Public Knowledge, Industry Groups Oppose Kids Bills

Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas told us recently he expects to take up the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) (S. 1409), the Kids Off Social Media Act (KOSMA) (S. 4213) and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) (S. 1418) (see 2501240040).

Introduced by Cruz, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and a bipartisan coalition of senators, KOSMA would ban social media companies from using data-driven algorithms to serve targeted ads to users younger than 17, and it would set a minimum age of 13 for social media use.

Speaking at a Congressional Internet Caucus event Wednesday, Public Knowledge Government Affairs Director Sara Collins called KOSMA a ”reactionary policy” designed to remove children from what’s a “very vibrant part of everyday life for all of us.” There is a role for Congress to build a more functional internet, but these are “blanket bans” that Congress and state lawmakers should avoid, she said. PK issued a statement Wednesday outlining its opposition.

The Software & Information Industry Association issued a statement Wednesday opposing KOSMA. SIIA said that while the bill has been updated to appease some concerns from 2024, there are still issues with the bill’s knowledge standard. And while the bill states there are no age-gating requirements, companies will need to verify age in order to comply. Age-verification requirements have drawn objections from privacy advocates.

KOSA is going to be a tough sell in the House, given Republican leadership’s opposition over privacy and censorship concerns (see 2501030039), said Amy Bos, state and federal affairs director at NetChoice. The bill is “incredibly vague” about what constitutes “harmful content” for children, and the bill’s age-verification provisions raise privacy concerns, she said. Trying to hold companies liable for “harmful content” would lead to over-moderating and censoring of lawful speech, she said. Passage is going to be “tough” without a “major overhaul” of the current bill, said Bos. KOSA’s sponsors have told us they plan to reintroduce the bill (see 2501150064).

Foundation for American Innovation Senior Fellow Evan Swarztrauber noted that NetChoice has been having success in its legal battles against content-specific regulations at the state level. While parents are calling for congressional action to protect children, lawmakers can turn to bills that don’t pose constitutional issues, like the App Store Accountability Act from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. John James, R-Mich., said Swarztrauber. The bill would impose age-verification and age-rating requirements at the app store level. A Utah Senate panel cleared a state version of such a bill on Tuesday (see 2501290015). These issues aren’t going away, so House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will have to try to resolve concerns surrounding kids’ privacy, said Swarztrauber.

Panelists said it’s difficult to see Congress passing comprehensive privacy legislation in 2025. Swarztrauber said it’s possible to pass a bill without controversial elements like a private right of action, but it’s going to be a “heavy lift” convincing Democrats to support a bill that doesn’t have “any teeth.” Democrats aren’t interested in codifying the current status quo, he said.

Congress can’t seem to get over the hurdles of state preemption and private right of action, said Bos. It would be a shame if the House Commerce Committee’s bipartisan work on privacy from 2024 “goes to waste,” but given Republicans’ narrow majority in both chambers, “threading that needle will be very tricky,” she said.

Collins said she’s “deeply concerned” about comments from Cruz and House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., that privacy laws in their respective states could serve as models. The notice and choice framework embraced in those states isn’t a “functional privacy model,” she said. Privacy laws in Maryland and Connecticut, neither of which has a private right of action, are better models, said Collins.