Senate tees up vote on kids’ online safety bills

The Senate set in motion a path for a vote on two bills to boost kids’ online safety and privacy, with a broad bipartisan vote Thursday to end debate on the legislation.  

The Senate voted 86-1 on Thursday to invoke cloture, or limit debate, on the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) 2.0.  

The vote tees up a final passage for the bipartisan bills likely to take place next week and followed years of mounting pressure for Congress to put guardrails in place to limit the impact of social media platforms on kids and teens.  

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) voted against invoking cloture. In a floor speech Thursday, the senator called KOSA “Pandora’s box for censorship” and argued it “opens the door to nearly limitless content moderation as people can and will argue any piece of content could contribute to some sort of mental health disorder.”

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that he will also be voting against the final passage next week due to concerns that the law could be used to “pressor companies to censor” information about LGBTQ+ and reproductive health under a “future MAGA administration.”

Some LGBTQ+ organizations had initially pushed back on the bill over concerns that duty of care could be interpreted, especially by state attorneys general, in a way that limited teens from accessing information about sexuality, reproductive health and gender identity. Seven LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, including GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign, dropped their opposition in February after updates to the bill’s text. 

Wyden said that “while constructive, these improvements remain insufficient.”

But the broad bipartisan vote indicates the two bills will likely pass in the Senate. KOSA also had more than 60 co-sponsors ahead of Thursday’s vote, which is enough votes to pass even with the filibuster rules in place.

Supporters of the bill say it would help create guardrails to keep kids and teens safe online and hold tech companies accountable for exposing children to addictive features and harmful content.  

KOSA, led by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), creates a duty of care for social media platforms to prevent and mitigate harm to minors, such as content promoting self-harm, suicide, eating disorders and substance abuse.   

COPPA 2.0, led by Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), would add data privacy measures including the ban of targeted advertising to teens and kids online.   

The likely passage in the Senate puts the spotlight on the House to act when it returns from its early recess that began this week. 

The House Energy and Commerce Committee was slated to mark up a House version of KOSA last month during a meeting, but the meeting was pulled shortly before it began over GOP leaders pushback to a separate comprehensive data privacy bill, the American Privacy Rights Act.

Story was updated at 4:12 p.m. ET