The United States Senate has overwhelmingly passed legislation designed to protect children from dangerous online content, pushing forward with what would be the first major effort by Congress in decades to hold tech companies more accountable for the harm they cause.
The bill, which passed 91-3 on Tuesday, was pushed by parents of children who died by suicide after online bullying or had been harmed in other ways by online content. It would force companies to take reasonable steps to prevent harm on online platforms frequently used by minors, requiring them to exercise a “duty of care” and ensure that they generally default to the safest settings possible.
The House of Representatives has not yet acted on the bill. Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, has said he is “committed to working to find consensus” but has not indicated whether he will bring the bill to the floor for a vote. Supporters are hoping the strong Senate vote will push the House to act before the end of the congressional session in January.
President Joe Biden encouraged the House to send the legislation to his desk “without delay”.
“Today our children are subjected to a Wild West online, and our current laws and regulations are insufficient to prevent this,” Biden said. “It is past time to act.”
The legislation is about allowing children, teens and parents “to take back control of their lives online”, said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who wrote the bill with Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. He said that the message to big tech companies is that “we no longer trust you to make decisions for us”.
Pressure on tech firms
The bill would be the first major tech regulation package to move in years and could pave the way for other bills that would strengthen online privacy laws or set parameters for the growing use of artificial intelligence, among others.
While there has long been bipartisan support for the idea that the biggest technology companies should face more government scrutiny, there has been little consensus on how it should be done. Congress passed legislation earlier this year that would force China-based social media company TikTok to sell or face a ban, but that law only targets one company.
“This is a good first step, but we have more to go,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York.
If the child safety bill becomes law, companies would be required to mitigate harm to children, including bullying and violence, the promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation and advertisements for illegal products such as narcotics, tobacco or alcohol.
To do that, social media platforms would have to provide minors with options to protect their information, disable addictive product features and opt out of personalised algorithmic recommendations. They would also be required to limit other users from communicating with children and limit features that “increase, sustain, or extend the use” of the platform – such as autoplay for videos or platform rewards.
The idea, Blumenthal and Blackburn say, is for the platforms to be “safe by design.”
“The message we are sending to Big Tech is that kids are not your product,” Blackburn said at a news conference as the Senate passed the bill. “Kids are not your profit source.”
‘Risks remain unaddressed’
Several tech companies, including Microsoft, X and Snap, have supported the legislation. But there was also criticism that signalled a potential lobbying campaign aimed at the House.
Carl Szabo, a vice president and counsel for NetChoice, a tech industry group that represents X and Snap, along with Google, TikTok and Meta Platforms, said in a statement that the law’s “cybersecurity, censorship, and constitutional risks remain unaddressed”. He did not elaborate.
And Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said in a statement that it supports the development of standards, but it would instead prefer legislation to require app stores to get parents’ approval when teenagers download apps.
Blumenthal and Blackburn have said they wanted to put the burden on companies, not parents. They have also worked to find a balance between forcing companies to become more responsible for what children see online, while also ensuring that Congress does not go too far in regulating what individuals post – an effort to head off potential legal challenges over freedom of expression.
But some critics say the bill still goes too far. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the bill could threaten users’ privacy and compared it with “book bans and classroom censorship laws”.
“The House must block this dangerous bill before it’s too late,” said Jenna Leventoff, a senior policy counsel at the ACLU.
Some advocacy groups have also expressed concerns that the bill could harm kids who would not be able to access information on LGBTQ issues or reproductive rights – although the bill has been revised to address some of those criticisms and major LGBTQ groups are not opposing the legislation.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a fierce and longtime advocate for freedom of speech online, said he voted against the bill because of concerns about the censorship of health information for LGBTQ teens and the potential for lawsuits against encryption services that help young people stay safe from predators.
The bill also includes an update to child privacy laws that prohibit online companies from collecting personal information from users under 13, raising that age to 17. It would also ban targeted advertising to teenagers and provide what lawmakers call an “eraser button” to delete a minor’s personal information.
Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, sponsored the original legislation in 1998 – the last time Congress passed a child online safety law – and worked with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana on the update. Markey said that the online space “has come a long way” since the first bill, and new tools are needed for parents as teens have struggled with mental health.
As their bill stalled for several months, Blumenthal and Blackburn worked closely with the parents of children who have been harmed by social media – either by cyberbullying or social media challenges, extortion attempts, eating disorders, drug deals or other potential dangers.
Maurine Molak, the mother of a 16-year-old who died by suicide after “months of relentless and threatening cyberbullying”, said she believes the bill can save lives. She urged every senator to vote for it.
“Anyone who believes that children’s wellbeing and safety should come before big tech’s greed ought to put their mark on this historic legislation,” Molak said.
If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, these organisations may be able to help.
