LET THE KIDS FLY.

LET KOSA RIDE ON FAA.

I joined Laura Coates on SiriusXM yesterday to discuss why Congress has a huge opportunity to protect young people online by passing the Kids Online Safety Act, especially as a part of FAA reauthorization. It’s time for leaders to step up.

cc: Issue One

🚨 BREAKING: Louisiana parents pressure Speaker Mike Johnson to pass the Kids Online Safety Act by any means necessary, including must-pass vehicles like FAA Reauthorization. #PassKOSA

👀 Lawmakers are looking to get #KOSA over the finish line and included in the must-pass FAA reauthorization package.

“If a bill with 70 co-sponsors in the Senate can’t get a vote—something’s wrong.” – Richard Blumenthal

We're not technologists and we don't have PhDs, but our experience in the digital age qualifies us to advocate for laws to protect young people on — not from — social media.

Thank you Ian Russell of the Molly Rose Foundation:

'For children to be safe online, it’s not they who need to change – it’s the tech companies.'

Don't put the burden on us. Put it on the tech companies who created and designed addictive and harmful platforms. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

This is what we're up against:

Meta spent $7.6 MILLION to lobby Congress last quarter against legislation to provide us—young people—with privacy and safety online. theverge.com/2024/4/29/2414…

Always love seeing young people speak up to shape policy that affects young people online. 👏

The onus should not be on kids or parents, it should be on Big Tech.

As Ian Russell writes for Molly Rose Foundation: 'For children to be safe online, it’s not they who need to change – it’s the tech companies'
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Young people's voices have been historically absent from policymaking to make online platforms safe for us.

We're fighting to change that. Join us: DesignItForUs.org

The problems on TikTok for young people aren't unique to just that platform, but are rather baked into the business models of every social media app.

We need common-sense reforms that keep us safe on all platforms.

👀 Schumer also reiterated his desire to find a path forward on overwhelmingly popular bipartisan legislation aimed at bolstering online safety for children, as well as a new data privacy bill.

“We’re making very good progress,” Schumer told us this week.
punchbowl.news/article/tiktok…

Well… I’m not surprised. Were voluntary commitments ever going to get AI companies to play ball, or did they just roll out the red carpet for cute virtue signaling?

As it stands, we don’t know whether TikTok is a national security threat. But we do know young Americans should be protected from data harvesting & algorithmic manipulation — whether on a U.S.- or foreign-owned platform.

Our well-being is far more important than Big Tech’s quarterly numbers. Thank you Ekō for your support to pass the #MNKidsCode .

Let’s get it done. minnesotakidscode.com

👀 TikTok ban heads to Biden's desk. What would you like to see Congress do instead of banning platforms?

By hastily imposing this ban, lawmakers shrug off any real responsibility to legislate and pass much needed regulation that would force all platforms to be held accountable for their constant surveillance of users and failure to create safe platforms
washingtonpost.com/technology/202…

Today, Free Press is hosting a press briefing to hear from leaders of the diverse, global coalition of more than 200 groups that are calling on 12 of the largest tech platforms to meet a set of demands necessary to better safeguard the integrity of elections worldwide.

A 🧵...

👀 News from the weekend. Bans don't protect young users when all social media platforms still fail to address user safety and privacy.

We need legislation that puts the onus on platforms to prioritize safety by design and privacy by default. politico.com/news/2024/04/2…

That's our sign!

We're ensuring our stories of social media's harms guide these laws to protect our generation online and the next. We're so close to passing the #MDKidsCode and are optimistic other states will follow. rollcall.com/2024/04/16/con…