A new bill sponsored by Sen. Schatz (D-HI), Sen. Cotton (R-AR), Sen. Murphy (D-CT), and Sen. Britt (R-AL) would combine some of the worst elements of various social media bills aimed at “protecting the children” into a single law. It contains elements of the dangerous Kids Online Safety Act as well as several ideas pulled from state bills that have passed this year, such as Utah’s surveillance-heavy Social Media Regulations law. The authors of the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act (S.1291) may have good intentions. But ultimately, this legislation would lead to a second-class online experience for young people, mandated privacy-invasive age verification for all users, and in all likelihood, the creation of digital IDs for all U.S. citizens and residents.

Kelley, J., & Cope, S. (2023, August 28). The Protecting Kids on Social Media Act is A Terrible Alternative to KOSA. Electronic Frontier Foundation. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/08/protecting-kids-social-media-act-terrible-alternative-kosa