Discussion of Major Bill Regarding Social Media And Children Raises Broader Questions About Internet Regulation

As with privacy and big tech generally, Congress has demonstrated repeated interest in, and repeatedly failed at, regulating how online media can interact with children.  Although the US has a national online privacy law for minors, it is very old (20+ years) and predates the era of social media.  Congress has tried repeatedly to pass a major bill (KOSA) that would regulate social media companies in several ways regarding underage users, including by imposing a “duty of care” when dealing with young users, and requiring platforms to manage “addictive” aspects of their technologies.  The bill has failed multiple times.  Critics cite the potential for censorship as one reason to oppose it.  In mid-February, however, the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings about children's online safety that could lead to KOSA being revived.  Meanwhile, many states have taken action of their own, passing laws in 2023-2024 to regulate aspects of children's use of social media, including parental consent laws, age verification requirements, privacy controls, and bans on targeted advertising.  Several of those laws are being tested in court.  

WHY IT MATTERS

If Congress is able to act on this issue, it could slow the ongoing effort at the state level to pass social media laws.  Perhaps most interestingly, however, at the hearing where KOSA was discussed, the witnesses and Senators also discussed internet regulation more broadly.  Much of current BigTech and social media relies on hands-off laws passed in the late 1990s.  Amid ongoing concern from both political parties about censorship, privacy, misinformation, political meddling, national security risks, and harm to children, it is not uncommon to hear someone call to re-write the laws that fueled internet innovation by granting platform operators broad immunity for the material that traverses their services.  The next few years will be an interesting test case for how hands-off Americans want their internet to be.