Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) today voted to pass two critical pieces of bipartisan legislation that will provide kids and parents with better tools to protect themselves online and hold Big Tech accountable for raking in profits at the expense of children’s mental health. This follows a series of congressional hearings with major social media CEOs on the dangers kids face online and a recent study revealing that Big Tech companies generated $11 billion in revenue from advertising directed at children and teens in 2022—including nearly $2 billion in ad revenue derived from users age 12 and under. This bipartisan online safety package now heads to the House of Representatives for final passage.
“Keeping young Nevadans safe is my top priority. I’m proud to have voted to pass this commonsense legislation that gives Nevada children and families more tools to protect their themselves online while making sure social media companies are doing more to prevent harmful content on their platforms,” said Senator Cortez Masto.
This children’s online safety package includes the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act 2.0 (COPPA 2.0). The bipartisan KOSA will direct social media platforms to turn on the strongest privacy settings for kids by default, disable addictive product features, and allow families to opt-out of personalized algorithmic recommendations, all while requiring independent audits by experts to ensure that social media platforms are addressing risks to kids. The COPPA 2.0 will update online data privacy rules for the 21st century by banning targeted advertising to children and teens, preventing social media platforms from collecting personal information from minors without consent, and making it easier for parents and kids to hide personal information online.
As the former top law enforcement official in Nevada, Senator Cortez Masto has spent her entire career working keep families and children safe. She has cosponsored the bipartisan EARN IT Act protect children online, and her federal legislation to help train law enforcement to identify and prevent child trafficking and to combat human trafficking activity on social media was signed into law. Cortez Masto’s provision to increase the number of mental health professionals in schools was included in the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was signed into law.
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