The Kids Online Safety Act is so close to passing - here's the latest
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Yesterday over 50 organizations, including the Center For Online Safety, signed on to this full-page ad letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, urging him to bring the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) to a vote in the U.S. Senate. Currently, KOSA has an astounding 67 bipartisan co-sponsors – putting it in excellent position to sail through a Senate floor vote and become the first federal legislation to protect kids online to pass in 25 years. Our message in the New York Times to Senator Schumer - Our kids deserve to be protected online! Join me in emailing our representatives in DC - here's how (sample words and everything)Click here to contact your Senators to tell them how important it is to us and our kids that they are protected from Big Tech harms and addictive features by passing KOSA. Wondering what KOSA will do for protecting kids? Here are the detailsHere's how to learn more about the details of KOSA. Just one example of why we need KOSA to passTwo-thirds of American teenagers use TikTok, and the average viewer spends 80 minutes a day on the application. For this study, Center for Countering Digital Hate researchers set up new accounts in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia at the minimum age TikTok allows, 13 years old. These accounts paused briefly on videos about body image and mental health, and liked them. What they found was deeply disturbing. Within 2.6 minutes, TikTok recommended suicide content. Within 8 minutes, TikTok served content related to eating disorders. Every 39 seconds, TikTok recommended videos about body image and mental health to teens. KOSA would require platforms like TikTok to mitigate key harms — such as specific mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and suicidal behaviors, addiction, bullying, sexual exploitation, and the sale of illicit drugs to minors — through their design and operations.
Let's get KOSA passed this term!
Lisa Honold is a cyber safety educator working to keep kids safe and healthy, online and offline. As founder and director of the Center for Online Safety, Lisa is a national public speaker on digital wellness, cyber safety, intentional screens and peaceful parenting. Recent appearances: KING5 News, KOAT News & The Action Network Live |
Center for Online Safety®
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