The Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation Tuesday designed to protect children from harmful online content, pushing ahead with what would be Congress’s main effort in decades to hold tech companies more accountable for the harm they cause.
The bill, which passed 91-3, has been pushed by parents of children who have died after being bullied online or have been harmed by online content. It will force companies to take reasonable steps to prevent harm in online platforms often used by minors, requiring them to exercise “duty of care” and ensure that they generally standardize to the safest settings possible.
The House of Representatives has not acted on the bill. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he is “committed to working to find consensus,” but has not said whether he will bring it to the floor for a vote. Advocates hope that a 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 its desk “without delay.”
“Today our children are experiencing online southwest and the current laws and regulations are not enough to prevent it,” Biden said. “It’s past time to act.”
The law would allow children, teens and adults “to take back control of their lives online,” said Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who co-authored the bill with Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. He said the message to big tech companies is that “we no longer trust them to make decisions for us.”
The bill would be the first major tech regulatory package to pass 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. While there has long been bipartisan support for the idea that the biggest tech companies should face government oversight, there is no consensus on how that should be done. Congress passed legislation earlier this year that would have forced Chinese social media company TikTok to sell or face bans, but the legislation only targeted one company.
“This is a good first step, but we need to do more,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y.
If the child safety bill becomes law, companies will be required to reduce harm to children, including bullying and violence, promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation and advertising of illegal products such as narcotics, tobacco or alcohol.
To do that, social media platforms must give minors the option to protect their information, turn it off addictive product features and opt out of Personalized algorithm recommendations. They must also restrict other users from interacting with children and limit features that “enhance, maintain, or extend the use” of the platform – such as autoplay for videos or platform gifts.
The idea, say Blumenthal and Blackburn, is to make the platform “secure by design.”
“The message we’re sending to big tech is that kids are not your product,” Blackburn said at a news conference when the Senate passed the bill. “Children are not your source of income.”
Several tech companies, including Microsoft, X and Snap, have supported the legislation. But there are also criticisms that signal a potential lobbying campaign aimed at the House.
Carl Szabo, vice president and counsel for NetChoice, the tech industry group that represents X and Snap, along with Google, TikTok and Meta Platforms, said in a statement that “cybersecurity, censorship, and constitutional risks remain unaddressed.” He was not elaborate.
And Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said in a statement that it supports the development of standards, but favors legislation that would require app stores to seek parental consent when teenagers download apps.
Blumenthal and Blackburn say they want to put the burden on companies, not parents. And they have also worked to find a balance between insisting that companies be more responsible for what children see online while also ensuring that Congress does not go too far in regulating what individuals submit – an effort to head off potential legal challenges through freedom of expression.
But some critics say the bill still goes too far. The American Civil Liberties Union said the bill could threaten users’ privacy and compared it to “book bans and classroom censorship laws.”
“The House must block this dangerous bill before it’s too late,” said Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at the ACLU.
Some advocacy groups also expressed concern that the bill could harm children who cannot access information about LGBTQ+ issues or reproductive rights – although the bill has been revised to address some of these criticisms, and the main LGBTQ+ groups are not against the legislation.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a fierce and long-time advocate for online freedom of speech, said he voted against the bill because of concerns about the censorship of health information for LGBTQ+ teenagers and the potential for lawsuits against encryption services that help young people stay safe from predators.
The bill also includes an update to the child privacy law that prohibits online companies from collecting personal information from users under 13, raising that age to 17. It will also prohibit advertising targeted at teenagers and provide what lawmakers call an “eraser button” to delete a personal information little people
Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, sponsored the original legislation in 1998 – the last time Congress passed a child online safety law – and worked with Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana in updating it. Markey said the online space has “come a long way” since the first bill and new tools are needed for parents as teenagers struggle with mental health.
When the bill stalled for months, Blumenthal and Blackburn worked closely with parents of children who had been harmed by social media – by cyberbullying or social media challenges, blackmail attempts, eating disorders, drug deals or other potential dangers.
Maurine Molak, the mother of a 16-year-old boy who died by suicide after “months of relentless and threatening cyberbullying,” said she believes the bill could save lives. He urged every senator to vote.
“Anyone who believes that the well-being and safety of children should come before the greed of big technology should sign off on this historic legislation,” Molak said.
