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Floor Speech
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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague, who has worked so diligently on this.
This legislation has been years in the making, as he has said. Basically, the amending process has gone on for 3 years. And as I mentioned, 70 Members of this body have joined to sponsor this legislation.
To the concerns that my colleague expressed, I want him to know this is not a speech bill. This is not a content bill. No agency can make rules on speech. Nonprofits are not covered in this bill. There is no rulemaking. News outlets are not covered in this. The government is given no new authority.
And when he mentioned websites and blogs, the Kids Online Safety Act only covers social media, social networks, multiplayer online video games, social messaging apps, video streaming services. It does not include blogs and personal websites.
Now, the question he was saying that the Kids Online Safety Act covers platforms that are run by nonprofits: Websites run by nonprofit organizations, which often host important and valuable education and support services, are not covered in the scope of this legislation. And these are important points to make.
And as Senator Blumenthal said, reading the bill, you see this is a product design. The duty of care that is there, it requires social media companies to prevent and mitigate certain harms that they know their platforms and products are causing to young users as a result of their design choices, such as their recommendation algorithms, their addictive product features.
The specific covered harms include suicide, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and sexual exploitation. And these are the reasons for having this duty of care and having this included in the Kids Online Safety Act.
But, no, it is not a speech bill. It is not a content bill. It does not include rulemaking authority. It has no rulemaking authority in the legislation, and it does not give additional authority to the government, and it does not give more authority to State attorneys general or to the FTC.
So I think the fears are unfounded. This is a good product, good legislation. We have worked with our colleagues. We have heard from thousands--thousands--of kids and parents, pediatricians, teachers, principals, mental health professionals, and everyone has come to the table to say: It is time to hold Big Tech accountable for what is happening to our kids.
And I yield back to my colleague from Connecticut.
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