Peters Helps Introduce Bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) recently joined a bipartisan group of Senators in introducing the Kids Online Safety Act, comprehensive legislation to protect children online. The Kids Online Safety Act would provide young people and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency they need to help safeguard against online harms. The bill would require social media platforms to put the well-being of children first, ensuring an environment that is safer by default. It also would require independent audits by experts to ensure the platforms are taking meaningful steps to address risks to kids.

“The content kids see online can shape their reality, with harmful and devastating consequences,” said Senator Peters, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee. “There is no question that we can take commonsense, meaningful action to protect kids online. That’s why I helped introduce this bipartisan legislation that aims to make online platforms safer and provide parents with tools to better protect their kids.”

“The Kid’s Online Safety Act is an important step forward to protect our children from the potential dangers of social media, as well as hold social media accountable for activity on their platforms that could be harmful. Along with education and awareness, this bill is one facet that can help make the internet a safer place for our youth,” said Jennifer Buta of Marquette, advocate and mother of Jordan Demay, who was the victim of an online extortion scam that resulted in his death.

The Kids Online Safety Act would:

• Require that social media platforms provide minors with options to protect their information, disable addictive product features, and opt out of algorithmic recommendations. Platforms would be required to enable the strongest settings by default;
• Gives parents new controls to help support their children and identify harmful behaviors, and provide parents and children with a dedicated channel to report harms to kids to the platform;
• Create a responsibility for social media platforms to prevent and mitigate harms to minors, such as promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, and unlawful products for minors (e.g. gambling and alcohol);
• Require social media platforms to perform an annual independent audit that assesses the risks to minors, their compliance with this legislation, and whether the platform is taking meaningful steps to prevent those harms; and
• Provide academic and public interest organizations with access to critical datasets from social media platforms to foster research regarding harms to the safety and well-being of minors.

Introduction of the Kids Online Safety Act was led by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). The legislation is supported by hundreds of advocacy and technology groups – including Common Sense Media, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Compass, Eating Disorders Coalition, Fairplay, Mental Health America, and Digital Progress Institute. This effort builds on the legislation that Peters cosponsored last year to protect kids online safety, which passed the Commerce Committee.

Peters, who also serves as Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, last year convened a hearing to examine how social media platforms continue to prioritize increased user engagement and revenue over safety and security. Peters also released an investigative report that found social media companies’ current incentive structures contribute to the spread of extremist content. He previously led a hearing with independent social media experts to discuss how the spread of extremist content on social media platforms translates to real-world violence.

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