Congress urged to pass protections for kids using the internet
Republished from Kentucky Lantern
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman has signed a letter — alongside other attorneys general of both parties — asking Congress to pass the Kids Online Safety Act before the end of 2024.
The letter, dated Nov. 18 and sent to congressional leaders including Kentucky’s Sen. Mitch McConnell, said the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) “will establish better safeguards for minors online.”
“While an increasingly online world has improved many aspects of our material well-being, prolific internet usage negatively impacts our children,” the letter states, calling the “threats” minors face on social media a “national youth mental health catastrophe.”
The KOSA legislation, among other things, would require social media companies to “take reasonable measures in the design and operation of any product, service or feature that the covered platform knows is used by minors to prevent and mitigate the following harms to minors.”
It also would “limit features that increase, sustain or extend use of the covered platform by the minor, such as automatic playing of media, rewards for time spent on the platform, notifications and other features that result in compulsive usage of the covered platform by the minor.”
“There is nothing partisan about protecting our kids,” Coleman, a Republican, said in a statement. “This legislation would help create a safer online environment that reduces harm to kids and helps parents like me safeguard our children. As a father and as the Attorney General, I hope our legislators can come to an agreement soon on this critical issue.”
In addition to Coleman, attorneys general from Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont and Wyoming signed the letter.
Coleman is also suing TikTok, accusing the social media platform of exploiting minors and being “designed to addict and otherwise harm” them. Tik Tok said the claims were “inaccurate and misleading.”
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on Facebook and Twitter. Kentucky Lantern stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
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