PTC Cheers New Senate Support of Kids Online Safety Act, Implores Congress to Act

LOS ANGELES (February 15, 2024) – The Parents Television and Media Council (PTC) called on Congress to prioritize passing the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), as an updated version was reintroduced with 62 U.S. Senators co-sponsoring, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The Kids Online Safety Act is designed to hold social media companies and other digital platforms accountable for protecting children online, and requires stringent safety and privacy settings to be on by default.

“We are optimistic that the Senate will pass the Kids Online Safety Act, as it has gained additional bipartisan support. We have urged Sen. Schumer to schedule these bills for a vote, and now that he is a co-sponsor of KOSA, we believe this signals the Senate’s priority in passing legislation to protect children online,” said Melissa Henson, vice president, Parents Television and Media Council.

“The U.S. House of Representatives now needs to act to introduce a companion KOSA bill. As we witnessed during the January 31 Senate hearing with tech CEOs, social media platforms have caused extreme harm to children and have not prioritized child safety. Many knowingly facilitated harm. Children have effectively been seen as an audience for tech platforms to profit from instead of protecting them from known harms like predators, sexual exploitation, sexually explicit and other harmful content. Congress must hold Big Tech accountable and protect our children,” Henson added.

In November 2022, the PTC revealed that Hollywood is marketing teen-targeted TV shows with explicit adult content to young teens through social media sites like TikTok and Instagram that are popular with 13-17-year-olds, thereby doing an end-run around parents.