Big tech giants Meta and Alphabet are mounting an intense lobbying effort to block the progress of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a bipartisan proposal designed to address children’s online risks. By investing heavily in advocacy—nearly 90 million over three years—the companies are targeting lawmakers with arguments tailored to ideological divides.
They’ve raised concerns about LGBTQ+ speech suppression to sway progressives while cautioning conservatives that the bill could limit anti-abortion views. Despite strong support in the Senate, the legislation has stalled in the House amid this strategic pushback, reports WSJ.
This shows that big tech has no ideological leanings. By raising fears about the issues that Democrats and Republicans hold dear, big tech is playing both sides against each other.
One of the main clauses in the KOSA bill aims to impose a ‘duty of care’ on social media platforms and hold them accountable for various addictive features. Companies fear this clause, hence the aggressive lobbying.
Meta and Alphabet have cited their child safety initiatives as alternatives to regulation. Meta recently introduced measures like default private settings for teen accounts, while Alphabet highlighted its efforts to prevent autoplay for young users on YouTube.
A Meta spokesperson suggested that legislation should focus more on parental oversight and app store restrictions. Critics argue these measures fail to address the systematic design issues driving harm.
The KOSA, once hailed as a rare moment of bipartisan unity in the U.S. Senate, now languishes in the House, its future uncertain. Despite passing the Senate in July with near-unanimous support, the legislation is ensnared by mounting political opposition, record-breaking tech industry lobbying, and intensifying ideological battles.
KOSA’s momentum stemmed from devastating stories shared by grieving families who have lost their children due to online bullying or social media addiction.
Several changes have been proposed to the ‘duty-of-care’ provision, primarily to pacify GOP lawmakers. But support for the bill is weakening, and as Republicans are now in the majority in the House, the future of KOSA looks meek.
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