Despite Critic's Warnings, Kids Online Safety Act Advances to Senate for Full Vote

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) advanced out of the Senate Commerce Committee with a unanimous vote on Wednesday. KOSA, which would require new rules around age verification online and reduce anonymity on the web, still needs to be voted on by the entire Senate. A version of the controversial bill already passed the House in June. KOSA, first introduced in 2022, passed the Senate in 2024 with a vote of 91-3. But it died in the House later that year over free speech concerns. Other online “safety” bills being considered Wednesday included the SCREEN Act, Youth AI Privacy Act, and CHATBOT Act. The SCREEN Act, which would require age verification for sites that host any adult material of any kind, received a vote of 15-13 in favor in the markup hearing Wednesday, but many voted by proxy and there weren’t enough senators in the room voting to advance the bill. The bill passed 267-117 in the House, though it’s been criticized for requiring age verification on any site with a single piece of what might be deemed sexually explicit content. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican sponsor of KOSA along with Democrat Richard Blumenthal, praised the bill’s advancement and called out Big Tech.