Along with Schumer’s support, several LGTBQ advocacy organizations dropped their opposition to the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) after the sponsors updated the text, inching the bill closer to passing.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) are the lead sponsors on the bill.
“Children and teens have been subjected to online harassment, bullying, and other harms for far too long. The Kids Online Safety Act will require social media companies to design their products with the safety of kids and teens in mind, provide parents tools to protect their kids and give families more options for managing and disconnecting from these platforms,” Schumer said in a statement.
“I look forward to working on a bipartisan basis with Senators Blumenthal and Blackburn to advance this bill in the Senate,” he continued.
The bill now has a total of 62 co-sponsors in the Senate, Blumenthal and Blackburn announced Thursday. That would give the bill enough votes to pass in the Senate even with the filibuster rule in place.
The update to KOSA comes after a heated hearing at the end of January with the CEOs of
Meta, TikTok, Discord, Snapchat and X, the company formerly known as Twitter.
Despite the bipartisan support the bill had, it faced fierce opposition, both from powerful tech industry groups and some human rights and LGBTQ+ organizations.
Seven LGBTQ+ advocacy groups — including GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign — sent a letter to Blumenthal withdrawing their opposition following updates.
“The considerable changes that you have proposed to KOSA in the draft released on February 14, 2024, significantly mitigate the risk of it being misused to suppress LGBTQ+ resources or stifle young people’s access to online communities. As such, if this draft of the bill moves forward, our organizations will not oppose its passage,” the groups wrote.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
