WASHINGTON—The Kids Online Safety & Privacy Act (KOSPA) in its current form reportedly won't be brought up for action or a vote in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, reports Punchbowl News. At least, that is what a source in the House GOP leadership told the political news outlet.
“We’ve heard concerns across our conference and the senate bill cannot be brought up in its current form,” an unnamed House GOP leadership "aide" told Punchbowl's morning newsletter staff. If this is the case, the legislative vehicle passed by the Senate, 91-3, on Tuesday is dead on arrival in the House.
KOSPA is a combined proposal that merges the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). AVN reported on the broad bipartisan support for KOSPA, despite concerns from civil society organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted to oppose the bill on similar grounds that KOSPA could potentially violate the First Amendment rights of both minors and adults who use the internet. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, voted against KOSPA because he doesn't think the measure goes far enough. Instead, he pushed his own online safety measure, the SCREEN Act.
"It’s good that this unconstitutional censorship bill is dead for now, but I am not breathing a sigh of relief," said Evan Greer, the director of the advocacy group Fight for the Future. Greer and her group have been vocal opponents of the Kids Online Safety Act, arguing it censors LGBTQ+ voices on the web.
Greer added, "By insisting on pushing KOSA over the objections of human rights groups and [LGBTQ+] youth, Senate leadership actively helped big tech avoid real regulation. We cannot allow this to happen again." Greer refers to the fact that civil liberties organizations have maintained throughout the lifespan of the KOSA proposal that it would add unwarranted scrutiny and censorship on online platforms that would lead to potential free speech harms.
KOSA reportedly being dead on arrival in the House runs counter to what House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., promised leadership in the Senate and the sponsors of the original proposal, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., among others. It is worth noting that this is due to the fact that a variation of the Kids Online Safety Act was simultaneously introduced in the House. Being that the House is controlled by Republicans and has fallen to far-right lawmakers such as Johnson, it wouldn't be surprising to see a version of KOSA that would heavily crack down on LGBTQ+ speech.
The KOSPA variation of the Kids Online Safety Act would place a duty of care on all web platforms to design their sites to protect minors. It would also order the executive branch to investigate the feasibility of adopting national age verification requirements enforced by the Federal Trade Commission.
