First Online Child Safety Bill Passes US Senate
2024-08-01
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1The U.S. Senate has approved the nation's first major legislation aimed at protecting children from internet harms.
2Two bills passed the Senate by a vote of 91-3 on Tuesday.
3But the measures will also need to be passed by the U.S. House of Representatives to become law.
4It is currently unclear whether the House will approve the bills in the future.
5One bill is known as the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA.
6The other is called the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0).
7The KOSA bill requires technology companies to take steps to provide a "duty of care" to protect young users.
8This legal term covers a range of steps businesses need to take in an effort to "prevent and mitigate" harm to children.
9Such harms include bullying and violence, as well as online information related to suicide, eating disorders and substance and sexual abuse.
10The bill known as COPPA 2.0 is designed to increase privacy rules related to children.
11The bill bans some targeted advertising to kids online. It also bars data collection on children without their knowledge or approval.
12And it gives parents and young users the ability to remove personal information from social media services.
13In addition, the bills would require companies to permit minors to opt out of product tools that use activity history to predict and suggest additional content to keep users online for long periods.
14The bill empowers state attorney general representatives to enforce most parts of the laws.
15However, the "duty of care" part cannot be enforced by state attorneys general.
16That change was made after concerns were raised that some states may seek to block information related to LGBTQ issues or reproductive rights.
17Wider enforcement will be dealt with by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which will help decide what kinds of content is "harmful" to children.
18KOSA and COPPA 2.0 are being supported by a wide range of nonprofits, technology accountability organizations and parental rights groups.
19In addition, the bills have been supported by major groups representing American doctors and teachers.
20Some well-known technology companies - including Microsoft, X and Snap - have also expressed support.
21Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has not publicly expressed strong support or opposition to the measures.
22Meta has said in the past it is not completely against some government regulation of social media.
23Some technology industry groups and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have criticized the measures.
24They have suggested that differing definitions of what is considered harmful to children could result in minors being blocked from important information.
25Such information could include LGBTQ issues, reproductive rights or vaccines.
26Some changes were made earlier to the legislation in an effort to overcome these concerns, but some critics said those did not go far enough.
27"They made improvements, but not enough," said Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon.
28He was one of three senators who voted against the bills.
29He recently told reporters, "I still think it is going to harm a lot of LGBTQ kids because of the way it's going to make it difficult for them to get information."
30Josh Golin is executive director of Fairplay, a nonprofit group working to protect children from online marketing and other possible harms.
31He told The Associated Press before the Senate vote that he is "very hopeful" the bills will eventually be passed by both houses of Congress.
32"The reason it has not come to a vote yet is that passing legislation is really hard, particularly when you're trying to regulate one of the, if not the most powerful industry in the world," Golin said.
33I'm Bryan Lynn.
1The U.S. Senate has approved the nation's first major legislation aimed at protecting children from internet harms. 2Two bills passed the Senate by a vote of 91-3 on Tuesday. But the measures will also need to be passed by the U.S. House of Representatives to become law. It is currently unclear whether the House will approve the bills in the future. 3One bill is known as the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA. The other is called the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). 4What do the measures do? 5The KOSA bill requires technology companies to take steps to provide a "duty of care" to protect young users. This legal term covers a range of steps businesses need to take in an effort to "prevent and mitigate" harm to children. Such harms include bullying and violence, as well as online information related to suicide, eating disorders and substance and sexual abuse. 6The bill known as COPPA 2.0 is designed to increase privacy rules related to children. The bill bans some targeted advertising to kids online. It also bars data collection on children without their knowledge or approval. And it gives parents and young users the ability to remove personal information from social media services. 7In addition, the bills would require companies to permit minors to opt out of product tools that use activity history to predict and suggest additional content to keep users online for long periods. 8How will they be enforced? 9The bill empowers state attorney general representatives to enforce most parts of the laws. However, the "duty of care" part cannot be enforced by state attorneys general. That change was made after concerns were raised that some states may seek to block information related to LGBTQ issues or reproductive rights. 10Wider enforcement will be dealt with by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which will help decide what kinds of content is "harmful" to children. 11Who supports the measures? 12KOSA and COPPA 2.0 are being supported by a wide range of nonprofits, technology accountability organizations and parental rights groups. In addition, the bills have been supported by major groups representing American doctors and teachers. 13Some well-known technology companies - including Microsoft, X and Snap - have also expressed support. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has not publicly expressed strong support or opposition to the measures. Meta has said in the past it is not completely against some government regulation of social media. 14Who opposes the legislation? 15Some technology industry groups and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have criticized the measures. They have suggested that differing definitions of what is considered harmful to children could result in minors being blocked from important information. Such information could include LGBTQ issues, reproductive rights or vaccines. 16Some changes were made earlier to the legislation in an effort to overcome these concerns, but some critics said those did not go far enough. "They made improvements, but not enough," said Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. He was one of three senators who voted against the bills. He recently told reporters, "I still think it is going to harm a lot of LGBTQ kids because of the way it's going to make it difficult for them to get information." 17Can the legislation pass the House? 18Josh Golin is executive director of Fairplay, a nonprofit group working to protect children from online marketing and other possible harms. He told The Associated Press before the Senate vote that he is "very hopeful" the bills will eventually be passed by both houses of Congress. 19"The reason it has not come to a vote yet is that passing legislation is really hard, particularly when you're trying to regulate one of the, if not the most powerful industry in the world," Golin said. 20I'm Bryan Lynn. 21Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse and the European Commission. 22_________________________________________ 23Words in This Story 24mitigate - v. to reduce the harmful effects of something 25bully - v. to purposefully frighten someone who is smaller or weaker than you 26opt out - v. to choose not to be part of an activity or to stop being part of it 27LGBTQ - n. lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning one's sexual or gender identity 28accountable - adj. being responsible for one's own actions and being able to explain those actions 29regulate - v. to control an activity or process, especially by using rules or laws