Public Knowledge Warns Against Bills Limiting Children’s Internet Access, Barring States from Protecting Kids Online

Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up a series of kids’ online safety bills limiting young people’s autonomy and internet access. Many of these bills – including “Sammy’s Law” and the “App Store Accountability Act” – shift responsibility for product safety from the very platforms designing unsafe products onto families. Additionally, the House version of these bills, namely the “Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), preempt state law, barring states from enacting their own online safety bills that could force platforms to design safer products in the first place. Public Knowledge contends that the best way for Congress to make the internet safer for children is to focus on how platforms are designed rather than on controlling who can use them. The following can be attributed to Morgan Wilsmann, Policy Analyst at Public Knowledge: “Today, Congress passed out of committee a package of bills aimed at kids’ online safety. The bills range from uncontroversial, bipartisan Federal Trade Commission study bills to those facilitating privacy-threatening surveillance. Lawmakers continue spending time on bills that simply pass on the responsibility for child safety online entirely to parents, rather than pushing platforms to make their products safer for everyone. “In an otherwise bleak package of bills threatening free expression and the Open Internet, there are some bright spots – specifically, bills that target particular harmful design features rather than blocking kids from the internet altogether or forcing them to give up all semblance of privacy. We hope Congress can push forward conversations around what actually perpetuates harms to kids online – namely, risky design features like live chat with strangers or endless scroll – rather than content young users may come across.” You may view our recent article, “Congress Is Still Getting Kids’ Online Safety Wrong,” to learn more about the consequences of these bills, as well as our in-depth scorecard evaluation on each one. You may also view our white paper, “The Kids Aren’t Alright Online: How To Build a Safer, Better Internet for Everyone,” to discover how to make the internet safer for everyone, including children. Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.