Kids Online Safety Act Infographic

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The bill is summarized by the Congressional Research Service with the following:

This bill sets out requirements to protect minors from online harms.

The requirements apply to covered platforms, which are applications or services (e.g., social networks) that connect to the internet and are likely to be used by minors. However, the bill exempts internet service providers, email services, educational institutions, and other specified entities from the requirements.

Additionally, covered platforms must provide (1) minors (or their parents or guardians) with certain safeguards, such as settings that restrict access to minors' personal data; and (2) parents or guardians with tools to supervise minors' use of a platform, such as control of privacy and account settings.

Covered platforms must also;

• disclose specified information, including details regarding the use of personalized recommendation systems and targeted advertising;

The bill has been criticized by members of the "Don't Delete Art" (DDA) movement and anti-censorship groups due to the chances of increased online surveillance and heavy censorship of artists' work. Along with support from the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Coalition Against Censorship, Fight for the Future, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, DDA has encouraged people to signal their opposition through an online petition that labels KOSA as one of several "Bad Internet Bills."[5]

A letter sent to the United States Congress by Evan Greer—director of Fight for the Future—and signed by multiple civil society groups claims that KOSA could backfire and cause more harm to minors.[6][7] Fight for the Future has set up a Stop KOSA website for people to sign a petition and contact lawmakers against the bill.[8]

Critics, including the EFF, notes that the bill's definition of harm toward minors leaves room for broad interpretation decided by the state attorneys general who are charged with enforcing the bill,[9][10] likening it to the FOSTA-SESTA bills.[11]

The conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation has written that the initial 2022 iteration of KOSA doesn't go far enough, as the bill doesn't explicitly list transgender healthcare as a harm.[12][13] The inclusion of the phrase "consistent with evidence-informed medical information"[14] could be used by attorneys general to cherry-pick anti-trans sources as justification, since there is no definition of what "evidence-based medical information" can include.[15] Senator Blackburn, co-author of the bill, has argued that some education about racism and the civil rights movement overlaps with critical race theory, which she labels a "dangerous ideology" that can inflict "mental and emotional damage" upon children.[16] She has also explicitly stated that the bill will be used to censor content involving the transgender community.[17] EFF columnist Jason Kelly states that in the framework provided by the bill, that KOSA could be used to censor education about racism in schools since it could be claimed that it impacts mental health.[18]

1. ^ "Blackburn, Blumenthal Introduce Bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act". blackburn.senate.gov. May 2, 2023. Archived from the original on July 26, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023.