The US Senate Judiciary Committee advances the Kids Online Safety Act and COPPA 2.0; critics highlight issues, like forcing companies to collect more user data
Policy Analyst, Free Expression Project — Aliya Bhatia is a policy analyst … Twitter: Cristiano Lima / @viacristiano : At Senate Commerce markup of KOSA/COPPA 2.0. Cruz, the top Republican, says he'll support both after working out “significant and good improvements” to both but says more changes may be needed before floor vote, including adding state preemption to KOSA @protectaxpayers : As @SenateCommerce @commercedems begin to markup KOSA / COPPA 2.0 today, TPA urges opposition. Protecting internet users of all ages begins and ends with data privacy and security. We hope Senators will consider these concerns and oppose these bills. https://protectingtaxpayers.org/ ... [image] Rebecca Kern / @rebeccamkern : NEW - @commercedems favorably reported out KOSA and COPPA 2.0 to increase kids online safety and privacy protections, on @POLITICOPro with @alfredwng https://subscriber.politicopro.com/ ... @netchoice : KOSA & COPPA 2.0 risk the privacy & security of Americans & kids online. Instead, lawmakers should consider 4 meaningful, constitutional solutions that will empower law enforcement to stop child predators and equip Americans & their families to develop healthy digital habits. [image] @netchoice : .@SenateCommerce @commercedems should say NO to KOSA & COPPA 2.0 today during their markup. A 🧵 on just a few of the reasons why: Zamaan Qureshi / @zamaan_qureshi : Today, the Senate Commerce Committee took a critical step to protect kids/teens online by advancing the KOSA and COPPA 2.0 out of committee, in a unanimous, bipartisan fashion. Now we look to @SenSchumer to bring this legislation for a full Senate vote. https://designitforus.org/... @cendemtech : As the Senate Commerce Committee votes on #KOSA & #COPPA 2.0 this morning, CDT calls for members to reject these bills that jeopardize all users' privacy & free expression rights, & enable state AGs to further censor legally-protected speech for & by marginalized voices. Ben Sperry / @rbensperry : With today's Senate markup in the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee about to start, check out my thread (with linked threads that include other threads!) on KOSA and COPPA 2.0: https://www.commerce.senate.gov/ ... @lyneynation : why the KOSA bill is not something to be taken lightly! [image] @evan_greer : Fortunately, more and more people are realizing that #KOSA is basically a “Don't Say Gay” bill for the entire internet. Tens of thousands of people have already taken action today at https://badinternetbills.com/ @senatorshoshana : We got this out later than we hoped to, but it's important. KOSA functionally requires age verification. That means face scans/govt ID. For Every. Social. Media. Site. @evan_greer : My colleague @sarahephilips and I are on our livestream now quickly explaining what happened during the #KOSA hearing today. Tune in: https://www.badinternetbills.com/ ... @evan_greer : WATCH NOW: The Senate Commerce Committee is about to mark up #KOSA, the “Kids Online Safety Act” You can watch the livestream AND take action at the same time here: https://www.badinternetbills.com/ ... Alejandra Caraballo / @esqueer_ : President Biden and Senate Dems are pushing KOSA, which the Heritage Foundation has boasted they will use to ban LGBTQ content online. This is a profoundly bad bill. [image] Forums: Trashhalo To / Beehaw : Stop KOSA. Why the KOSA Bill is Dangerous and Should be Rejected
Context & Ripple Effects
This committee advance followed the bills’ reintroduction with revised safeguards but left unresolved objections from activists and industry groups. It marks an early legislative test of whether child-safety duties can be imposed without expanding platforms’ collection of age- or identity-related data.
Those tensions did not dissipate: later coverage records organized opposition from human-rights and LGBTQ groups warning that KOSA could be used to control information, even as Senate leadership moved the measure toward a floor vote and the Senate ultimately passed both bills.
First-order effects
- KOSA and COPPA 2.0 gained formal momentum in the Senate, increasing pressure on platforms and privacy advocates to shape the bills before a full-chamber vote.
- Critics’ data-collection warning puts age verification, account information, and the handling of minors’ data at the center of the immediate policy debate rather than treating safety and privacy as separate issues.
Second-order effects
- Platforms may face competing compliance incentives: demonstrate stronger protections for minors while avoiding data practices that deepen privacy, security, or speech concerns.
- The dispute gives civil-liberties, LGBTQ, and free-expression advocates a concrete legislative vehicle for challenging how online-safety rules define harmful content and whom they affect.
Third-order effects
- If this model persists, child-safety policy will increasingly function as access-control regulation, with compliance choices over age and identity becoming a central point of contest between platforms, regulators, and rights groups.
- The later Senate passage of both measures suggests that the key structural question shifts from whether federal rules advance to how any final framework reconciles safety mandates with data minimization and speech protections.
The trend: This is one step in the broader move toward regulating online services through youth-safety obligations that can also reshape identity, data, and content-governance practices.