The Senate overwhelmingly passed two bills intended to strengthen children’s online safety on Tuesday, imposing new rules on what online firms can offer to minors and how they use those children's data.
Both bills, the Kids Online Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Action (COPPA) 2.0, were approved in bipartisan 91-3 votes.
Here are the three senators that voted against the bills.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
Wyden wanted the legislation approved by the Senate to go farther.
While he said he “strongly” backed some elements of the privacy act, in particulary, he argued the other piece of legislation was "insufficient" and would lead to lawsuits against companies protecting the privacy of users.
“I fear this bill could be used to sue services that offer privacy-enhancing technologies like encryption or anonymity features that are essential to young people’s ability to communicate securely and privately without being spied on by predators online,” Wyden said in a statement.
Wyden also said he was worried about the possibility that a future administration could use the legisaltion to "pressure companies to censor gay, trans and reproductive health information.”
“For these reasons, I cannot vote for this legislation,” Wyden said.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)
The conservative Lee said he could not vote for the Kids Online Safety Act because it would fail to attack the greatest online threats to children online, "while opening the door to political censorship by the federal government.”
“KOSA ignores the grievous damage against children by online pornographers, through both viewing and exploitation,” Lee wrote in a post on X.
“Instead, this legislation empowers the [Federal Trade Commission (FTC)] to censor any content it deems to cause ‘harm,’ ‘anxiety,’ or ‘depression,’ in a way that could (and most likely would) be used to censor the expression of political, religious, and other viewpoints disfavored by the FTC.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
Paul in a Tuesday opinion piece for The Louisville Courier Journal said he could not back the bill because it would stifle free speech.
“KOSA would impose an unprecedented duty of care on internet platforms to design their sites to mitigate and prevent harms associated with mental health, such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders,” Paul wrote. “This requirement will not only stifle free speech, but it will deprive Americans of the benefits of our technological advancements.”
“Any solution to protect kids online must ensure the positive aspects of the internet are preserved,” Paul said.
