Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders urged congressional leaders to go the Youngsters On-line Security Act earlier than the tip of the 12 months, becoming a member of the likes of X proprietor Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr. in supporting the landmark laws.
The invoice, also called KOSA, would impose a authorized “duty of care” to make sure social-media apps defend youngsters from sexual abuse, drug dependancy and dangerous stunts that may trigger harm and even loss of life. It’s extensively seen as essentially the most consequential invoice regulating Large Tech in a long time.
Gov. Sanders, an in depth ally of President-elect Donald Trump, described KOSA as a “commonsense step in the right direction that preserves free speech” whereas additionally addressing an alarming surge in charges of suicide and self-harm amongst teenagers attributable to Large Tech apps.
The governor outlined her case within the Thursday letter to Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Chief Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), which was completely obtained by The Submit.
The Submit has reached out to the lawmakers for remark.
The letter from Sanders – who served as Trump’s White Home press secretary throughout his first time period – comes at a crucial second for the invoice’s advocates. Congress has just some days left to go KOSA earlier than its present session ends.
The laws obtained overwhelming bipartisan help within the Senate and handed in a 91-3 vote final July – however has since stalled within the Home as a result of issues amongst some high Republicans that it could possibly be used to allow censorship.
Johnson has but to schedule a flooring vote for the invoice and threw chilly water on the notion of passing the invoice earlier than year-end, telling Politico final week: “I think we can do it early next year and get that achievement done.”
Sanders famous that she pushed for Arkansas colleges to go “phone-free” and just lately hosted Dr. Jonathan Haidt, the writer of “The Anxious Generation” and a staunch KOSA supporter, on a statewide tour to tell lecturers and oldsters concerning the dangers of social media on youngsters’ improvement.
“America experimented with unrestricted social media use for our kids and the results of that experiment are clear: it is an unmitigated disaster,” Gov. Sanders wrote within the Thursday letter obtained by The Submit. “We need to reverse these alarming trends and protect kids online.”
“I urge you to act quickly to pass KOSA before the end of the year and protect our children,” she added.
“These companies are spending millions of dollars lobbying against legislation that installs commonsense safeguards on their platforms, and millions more suing states like Arkansas that take preventative steps to protect kids,” Sanders wrote. “It is time for a federal fix to this nationwide problem.”
KOSA gained main allies final week within the type of Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino – who revealed that they’d labored with the invoice’s co-authors and made tweaks to “further protect freedom of speech while maintaining safety for minors online.”
Musk, a key donor and adviser to Trump, stated: “Protecting kids should always be priority #1.”
Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the lead cosponsors on the Senate model of KOSA, stated X’s help “should eliminate once and for all the false narrative that this bill would be weaponized by unelected bureaucrats to censor Americans.”
Elsewhere, Trump Jr. endorsed the laws, writing that “we can protect free speech and our kids at the same time from Big Tech.”
As The Submit has reported, Large Tech advocates have staged a no-holds-barred struggle to kill the laws – together with by tailoring their message about KOSA relying on which constituency they’re attempting to affect.
Lobbyists have been telling Home Republicans it may be weaponized in opposition to conservative speech and telling Democrats that it’s “anti-LGBTQ+” and will restrict pro-choice speech.
Google and Meta have spent closely to kill or weaken the invoice.
