Kids Online Safety Act Empowers Big Tech

Since whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked documents revealing how Instagram harms teenage girls, lawmakers have scrambled to respond. Recently, Senators Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) introduced the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).

Among the bill’s various features, KOSA aims to protect online users, ages 16 and younger, in two key ways: first, by giving platforms the power to prevent and mitigate potentially harmful content, and second, by forcing platforms to create accessible, user-friendly safeguards and parental controls.

JE

About the Author

Jared Eckert

Jared Eckert is a graduate of the Young Leaders Program at the Heritage Foundation.

JW

About the Author

Jay W. Richards

Jay W. Richards is author of The Human Advantage: The Future of American Work in an Age of Smart Machines. He’s an assistant research professor in the Busch School of Business and Economics at the Catholic University of America, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, and executive editor of The Stream.

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Since whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked documents revealing how Instagram harms teenage girls, lawmakers have scrambled to respond. Recently, Senators Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) introduced the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).

Among the bill’s various features, KOSA aims to protect online users, ages 16 and younger, in two key ways: first, by giving platforms the power to prevent and mitigate potentially harmful content, and second, by forcing platforms to create accessible, user-friendly safeguards and parental controls.

JE

About the Author

Jared Eckert

Jared Eckert is a graduate of the Young Leaders Program at the Heritage Foundation.

JW

About the Author

Jay W. Richards

Jay W. Richards is author of The Human Advantage: The Future of American Work in an Age of Smart Machines. He’s an assistant research professor in the Busch School of Business and Economics at the Catholic University of America, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, and executive editor of The Stream.