Summary
Vox feature (May 2023, updated post-May 23 to include Biden EA) on the federal child-internet legislation explosion plus the May 23 Biden executive action declaring an “unprecedented youth mental health crisis.” Comprehensive map of: KOSA, EARN IT, Protecting Kids on Social Media Act, COPPA 2.0, plus the state-level laws in Utah, Louisiana, Arkansas, California (Age-Appropriate Design Code), and Montana (TikTok ban). Documents the duty-of-care critique with India McKinney (EFF) and notes Sen. Blackburn’s anti-trans record as an indicator of how state AGs would weaponize KOSA. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s accompanying advisory called for age minimums and platform design standards.
Key Points
- Biden May 23, 2023 executive action: Declared youth mental health crisis tied to internet. Established Task Force on Kids Online Health and Safety (HHS + Commerce). Education Department to improve children’s privacy in ed-tech. DHS + DOJ to work with NCMEC on CSAM database.
- Surgeon General Murthy advisory: Stated “we do not have enough evidence to conclude that [social media] is sufficiently safe” for children; recommended age minimums, increased data privacy, age-appropriate health/safety standards.
- KOSA duty of care: Covered platforms must prevent kids from being exposed to content promoting/contributing to mental health disorders, violence, bullying, harassment, sexual exploitation, abuse, drugs.
- EARN IT: Passed committee May 4, 2023; opponents fear it will weaken/ban encryption.
- State law inventory:
- Utah: age verification + parental consent for under-18 + parental access to children’s accounts
- Utah: porn site age verification (sites blocked many state IPs)
- Louisiana: porn age verification; Pornhub traffic dropped 80% after implementation
- Arkansas: under-18 social media parental consent
- California: Age-Appropriate Design Code (defaults + data restrictions)
- Montana: TikTok ban
- India McKinney (EFF): “We generally don’t like it when the government is trying to tell parents the correct way to parent their children.”
- Blackburn: Tennessee’s drag-show legislation flagged as indicator of how AGs would deploy KOSA.
Newsletter Angles
- The full inventory piece: Best one-stop summary of what’s on the table federally + by state as of mid-2023.
- Biden EA + Murthy advisory combination is the high-water mark of bipartisan executive-branch alignment on the “internet hurts kids” framing — useful primary timeline reference.
- The Pornhub Louisiana 80% traffic drop stat is one of the few hard operational numbers in this cluster.
- Editorial hook: “Two of the loudest voices in the kids-online-safety push — Blackburn and DeSantis — also lead the anti-trans legislative wave. The bill design isn’t accidental.”
Entities Mentioned
- Joe Biden — May 23 executive action
- Vivek Murthy — Surgeon General advisory
- Marsha Blackburn — KOSA co-sponsor; anti-trans record
- Richard Blumenthal — KOSA co-sponsor
- Bill Cassidy — COPPA 2.0 co-sponsor
- Ed Markey — original COPPA author; COPPA 2.0 co-sponsor
- Frances Haugen — Facebook whistleblower
- India McKinney — EFF director of federal affairs
- Lizzo — KOSA supporter (singer)
- National Center for Missing and Exploited Children — DHS/DOJ database partner
Concepts Mentioned
- KOSA
- EARN IT Act
- COPPA / COPPA 2.0
- Age Verification
- Age-Appropriate Design Code
- Duty of Care (Internet Bills)
- End-to-End Encryption
Quotes
“We generally don’t like it when the government is trying to tell parents the correct way to parent their children.” — India McKinney, EFF
“we do not have enough evidence to conclude that [social media] is sufficiently safe for them.” — Surgeon General Vivek Murthy advisory
Notes
Vox; tech-policy explainer with editorial framing sympathetic to civil liberties critique but reporting both sides. The Pornhub 80% drop is sourced to PornHub itself — useful but interested. The Biden EA actions list is comprehensive and citable. Note this is the version updated after May 23 to include Biden’s EA — the original May 5 publication date is for the article scaffolding.