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{"id":26755,"date":"2026-08-05T15:17:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/senate-commerce-votes-to-advance-key-kids-safety-measure\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T15:17:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:17:49","slug":"senate-commerce-votes-to-advance-key-kids-safety-measure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/senate-commerce-votes-to-advance-key-kids-safety-measure\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Commerce votes to advance key kids\u2019 safety measure"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The Senate Commerce Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to advance the Kids Online Safety Act, a key measure that would require companies to develop online platforms with children\u2019s safety in mind \u2014 but offered few signs that Congress has reached consensus on the debate about how to protect youths on the internet.<\/p>\n<p>The measure, championed by Sens. <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.politicopro.com\/member\/51279\" data-person-id=\"51279\">Marsha Blackburn<\/a> (R-Tenn.) and <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.politicopro.com\/member\/151824\" data-person-id=\"151824\">Richard Blumenthal<\/a> (D-Conn.), would increase protections for minors\u2019 data and require platforms to give users the option to opt out of personalized algorithms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re sending a message to Big Tech that the era of Big Tech profiting off of our children is over,\u201d Blackburn said during the committee markup \u2014 while acknowledging that it differs dramatically from a competing kids\u2019 safety bill in the House.<\/p>\n<p>For now at least, the Senate bill\u2019s advancement represents a major win for kids\u2019 safety advocates who have repeatedly called on committee members to advance KOSA as written, including a crucial provision known as \u201cduty of care.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>And not all the kids\u2019 safety bills the panel considered Wednesday morning are moving forward.<\/p>\n<p>Senate Commerce lawmakers earlier in the markup <a href=\"https:\/\/subscriber.politicopro.com\/article\/2026\/08\/senate-panel-advances-gop-backed-age-verification-bill-01025220\" target=\"_blank\">failed to advance<\/a> an age verification measure because the panel did not reach quorum in a 15-13 voice vote. That legislation has provoked concerns from some Silicon Valley companies as well as free speech advocates, who contend it would imperil anonymity on the internet.<\/p>\n<p>The duty of care provision, central to the Senate version, was omitted from the House measure in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/06\/29\/kids-safety-package-wins-house-approval-00980846\" target=\"_blank\">kids\u2019 safety package<\/a> the chamber passed in June.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Senate cannot and will not accept the version that the House passed earlier. It is toothless, and it is a very pale imitation of the Senate version, and therefore it is a pale imitation of big tech accountability,\u201d Blackburn said during the committee markup.<\/p>\n<p>KOSA could now head to the Senate floor for a full vote. The bill <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coons.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/senator-coons-applauds-bipartisan-senate-passage-of-online-privacy-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\">previously passed the chamber overwhelmingly<\/a> by a 91-3 vote in 2024 but subsequently stalled in the House.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Senate Commerce Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to advance the Kids Online Safety Act, a key measure that would require companies to develop online platforms with children\u2019s safety in mind \u2014 but offered few signs that Congress has reached consensus on the debate about how to protect youths on the internet. The measure, championed by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}