Is The Senate Putting An End To Kids Supporting Their Parents?

On March 8, 2023, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order protecting the right of gender-diverse adults and parents of gender-diverse children to seek and obtain gender-affirming medical care. The Senate failed to advance any of the four immigration bills put on the floor for a vote, unable to make any movement toward them. Child sponsorship is highly successful at escaping questioning and reproach because it is viewed as a well-intentioned and benevolent act. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, signed legislation allowing Minnesota courts to take “temporary emergency jurisdiction”. Depending on when a parent obtains permanent residence, sponsoring a son or daughter may be possible, although likely via consular processing. U.S. Senator Todd Young announced he is co-sponsoring the Protect Kids and Parents Act, Senator Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas). To sponsor a family member, you must demonstrate to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that you are: a Canadian citizen or. If you submitted the interest to sponsor form in 2020 and were invited to apply to the 2022 intake, you were able to sponsor your parents and grandparents to become permanent residents so they can live, study, and work in Canada. The Senate overwhelmingly passed a pair of children’s online safety bills, a rare sign of bipartisan cooperation.

Will KOSA affect adults?

Experts warn that the KOSA bill could make it harder for children and adults to find information online, potentially leading to age verification or content blockers. Critics like the Open Technology Institute argue that age verification methods can be easily circumvented and create a data trail that could unnecessarily identify children. The bill has faced two major controversies, with Republican sponsor Tennessee Sen.

Marsha Blackburn expressing concerns about conservative legislators prioritizing “protecting minor children from the transgender in this culture”. However, Blackburn’s staff later clarified that these comments were not meant to reflect KOSA.

Is the child Online Protection Act unconstitutional?

The appeals court ruled that COPA was unconstitutional, thereby limiting the First Amendment rights of adults in protecting minors. This decision was subsequently reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition.

What is the new law for social media for kids?

The state of Texas has enacted a new legislative measure requiring parental consent for a minor to establish a social media account. This legislation, known as the Social Media Privacy and Consumer Protection Act (SCOPE Act), was signed into law by Republican Governor Greg Abbott in the previous year. The legislation was prompted by concerns about unmonitored social media use, including cyberbullying and child predators. These concerns were articulated by Republican state representative Shelby Slawson during a committee hearing last year.

Does President Biden support KOSA?

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and S. 1409 were proposed legislation in Congress in 2022 and 2023 respectively. The KOSA aims to establish guidelines to protect minors from harmful material on social media platforms through a “duty of care” system and requiring covered platforms to disable “addicting” design features. The bill was introduced in the Senate as S. 1409 by Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn, co-sponsored by Senators Blumenthal and Blackburn.

The bill was revived for the 2023-2024 congressional term and passed the Senate in July 2024. However, the bill has not been put forward in the House of Representatives. President Joe Biden has endorsed KOSA since its reintroduction in 2023 and congratulated the senate for passing it the following year.

Is the KOSA bill getting passed?

The Senate has passed a bill allowing federal and state governments to investigate and sue websites claiming to cause mental distress in children. The bill, known as KOSA, aims to address mental health issues such as anxiety, eating disorders, drug abuse, gambling, tobacco and alcohol use by minors, and other ills that existed before the internet. The Senate vote allows the House to take up and vote on the bill at any time, and the House could also debate its own flawed version of KOSA. Several House members have expressed concerns about the bill.

What will the KOSA bill affect?

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), introduced in 2022, has been reintroduced by Congress with slight modifications. The bill, which was initially introduced but failed to gain traction, now requires surveillance of individuals under sixteen and puts the tools of censorship in the hands of state attorneys general. This could endanger the rights and safety of young people online, as well as adults who may face hurdles accessing legal content.

KOSA aims to hold platforms liable if their designs and services do not prevent and mitigate a list of societal ills, such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance use disorders, physical violence, online bullying, sexual exploitation, abuse, and suicidal behaviors. Platforms would also be responsible for patterns of use that indicate or encourage addiction-like behaviors.

However, determining what designs or services lead to these problems would be left to the Federal Trade Commission and 50 individual state attorneys general. Without clear guidance, platforms serving young people would likely censor any discussions that could make them liable. KOSA would make platforms liable for the content they show minors, based on vague requirements that any Attorney General could make up.

What is the Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act?

The U. S. Senate has overwhelmingly voted to advance the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2. 0) and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which would provide parents with new tools to protect their children online and prohibit targeting online advertising to children under 17. Senator Maria Cantwell, Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, led the passage of these bills twice through her committee and worked tirelessly with bill sponsors, stakeholders, and parents whose children were harmed to build consensus and support.

Cantwell emphasized the importance of advancing privacy legislation aimed at protecting children by giving the Federal Trade Commission new authority to take up this cause. She led the successful passage of COPPA 2. 0 and KOSA through the Senate Commerce Committee on July 27, 2022, and again on July 27, 2023, meeting with families whose children were harmed and working continuously to strengthen support for the legislation.

Who is supporting KOSA?

The KOSA bill, which aims to regulate the online sale of harmful products, has been supported by various nonprofits, tech accountability groups, parent groups, and pediatricians. Notable tech companies like Microsoft, X, and Snap have also signed on. ParentsSOS, a group of 20 parents who have lost children to harm caused by social media, has been campaigning for the bill’s passage. Julianna Arnold, whose 17-year-old daughter died in 2022 after purchasing tainted drugs through Instagram, believes that we should not bear the entire responsibility of keeping our children safe online. She argues that while other industries have regulations in place to keep children safe, there has been no legislation regulating the online sale of harmful products since the ’90s.

Has the Safe Act been passed?

The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones’s bipartisan bill, the “Sexually Violent Predator Accountability, Fairness, and Enforcement Act” (SAFE Act). The SAFE Act aims to protect neighborhoods and families from dangerous sexually violent predators, who commit horrific sex crimes. The bill aims to reduce wasteful spending by Liberty Healthcare, the state contractor overseeing the release of these predators, and to prevent the Newsom Administration from secretly dumping SVPs into family-friendly neighborhoods without considering public safety. The bill would include several provisions to ensure the safety of individuals involved in the release of SVPs.

What will KOSA actually do?

The KOSA (Knowledge, Share, and Action) legislation aims to establish a duty of care for covered platforms, requiring them to exercise reasonable care in creating and implementing designs to prevent harms, such as sexual exploitation and abuse of children. It also mandates safeguards for minors, including restricted communications and public access to personal data, and allows minors to opt-out of algorithmic recommendations and delete their account.

Additionally, the legislation requires platforms to introduce tools for parents to manage minors’ privacy, restrict purchases, and view usage metrics. Both parents and minors must have easy-to-use reporting mechanisms to report harms on the platform.