Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) in cosponsoring the Kids Online Safety Act, comprehensive bipartisan legislation to protect children online and hold Big Tech accountable.
“Social media companies are not doing enough to protect kids from bullying and exposure to dangerous and distressing content on their platforms,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “We need to take action, and this bipartisan bill will hold Big Tech accountable and give children and families more tools to protect themselves online. Keeping young Nevadans safe is my priority, and I will work to pass this bipartisan bill into law.”
Specifically, the Kids Online Safety Act provides young people and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency they need to protect against online harms. The bill would require social media platforms enable the strongest privacy settings by default for children and make it easier for minors to protect their information online. The legislation also gives parents more controls to support their children and identify harmful behaviors, while requiring independent audits by experts to ensure that social media platforms are taking meaningful steps to address risks to kids.
The Kids Online Safety Act is supported by hundreds of advocacy and technology groups, including Common Sense Media, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Compass, Eating Disorders Coalition, Fairplay, Mental Health America, and Digital Progress Institute.
You can read the full bill text HERE.
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 to 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. She has also secured $950,000 to help Clark County School District better support students recovering from substance abuse and mental health struggles. 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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