Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has joined a coalition of 31 other states urging Congress to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) before the year ends. This bipartisan legislation aims to protect children from online harm. The coalition, in a letter, stressed the urgent need to address the increasing crisis of youth mental health linked to social media use, with studies indicating many minors spend over five hours online daily.
The attorneys general pointed out several provisions in KOSA designed to enhance online safety for minors:
- Mandatory default safety settings: Platforms would be required to automatically enable their strongest safety protections for minors instead of hiding these features behind opt-in screens.
- Addiction prevention: Young users and their parents could disable manipulative design features and algorithmic recommendations that keep children scrolling endlessly.
- Parental empowerment: Parents would receive new tools to identify harmful behaviors and improved capabilities to report dangerous content.
This federal legislative push follows investigations and lawsuits by state attorneys general offices, including Massachusetts, against major social media platforms like Meta and TikTok for targeting underage users. In October 2023, AG Campbell filed a lawsuit against Meta and Instagram for unfair practices. In October 2024, she filed another lawsuit against TikTok for similar reasons related to harming and addicting young users.
Massachusetts was joined in signing the letter by attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana New Hampshire New Mexico New York North Dakota Oklahoma Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Utah Vermont Wyoming. The letter was led by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti.
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