Senate committee advances bill to protect kids online

Aug. 5 (UPI) — The Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday advanced legislation aimed at protecting children online.

The unanimous vote pushes forward the Kids Online Safety Act, which would require companies such as TikTok and Snapchat to establish stronger protections for minors in their online platforms.

“Children and teens face real risk of harm online, and we’ve lost too many,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., CNBC reported.

“Congress needs to do more,” Cantwell added. “[This bill] imposes a duty of care on social media platforms so that these companies have to take reasonable care to make sure they are not creating harm and implementing products that harm kids.”

The House p***ed a similar bill in June but did not include a duty-of-care provision.

“Instead of p***ing a federal standard that will protect America’s children from Big Tech’s greed, the House of Representatives just p***ed legislation that is a pale imitation of Big Tech accountability,” said co-sponsors Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in a joint statement.

“The House’s decision to strip out the Duty of Care will only maintain the status quo in which Big Tech uses our kids as profit centers and leaves parents to pick up the pieces,” the senators added.

The bill would also require online platforms to increase protection for kids’ data and allow users to opt out of customized ads.

“We’re sending a message to Big Tech that the era of Big Tech profiting off of our children is over,” Blackburn said before the Wednesday vote, Politico reported.