WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer seems to have overcome a major roadblock in his own party who’s holding up legislation designed to protect children from online harm.
“The majority leader and I have exchanged new text that looks like an improvement to me,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) exclusively told Raw Story at the U.S. Capitol. “I need to make sure that it protects LGBTQ teens, and, at this point, it looks like we're moving in the right direction.”
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While some GOP dissension remains, Wyden’s support is seen as a huge step forward, because he’s had a hold on the broadly bipartisan measure for months now.
Since February, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) has enjoyed the support of a rare, filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate, yet it’s gone nowhere, in part, because of opposition from progressives such as Wyden.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) on June 18, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The Oregon Democrat — who chairs the Senate Finance Committee — has been the leading voice in the Senate pushing a more law enforcement-centric response to online harms facing children, which is the centerpiece of the Invest in Child Safety Act that allocates $5 billion to help law enforcement officials combat online threats facing the nation’s children.
KOSA, on the other hand, attempts to put the burden for protecting children on tech companies by limiting things like infinite scrolling, auto play and other subliminal features that keep young and old alike glued to our screens.
What’s changed?
People are regularly talking about online harms lurking in the digital shadows, for one.
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, for another, turned heads all week after penning an op-ed for the New York Times calling on Congress to slap warning labels on the social media apps America’s children love most — from TikTok to YouTube.
An earlier draft of KOSA was panned widely for erecting a new duty of care — a legal obligation — on state attorneys general that many outside groups feared would allow Republican AGs to target vulnerable communities, such as LGBTQ teens.
In KOSA, that duty of care now rests with the Federal Trade Commission, not partisan state AGs.
But Wyden wants to go further. And Schumer seems to agree.
“After weeks of work, we have made real progress in removing objections to this bill,” Leader Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon.
Back in 1996, Wyden was a lead author of the Communications Decency Act, which is now infamous for its Section 230 that acts as the shield protecting social media companies from being sued for content people post on their sites.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) talks with reporters as he leaves the U.S. Capitol following the first vote of the week on June 17, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
While the new KOSA bill text is still a work in progress, it makes “changes to better protect users’ speech as opposed to harmful platform design,” according to Wyden and his team.
In other words, Wyden doesn’t want KOSA to trump Section 230 and its digital speech protections.
“Part of what I've tried to do in tech policy is to be fair to everybody. There are serious issues here,” Wyden said. “My wife and I are older parents. We have twins that are 16. We have a little one that's 11. And it's my job to be fair to everyone. And it’s certainly important to be fair to minorities, you know, LGBTQ teens is an example.”
It’s still unclear if these new tweaks go far enough to win over groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Electronic Frontier Foundation and Fight for the Future, which have opposed KOSA.
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Those groups have remained opposed to the measure even after its lead authors — Sen. Richard Bluemnthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) — unveiled an updated version at the start of this year that attempted to address their censorship concerns.
“After pushing and cajoling, we are much closer to ultimate success,” Blumenthal told Schumer in a colloquy on the Senate floor Thursday. “This bill, which has nearly 70 cosponsors, is a set of safeguards and accountability measures to protect kids from the clear and horrific harms created by social media and other online platforms.”
While Schumer won over Wyden from his progressive left flank, there’s still opposition from his conservative right flank on the other side of the proverbial aisle.
“Sadly, objectors remain. I hope that progress can continue over the coming days,” Schumer said. “If the objectors refuse to come to a resolution, we must pursue a different legislative path to get this done.”
The surgeon general’s calls for new social media warning labels is being embraced by lawmakers across the political spectrum.
But critics say the warning label proposal and Wyden’s tweaks to KOSA still fall short.
Republican senator Josh Hawley. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)
“Good,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Raw Story just off the Senate floor Thursday. “Yeah, good. You know what would be even better though? I mean, the warning label’s fine, but let people sue. You want to change the behavior of these companies, let parents sue them. That would drive change.”
The rank-and-file in both parties are itching to deliver online protections for the nation’s children during the current congressional session.
“Watching governors act in California, New York and Utah, it's clear that this is a priority issue for parents, and I just don't think we're doing our job if we don't act on online safety bills by the end of the year,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told Raw Story.
While red and blue states alike have acted to protect children online, the broadly bipartisan measures have all withered on the vine in the U.S. Capitol in recent years.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) says he hopes Congress can piggyback on the surgeon general’s new social media warning for the nation’s kids.
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“It's a good vehicle for us to take up this issue. The announcement of the surgeon general makes it timely,” Durbin told Raw Story.
“Do you think because there’s so much broad, bipartisan support we might see this before the election?” Raw Story asked of the filibuster-proof support in the Senate for KOSA.
“I certainly hope so,” Durbin replied. “I'd move on this topic as quickly as possible. American families really care.”
Still, Republicans like Hawley are dubious that Democratic leaders like Durbin and Schumer care.
“The corporations don't want it — tech companies don't want it,” Hawley told Raw Story just feet away from the Senate floor. “So as I've said before, you know, just post the ‘owned by big tech’ sign right there on the Senate doors, because that's the truth. They don't want us to move.”
“Listen, we voted out — unanimously — out of this Judiciary Committee a bill to stop child pornography. And Durbin and I are the co-sponsors — it’s ‘Durbin-Hawley,’ you know. Unanimous support,” Hawley complained of his bipartisan measure to end Section 230 protections specifically for child pornography — a measure that’s never the Senate floor.
For now, even as generative artificial intelligence (AI) continues remaking the internet as we knew it, the Senate continues to work at Senate speed.
“We've exchanged new text,” Wyden told Raw Story. “And I believe we're making some progress.”
