Democracy Dies in Darkness

Senators unveil children’s online safety bill after months of pressure on Silicon Valley

The bill would require companies to provide parents and minors with new controls and create new obligations for platforms to address self-harm, eating disorders and other content that might harm children and teens

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February 16, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EST
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) speaks alongside Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) during a Senate hearing. They are co-sponsoring a bill to address children's safety online. (Anna Moneymaker/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
5 min

A bipartisan pair of senators on Wednesday unveiled a sweeping bill that aims to give parents more control over their children’s time online, following months of congressional scrutiny over the way social media platforms may harm their youngest users.

Co-sponsored by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), the Kids Online Safety Act would require online platforms to provide parents and minors younger than 16 with “easy-to-use” tools to keep them safe, limit screen time and protect their data. It would demand that companies create tools to allow parents to track how much time their kids spend on a service, or to opt out of features such as autoplay that might extend time online. Companies would also have to offer parents and minors the ability to modify tech companies’ recommendation algorithms, allowing them to limit or ban certain types of content.