# Kids Online Safety Act: What You Need to Know

The Kids Online Safety Act is designed to protect children from harmful content and predatory behavior on social media platforms and other websites. The law requires online platforms to take specific steps to keep young users safe, including protecting them from content that could encourage self-harm, eating disorders, or suicide, as well as protecting them from sexual exploitation and contact by predators. Platforms would also need to limit how they use children's personal data for advertising and reduce the spread of addictive content designed to keep kids scrolling endlessly.

The bill applies to any social media platform, video streaming service, or website that collects data from or allows interaction with children. Companies like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and similar platforms would need to comply with these new rules. They'd have to implement age verification systems or parental controls, give parents tools to monitor their children's activity, and allow young people to delete their own data. Platforms that fail to follow these requirements could face significant fines and legal consequences.

For families, this means more transparency about how platforms operate and stronger protections for kids online. Parents would gain better access to tools that help them understand what their children are doing on these apps. However, the law also raises some concerns about privacy and how companies will verify ages without collecting excessive personal information. Tech companies argue that some requirements could be expensive to implement and might change how online services operate, potentially affecting free services that rely on advertising revenue.

Kids Online Safety Act

Blumenthal, Richard

Kids Online Safety Act This bill sets out requirements to protect minors from online harms. The requirements apply to covered platforms, which are applications or services (e.g., social networks) that connect to the internet and are likely to be used by minors. However, the bill exempts internet service providers, email services, educational institutions, and other specified entities from the requirements. Covered platforms must act in the best interest of minors using the applications or services, including by mitigating harms that may arise from that use (e.g., sexual exploitation and online bullying). Additionally, covered platforms must provide (1) minors (or their parents or guardians) with certain safeguards, such as settings that restrict access to minors' personal data; and (2) parents or guardians with tools to supervise minors' use of a platform, such as control of privacy and account settings.Covered platforms must also <ul> <li>disclose specified information, including details regarding the use of personalized recommendation systems and targeted advertising;</li> <li>allow parents, guardians, minors, and schools to report certain harms;</li> <li>refrain from facilitating advertising of age-restricted products or services (e.g., tobacco and gambling) to minors; and</li> <li>annually report on foreseeable risks of harm to minors from using the platform.</li> </ul> The bill provides for enforcement through the Federal Trade Commission and states. Further, the bill establishes a program to facilitate relevant independent research for noncommercial purposes and a council to advise on implementing the bill. It also requires guidance for market and product research focused on minors and an evaluation of options to verify a user's age.