Overview
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is a federal bill that would impose a “duty of care” on online platforms to prevent harm to minors. Co-sponsored by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), it has become the flagship vehicle in a broader bipartisan push to regulate youth access to the internet. It passed the Senate in 2024 but stalled in the House, and has been reintroduced under the Trump II administration.
Key Facts
- Co-sponsored by Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT); Blackburn has publicly framed the bill as a tool to “protect minor children from the transgender” online This Bill Purports to Protect Kids from Big Tech. For LGBTQ+ Youth, It’s a Grave Danger.
- Creates a “duty of care” requiring platforms to mitigate design features that contribute to enumerated harms (anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance use) to minors Child safety bills are reshaping the internet for everyone.
- Enforcement vested in state attorneys general, including Ken Paxton of Texas, who has already used consumer-protection authority to investigate gender-affirming care providers This Bill Threatens Access to LGBTQ+ Online Communities.
- Operates in tandem with Age Verification mandates — platforms have strong incentive to ID-gate all users to avoid liability EFF Age Verification One-Pager.
- Opposed by Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, the ACLU, GLAAD, and the Center for Democracy & Technology Bad Internet Bills.
- Passed Senate 91–3 in July 2024; blocked in House during 118th Congress; reintroduced in 119th Congress under Trump II Congress is flooded with bills for childproofing the internet.
- Part of a broader legislative wave including EARN IT Act, STOP CSAM Act, SCREEN Act (S.737 in the 119th Congress, the federal-level age-verification mandate), and the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act Bad Internet Bills SCREEN Act S737 119th Congress — Bill Text.
Newsletter Relevance
KOSA is the cleanest case study of how “child safety” framing builds bipartisan cover for Regulatory Weaponization of the internet. The duty-of-care mechanism hands state AGs — including actors with documented records of targeting LGBTQ+ communities — a lever to pressure platforms into removing disfavored content. It connects Politics (coalition logic behind bipartisan support), Power (state enforcement of content norms), and Technology & State (the collapse of Section 230 as the scaffolding of the open internet).
Connections
- Marsha Blackburn — lead Republican sponsor
- Richard Blumenthal — lead Democratic sponsor
- Ken Paxton — archetypal state-AG enforcer
- Section 230 — KOSA is one of several bills that erode its immunity shield
- Age Verification — practical enforcement mechanism KOSA incentivizes
- EARN IT Act, STOP CSAM Act, SCREEN Act — sibling bills in the same wave
- Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, ACLU, GLAAD — opposition coalition
Source Appearances
- Bad Internet Bills — primary coalition tracker
- Congress is flooded with bills for childproofing the internet — legislative landscape
- Child safety bills are reshaping the internet for everyone — mechanism and scope
- This Bill Purports to Protect Kids from Big Tech. For LGBTQ+ Youth, It’s a Grave Danger — Blackburn’s “transgender” quote
- This Bill Threatens Access to LGBTQ+ Online Communities — Paxton/state AG risk
- LGBTQ Youth Are Under Attack. Why Are Democrats Pushing a Bill That Hurts Them Even More?
- Why Are Some Democrats Backing MAGA’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Censorship?
- Echoes of History in New National Push to Shield Children Online — historical analogues
- President Biden’s new executive action is all about children and the internet
- Considering Age Verification and Impacts on LGBTQ+ Youth
Open Questions
- Does the Trump II reintroduction carry the same duty-of-care language, or a harsher enforcement regime?
- How will FTC rulemaking under KOSA interact with existing state-level age-verification laws already being litigated?
- If KOSA passes, which state AG files the first duty-of-care action, and against what content?