Last weekend billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk endorsed the Kids Online Safety Act, while X CEO Linda Yaccarino also posted on the platform “Protecting kids should always be priority #1.” This has been the strongest endorsement from within the tech community to date.
The bill, co-authored by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), had passed the Senate earlier this year—only to face opposition in the House over concerns it could censor online speech. There are just weeks remaining in the current session.
Major Endorsement
Musk’s endorsement, notably following the election, could be enough to move the needle on KOSA.
Its passage would be a good first step suggested Kristin Bride, whose 16-year-old son took his own life in 2020 after being bullied on Snapchat. Bride has warned there are currently no protections for children on social media right now, and said more still needs to be done.
“Every day that we debate this issue in Congress, more children are put at risk of serious online harms,” said Bride. “This is why we need House leadership to pass the Kids Online Safety Act before the end of the year. There has been no legislation enacted to protect kids online since 1998.”
Bride, who has testified in hearings and spoken to numerous lawmakers on this series issue, has warned that the “most vigilant parent is no match for the technology used to design these platforms and their algorithms.”
Musk’s Voice Could Carry Weight
This last-minute push from Musk and Yaccarino could be enough to see KOSA passed into law before the end of the year, even as it still faces pushback from within the tech community.
“This move by Musk diverges from the stance of other social media platforms,” explained social media analyst Susan Schreiner of C4 Trends.
How to protect children online while ensuring privacy protections has resulted in a serious impasse. Getting other social media companies to support KOSA would boost the bill’s chances.
“Setting the expectation for kids’ safety online is decidedly more than a leadership challenge that requires much from the founders of these social media companies,” Sachin Puri, chief growth officer at web hosting platform Liquid Web. “Their platforms have introduced extraordinary innovation to the digital world. Sometimes, though, the focus on growth and user experience has seemed to come at the expense of safety.”
Puri further warned that solutions will only be found when technology companies, regulators, educators, and cybersecurity experts come together to set clear, enforceable standards.
In addition, many of the current technologies, including real-time AI moderation and child-specific safety, are not being leveraged widely for reasons relating to cost or user experience. Finding a balance has so far proved elusive, but KOSA could allow a foundation upon which to build upon.
“More importantly, it should provide meaningful progress in getting the platforms to strike a much healthier balance between innovation and responsibility, investment in parental controls, and digital literacy programs supporting families and educators,” said Puri.
Expect More Pushback
Even with Musk onboard, opposition to KOSA remains. Some of it has been more direct than others.
“In mid-November, the Tech Oversight Project blasted Google and Meta for engaging in a multi-million-dollar campaign to kill reasonable and bipartisan protections for minors online,” Schreiner added. “This campaign often failed to disclose financial ties aimed to undermine KOSA.”
Critics have suggested the goal was to weaken crucial provisions designed to protect minors. In addition, privacy advocates have also voiced concerns over the wording of the bill.
“Even with the newest revisions, the legislation still faces criticism from some groups in LGBTQ+, civil rights, and digital privacy circles,” said C4 Trends’ Schreiner. “U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who controls the scheduling of votes, said he has seen some “great work” on KOSA but wants to address ‘whether it might lead to further censorship by the government of valid conservative voices, for example.'”
Johnson has indicated a GOP-led Congress would keep working on online protections for minors next year and said earlier this week “You got to get this one right,” but for parents like Bride that isn’t soon enough.
The Wrong Voice For Change
Those who agree that more needs to be done to protect today’s youth argue that Musk—a controversial free-speech absolutist—might not be the best spokesperson to call for change. X has seen a rise in hate speech since Musk took control of the platform, so much so that many major brands made an exodus last year.
Now Musk is attempting to brand himself the savior of America’s youth, and some aren’t buying his motives.
“With suicide and abuse rates up, not nearly enough is being done online to protect kids, and using a billionaire who makes money from exploiting kids, even though it is indirect, places them in conflict,” said technology industry analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group.
“It would be better to have child safety driven by an unconflicted adult that understands both the industry and the problem so that workable solutions can be created,” Enderle added. “When you have a conflict, you are more likely to cover up a problem than you are to address or mitigate it. By using compromised people like Musk and Zuckerberg, you might reduce the visibility of the problem but you not only are unlikely to fix it, you might even make it worse by enabling the service owners to cover it up.”
Individuals like Bride can offer the best understanding of how the platforms have failed to protect today’s youth.
“We should listen to survivor parents who have lived the horror of losing a child to online harms,” Bride continued. “I know that KOSA would have protected Carson and so many other kids. I welcome anyone who genuinely wants to contribute to protecting kids online, and Big Tech leaders have a key role to play in ensuring we do that. With Elon Musk now endorsing KOSA, we can rest assured that its passing will in no way impede on anyone’s First Amendment rights. KOSA is solely about making online spaces safer for kids.”
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