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Floor Speech
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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague, while he is still here on the floor, for his diligence and his work and his partnership as we have worked on the Kids Online Safety Act. Indeed, he has put many hours, as his team has also put many hours, into this.
As we get ready to move forward with passage, I think we have to remember that it was 1998 the last time this body took up and passed a bill that became law that protected children in the virtual space. And a lot has changed since then. We have seen the emergence of social media. We have seen 100 million Americans born during that period of time.
So thinking about these platforms and that emergence, when you think about Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat and TikTok and online video games, those interactive games that are pulling kids into those, you think about how social media has changed the lives and the exposure of children today. They have grown up in this.
And, as Senator Blumenthal said, Mr. President, it is so important to note that there are laws that protect children from buying alcohol, buying tobacco, buying pornography, being taken to a strip show. We, as a society, have decided kids can't drive until they are 16 years old and they can't vote until they are 18 years old. But when you look at the social media platforms, there are no guardrails, and children are constantly exposed--constantly exposed--to content that encourages self-harm.
That is why we have started to see, over the last decade, such a rise in cyber bullying. I had one mom tell me her child was bullied to death--cyber-bullied nonstop. I had a principal tell me--he said: You know, Marsha, it is interesting. Previously, in previous decades, children could go home and get away from the schoolyard bully. Now, that takes place over that phone, and it never stops.
Indeed, many of the behavioral issues at school are related to what is happening online. And we have seen a rise in mental health disorders. We have seen an increase in eating disorders, online sexual abuse, human trafficking, drug overdoses in teens, and of course, suicides--online challenges where a child loses their life. And we have seen how, the way Big Tech approaches this, our kids are basically defenseless.
That is why the Kids Online Safety Act has moved forward, as Senator Blumenthal said. We have worked on this. We have met with colleagues. We have met with wonderful parents. We have met with principals and pediatricians and so many people that are involved in children's lives. That is why this legislation is focused on safety by design. And that is a change. That will be a change for social media. It will have that duty of care. There will be that toolbox for kids and parents to make it a safer environment. Those algorithms are going to have to be opened up. There is going to have to be a portal so bad actors in the virtual space can be reported, and the social media platforms will have to do something about it.
When we started focusing on these issues and doing our hearings, what became so evident to us, social media platforms knew. They knew that what they were doing and what they were allowing was causing harm. They knew it because the whistleblowers from those companies told us they knew it. But, you know what, they were putting profits before children. So they did it anyway. They did it knowing they were harming our children.
But children are not a product when they are online. That is the way social media has treated them. Indeed, Meta assigned a value to each child. That child is worth $270 a year to that company. That is the callous nature with which they have approached this.
So we are ready to move forward with this today, and we do thank the parents who have shared their stories with us and have done more. They have advocated. They have worked. They have pulled neighbors and friends and those who work with children into a coalition. It has been pretty powerful.
So we are ready to move forward with this, and we do thank Senator Blumenthal and his team. We thank the other Members of the Senate, the 70 cosponsors that are on this legislation with us. We thank Leader Schumer and Leader McConnell for their work. Commerce Committee Chairman Cantwell and Ranking Member Cruz all have been supportive of moving this legislation. And it is, indeed, a testament to building consensus around bipartisan solutions that are going to last.
We also thank all of the groups and organizations that have worked with us to make certain that this legislation gets across the finish line. And as we pass it today and send it over to the House, we know that we have Chairwoman McMorris Rodgers and Congresswoman Kathy Castor and Congressman Bilirakis. Castor and Bilirakis are the House leads on this legislation. There is broad bipartisan support in the House, and we know that the House leadership is supporting it. And we are ready to move this across the finish line and to the President's desk so that as kids head to school this year, they know they have new tools in the toolbox to protect themselves as they are in the virtual space.
Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I rise in support of the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, a bill that includes an amended version of the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens Online Privacy Protection Act. I commend the bill's sponsors, Commerce Chair Cantwell, Leader Schumer, and members like Senator Wyden and the many outside advocates for children, civil rights, and privacy who have helped improve the bill to the version we are voting on today. I also appreciate the parents and students who have shared their experiences with me, particularly those who have turned great pain into advocacy to protect children.
While the internet is an invaluable tool for connecting people, disseminating information, and fostering an exchange of ideas, it can also be exploited to spread misinformation, harvest personal data, and prey on society's most vulnerable. The complex landscape can be especially difficult to navigate for young people, who deserve the freedom to access information and express themselves online but can also be subject to bullying, targeting, and privacy violations.
I had concerns about the Kids Online Safety Act as originally introduced, particularly provisions that could have permitted political censorship of content and falsely categorized basic information as dangerous or harmful. The bill before us today focuses instead on design elements to protect children online, including restricting features that encourage compulsive use, ensuring more transparency about how platforms use personalized recommendation systems and allow users to opt out of those systems, and providing optional tools that can help parents manage their child's online experience while protecting young people's access to information. I became a cosponsor of the Kids Online Safety Act after these changes were included, strengthening the legislation while, in turn, preventing unintended consequences.
Congress will also have an obligation to ensure that the Federal Trade Commission implements this bill as intended, with clear guidance to platforms on how to comply with the law without restricting First Amendment-protected content or limiting privacy protections. I believe this legislation is a balanced approach to the serious challenge of protecting young people online, but will carefully monitor its implementation and effects to ensure it remains targeted to prevent harm.
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