WChicken Congress was postponed for holidays in December, a historical bill aimed at reforming how technology companies that have officially failed their smallest users have failed. It was presented in 2022, and the Internet Safety Law (KOSA) was supposed to be a tremendous account of large technology. Instead, despite sailing via the Senate with a vote from 91 to 3 in July, the draft law remains and died in the House of Representatives.
Kosa was enthusiastic by the families who said that their children had fallen victim to the policies harmful to social media platforms and preachers who said that a bill in force that was not examined for major technology had been late. They were disappointed bitterly because a strong opportunity to verify great technology failed due to indifference in Congress. But human rights organizations have argued that legislation could have led to unintended consequences that affect freedom of expression online.
What is the Internet safety law for children?
Kosa was introduced nearly three years in the wake of the disclosure of bombs by former Facebook employee Francis Hogan about the scope and severity of the effects of social media platforms on young users. It would have made it clear that platforms such as Instagram and Tiktok deals with online dangers that affect children through design changes and allow young users to cancel the subscription to the algorithm recommendations.
“This is an essential bill for the product,” said Alex Fraser, Director of the Issue Council in the responsible social media. “It is complicated, because the Internet is complicated and social media is complicated, but it is basically just an attempt to create a basic criterion for these companies.”
The central “duty of care” – and controversial – was “the duty of care”, which declared that companies “have the duty to work in the interest of minors who use their platforms” and will be open to interpretation by the organizers. The platforms would also have to implement measures to reduce the damage by creating “guarantees for minors”.
Critics have argued that the lack of clear guidelines about what constitutes harmful content may cause companies to liquidate the content more, which leads to unintended consequences for freedom of expression. Sensitive topics can be considered but important such as negative violence and ethnic justice that they are harmful, then they are later filtered by the companies themselves. These concerns related to control were particularly clear to the LGBTQ+ community, which, as Cosa opponents said, could be affected by an inconsistent manner in conservative organizers, which reduces access to biological resources.
“With Kousa, we saw a really good -intentioned bill, but it is ultimately mysterious that requires online services to take unlimited measures to maintain the safety of children, which would have led to many bad results for children, and all marginalized users,” said Alia Batia, a policy analyst at the Democracy and Technology Center , Who opposed the legislation and that receives money from technology including Amazon, Google and Microsoft.
History of the complex zucchini
When the bill was presented for the first time, more than 90 human rights organizations signed a speech in the opposition, which confirms these concerns and others. In response to such criticism, the authors of the draft law issued reviews in February 2024 – the most prominent of which is the transfer of the “duty of care” item from the state lawyer to the Federal Trade Committee. After these changes, a number of organizations, including Glaad, the human rights campaign, and the opposition project, were withdrawn, saying that the reviews “greatly reduce the risk of injury [Kosa] Using their use to suppress LGBTQ resources or strangle young people to communities online. “
But other civil rights groups maintained their opposition, including the Electronic Border Foundation (EFF), ACLU and the struggle for the future, and described Kousa as a “draft law for control” that would harm weak users and freedom of expression in general. They have argued that the rule of duty could be ease by the conservative FTC seat against LGBTQ+ YouTH by the state lawyers in the state. These concerns have been reflected in the appointment of Trump’s FTC team leader Andrew Ferguson, Who said in leakage data He planned to use his role in “fighting against a transit agenda”.
“Exactly what LGBTQ youth wrote in this battle and called Congress about hundreds of times over the past two years.” “The situation they feared began its fruits, and anyone who ignores this is just putting their heads in the sand.”
Opponents say that even with the failure of a zucchini in traffic, the chilling effect has already been achieved in relation to the content available on certain platforms. accident a report In User Mag, it was found that the retail marks of the topics associated with LGBTQ+were classified as “sensitive content” and restricted by the research. Bhatia, from the Center for Democracy and Technology, said that legislation such as Kousa does not take into account the complications of the scene online.
“The safety of children occupies an interesting contradictory situation in technology policy, as children are simultaneously weak online actors, but also at the same time benefiting greatly from the Internet,” she said. “Using a policy frank tool to protect them can often lead to results that do not take this into consideration.”
Supporters attribute the reverse reaction to Kousa to the aggressive pressure of the technology industry, although two of the most important opponents – fighting for the future – are not supported by donors in the field of technology. Meanwhile, major technology companies are divided into Kosa, with X, Snap, Microsoft, and Pinterest, apparently supporting the bill, Meta and Google quietly opposes it.
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Fraser said, in the first issue: “Cosa was a very strong legislation, but what is more powerful is the power of large technology,” said Fraser, in the first issue. “They rented all pressure groups in the city to land it, and they were successful in it.”
Fraser added that the defenders are disappointed with the failure of Kousa to traffic, but “he will not rest until federal legislation to protect children online is passed and that the technology sector is responsible for his actions.”
The potential revival of Kosa
Regardless of Ferguson as Chairman of the Federal Trade Committee, it is not clear exactly what the new Trump administration and the variable makeup of Congress for the future of Kousa. Although Trump did not refer directly to his views about Kousa, many people are in their nearby circle. Express support After the last minute amendments to the bill in 2024 Elon Musk facilitates x.
The death of Congress in Kousa may seem the end of a zigzag and controversial path, but defenders on both sides of the battle say it is too early to write the obituary of legislation.
“We should not expect Kousa quietly,” said Brem M Trevidy, director of policies at the Institute of Open Technology, who opposes Kousa. “Whether we will see that it was presented again or different embodiment of it, the focus on online safety on the Internet will continue on a larger scale.”
Richard Blumentel, Senator who participated in forming the bill with Senator Marsha Blackburn, promised to re -submit it in the next Congress session, as other defenders of the bill say they will not surrender.
“I worked with many of these fathers who were ready to recount the worst day in their lives over and over again, in front of the legislators, in front of the employees, in front of the press, because they know that there is something he has and said Fraser for change.” They will not stop. “