The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) has reared its head again in Congress. Its mission is to make the online environment safe and empowering for all young people in the United States. If passed as is, this bill would fundamentally transform the regulatory landscape of the internet. It would make some of the biggest reforms since the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was introduced in 1998.
Senior writer at TechCrunch and former Next City reporter Amanda Silberling has been on the inside track of this new development, where culture meets technology. Her reflections are timely and important as KOSA aims to fill the void left by the growing alarm over the safety of kids online. Silberling received her B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania. Her other role as a Princeton in Asia Fellow in Laos informed her global understanding of technological progress and the growing focus on technology ethics around the world.
Lawmakers are under enormous pressure to increase protections for children in the digital environment. That sense of urgency couldn’t be more timely, coming on the heels of KOSA’s reintroduction. Supporters claim that it would make the internet safer for kids. It achieves this by creating more burdensome regulations on social media platforms and online services.
This is why Apple is so happy to provide our support for the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), H.R. It’s encouraging to see that everyone has a role to play in protecting kids online,” said Timothy Powderly, Senior Director of Government Affairs at Apple. “We think this legislation will make impactful strides toward improving children’s online safety. This endorsement from a new, powerful tech player is evidence of a burgeoning movement within the tech industry to put children first and ensure their safety.
Not all the news surrounding the bill is encouraging. Critics, including advocacy group Fight for the Future, have criticized those moves as free speech violations waiting to happen. They claim that the bill’s provisions would force suppression of any content that the government decides is harmful. The bill’s authors have asserted again and again that this bill has nothing to do with speech. The Duty of Care is about speech: it’s about blocking speech that the government believes is bad for kids,” they stated.
As the debate over KOSA continues, Congress has an important task ahead of them. They need to find a balance between improving online safety for kids and not undermining the important right of free speech. The future may be uncertain, but with Silberling’s coverage, you’ll be on top of it. Look for more important updates and whys behind how this legislation continues to take shape.