WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged lawmakers to pass controversial “online safety” bills KOSA and COPPA, currently making their way through the Senate.
Politico’s Rebecca Kern described Biden repetitively “chanting” the words “Pass it” after referencing the legislation during a public appearance about expanding access to mental health care.
“We’re taking steps to address the harm that social media is doing to our kids,” Biden said. “We’ve got to hold these platforms accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on our children for profit.
“Later this week senators will debate legislation to protect kids’ privacy online, which I’ve been calling for for two years,” Biden added. “Pass it, already. It matters. Pass it, pass it, pass it, pass it, pass it.”
Biden was referring to this Thursday’s Senate Commerce Committee vote on the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This is the second time the bills have gone through the Senate, after passing out of committee last year over the objections of many leading digital rights and privacy organizations and advocates.
‘A Plan to Require Surveillance and Censorship’
The details of Thursday’s meeting — a “markup” in congressional parlance — are still being negotiated among lawmakers and with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), according to news analysis site Axios.
Content platforms like Netflix and Disney+ are lobbying to be treated differently under the bills than predominantly user-generated content platforms like YouTube or Pornhub. There are also concerns about the amount of regulatory power the bill would grant to the FTC.
As XBIZ reported, starting with last year’s introduction of KOSA, digital rights advocates have been sounding the alarm about privacy and censorship concerns.
The bill has had bipartisan support, with Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) selling it to their colleagues as a “protect the children” measure.
In a scathing March 2022 editorial, however, Jason Kelley of leading digital rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation argued that behind its kid-friendly name and supposed mission, KOSA hides “a plan to require surveillance and censorship of anyone 16 and under.”
The bill, Kelley noted, would actually “greatly endanger the rights, and safety, of young people online” while also chilling controversial speech — including sexual expression — across the internet.
