Donald Trump Jr. has called on House Republicans to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), sponsored by U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), after the bill was recently revised in coordination with X. Corp.
We can protect free speech and our kids at the same time from Big Tech. It’s time for House Republicans to pass the Kids Online Safety Act ASAP. https://t.co/Glrq0eoD0K
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) December 8, 2024
“We can protect free speech and our kids at the same time from Big Tech. It’s time for House Republicans to pass the Kids Online Safety Act ASAP,” Trump Jr. wrote in an X post on Sunday.
Blackburn and Blumenthal welcomed revisions to KOSA made by X Corp. CEO Linda Yaccarino to “further protect freedom of speech while maintaining safety for minors online.”
KOSA, which passed the Senate earlier this year by a 91-3 vote, seeks to “protect minors from online harms” by requiring social media companies to “take reasonable measures” to “prevent and mitigate” children from being harmed while using their platforms, including through sexual exploitation or online bullying.
At X, protecting our children is our top priority. As I’ve always said, freedom of speech and safety can and must coexist. And as a mother, it’s personal.
When X testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last January, we committed to working with Congress on child safety…
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) December 7, 2024
In January, Yaccarino and Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel both announced support for KOSA during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on online child safety.
Yaccarino announced the revisions to the bill on Saturday, explaining that the changes ensure that “freedom of speech and safety” online “coexist.”
“After working with the bill authors, I’m proud to share that we’ve made progress to further protect freedom of speech while maintaining safety for minors online…We urge Congress and the House to pass the Kids Online Safety Act this year,” Yaccarino said.
The revised 110-page bill contains stronger language that clarifies that KOSA does not “censor, limit, or remove any content from the internet,” according to Blackburn’s office.
In addition, KOSA was revised to not give any power to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or state attorneys general to “bring lawsuits over content or speech.”
Thank you, @elonmusk and @lindayaX, for your leadership. We can protect our children online and our freedom of speech! https://t.co/gVn963SkFv
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) December 7, 2024
In a joint statement, Blackburn and Blumenthal welcomed the revisions to the bill made by X Corp., agreeing that the changes “strengthen the bill while safeguarding free speech online and ensuring it is not used to stifle expression.”
“These changes should eliminate once and for all the false narrative that this bill would be weaponized by unelected bureaucrats to censor Americans. We thank Elon and Linda for their bold leadership and commitment to protecting children online and for helping us get this bill across the finish line this Congress. We appreciate that this endorsement and revised text reflects their publicly stated goal of furthering free speech without fear of censorship,” the senators added.
Billionaire Elon Musk, who acquired X, formerly Twitter, in 2022, also signaled support for KOSA, writing in an X post, “Protecting kids should always be priority #1.”
On Tuesday, Blackburn, U.S. Representative Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-12), and other advocates for the safety of children online will hold an event on Capitol Hill at 10:15 AM ET to call on Congress to pass KOSA before the end of the year.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Don Trump Jr” by Gage Skidmore CC2.0.
