United States of America: Introduced Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA/S 1409)

On 2 May 2023, the "bill to protect the safety of children on the internet", Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA/S 1409), was introduced in the US Senate. The Bill reintroduces the provisions outlined in a previous bill (S.3663) that failed to pass before the 117th Congress, which adjourned on 3 January 2023. If adopted, the Bill requires every internet platform to mitigate the risks of harm posed to minors by the materials on the platform. Therefore, platforms must provide settings to limit the ability of other individuals to contact a minor, protect the minor's personal data visibility, limit features that incentivise the use of the platform by a minor (media automatic playing, gamification features and notifications), enable opt-out of algorithmic recommendation systems that use a minor’s personal data and limit the use or remove the minor's personal data from the platform. If platforms know that the user is a minor, it should apply by default the strongest possible options. Moreover, platforms must provide parental controls to supervise the minors' activities, including the ability to control privacy settings, restrict purchases and track the time spent by the minor on the platform. Moreover, platforms must establish an electronic point of contact to allow the submission of reports of harm to a minor. At least once a year, platforms must publish a report identifying the risks of harm to minors based on an independent, third-party audit. In addition, platforms must allow a selected researcher to access their data to pursue independent research on the potential harms to minors.