US Senate Leaders Push House to Pass Social Media Safety Act: ‘Protect Kids Against Online Threats’

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US Senate Leaders Push House to Pass Social Media Safety Act: ‘Protect Kids Against Online Threats’

Australia’s new law protecting children online is putting pressure on U.S. lawmakers to pass their own version. The law bans social media for children under age 16 – the first time any nation has taken such a step. Now, U.S. senators are calling on their colleagues in the House to take up a safety measure they passed over the summer.

U.S. Senate leaders on both sides of the aisle, including Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, wrote a letter to U.S. House members Wednesday, urging them to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) before the Christmas recess. 

Earlier this year, KOSA sailed through the Senate 91-3. “These bills will provide the appropriate guardrails necessary to protect kids against online threats,” Schumer said.

The measure calls for tech companies to program default settings to their highest security level, and filter out posts that could lead to online harassment. It also directs social media companies to dismantle dangerous algorithms, which Melissa Henson, Vice President of Programs at

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, told CBN News can be deadly.  

“We’ve heard stories about kids who are going through a depressed episode and all of a sudden they were being fed content that was encouraging them to take their own lives,” she said.

Social media use among children and teens is linked to eating disorders, low self-esteem, and sleep disturbances.  Kelly Newcomb, founder of the Christian parenting organization

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, told CBN News social media also harms a child’s spiritual health. “I think most children will start walking away from their faith when they get their smartphones and they get social media,” she said, “because it’s teaching them such a different worldview, different from the ******.” 

Under the proposed KOSA, young people would still be allowed to use social media, however, what they’re exposed to would be different from what adults view.

Social media companies say children and teens have the right to access content on their platforms, which they say in many cases is beneficial. The ACLU says KOSA violates the First Amendment by censoring free speech.

Unlike the proposed U.S. measure, Australia passed a different type of law aimed at protecting children and teens from the harmful effects of social media.  They voted to outright ban people under the age of 16 from using it at all. It’s the first time any nation has taken such a step. 

Australia’s measure was backed by parents like Wayne Holdsworth whose son committed suicide after sharing intimate pictures of himself with someone he thought was a teenage girl, but who turned out to be a 47-year-old man who demanded money in lieu of posting the pictures online. 

“Anyone that says this (law) is not a good idea has not lived through my life, nor the hundreds of mums and dads that I’ve met in the last eight months that’ve had their kids extorted and taken their lives as well,” he said. 

Critics of the *********** law, however, such as 6 News Australia’s Leo Puglisi, say kids can easily break it.

“With no digital ID,” he said, “unless you’re doing facial recognition, I really struggle to see how this could be enforced with anything more than checking a box to say you’re over a certain age, which is basically what we have now.”

Meanwhile, the *** is considering a similar ban, backed by parents like Stuart Stephens, whose son Ollie was murdered after a dispute on social media.

“I can’t show you any of the stuff that we saw on his phone, but it’s horrific,” he said. “And a lot of that stuff you can’t un-see, especially as a child.” 

The *** is also considering a different bill to make safer versions of smartphones specifically designed for kids under 16, and restricting their use in school. 

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