This week the Senate passed the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), cosponsored by U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), to fight back against Big Tech’s targeting of kids online.
“Despite Big Tech’s endless lobbying, the Senate has taken a serious first step this week toward keeping kids safe online. The next step is to take the fight to the platforms—to give parents the right to sue. America’s sons and daughters deserve justice, not exploitation,” said Senator Hawley.
Senator Hawley has led the charge to hold Big Tech companies accountable for their platforms’ harmful algorithms and prolific dissemination of child sexual abuse material since coming to the U.S. Senate.
In January of this year, Senator Hawley forced Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to apologize to families of child exploitation victims during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing after citing horrifying statistics of minors’ interactions with sexually explicit material on Facebook and Instagram.
Senator Hawley has worked across the political aisle to advance the STOP CSAM Act which would crack down on child sexual abuse material social media channels host online.
He also introduced the Parental Data Rights Act this Congress, legislation that would require Big Tech companies to give parents control over their children’s data and hold accountable companies that fail to comply.
The Senator continues to fight for victims’ rights to sue social media platforms that knowingly host CSAM in an effort to put power back in consumers’ hands.