The Senate voted in a rare 86-1 vote on Thursday to invoke cloture, or limit debate, on the Kids Online Safety Act 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 a 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.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
