Online Safety Actopens in new window (KOSA) out on a unanimous vote, moving it closer to becoming law. This bill, sponsored by Representatives Gus Biliarkis (R–Florida) and Kathy Castor (D–Florida) aims to curb the harms associated with social media use noted in APA’s recent health advisory on social media use in adolescence. This development comes after APA Advocacy staff worked with Senate leaders, bringing together a coalition of almost 200 organizations to call on the full Senate to consider and pass the legislation, leading to the legislation passing the Senate with a final vote of 91-3 earlier this year.
KOSA aims to achieve several main goals:
- place responsibility on social media companies to prevent and mitigate harms to minors resulting from use of their platforms;
- require companies to develop and deploy new parental controls that provide education and options to parents and children to further identify and report harmful behaviors on social media;
- change the default security and privacy settings for young users, including developing new protections that further shield minors from harmful product features; and
- require social media companies to conduct and distribute an annual independent audit that demonstrates the risks to minors on their platform, along with compliance with the comprehensive Kids Online Safety Act;
In 2023, APA Services hosted most than 60 psychologists from across the country in Washington, D.C., to ask senators to cosponsor the legislation raising the significant science supporting the act and protecting youth from predatory social media functions and features
For more information, contact Corbin Evans.
