Senator Marsha Blackburn fights to protect children online

JACKSON, Tenn. — Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) continues to fight for her legislation that she says will keep kids safer online.

Senator Blackburn introduced the Kids Online Safety Act in May of this year and says that the judiciary committee is trying to make sure that big tech makes certain that their platforms are safe for children. Blackburn said META has poured $20 million into hiring lobbyists to defeat the bill. She said META wants to destroy the bill because it requires measures to be put in place to protect children that would harm the profits for Big Tech.

The Kids Online Safety Act is a bill that Blackburn introduced earlier this year and she says it is aimed at protecting children in the virtual world like they are protected in the physical world.

She says it is a bill that is being heavily fought by Meta and she urges those voting against the bill to vote for children and not for big tech. Blackburn urges those in Congress to stop listening to lobbyists and META and to vote to protect children.

The senator says that children are faced with serious threats like eating disorders, the promotion of suicide, and sexual abuse.

“Our children are their product, they’re not concerned about the child, they’re not concerned about the child’s wellbeing, they’re concerned about making money” said Blackburn.

Blackburn and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee heard from Tamia Woods as she recounted how the failure to have safety protocols in place for Big Tech led to her son’s death due to sextortion. Blackburn said her bill will help protect other parents from losing their children due to META’s failure to enact needed safety measures.

The senator said that META places profits over children and online platforms are exposing to children to a range of dangerous individuals.

“I was so pleased we had another hearing on this. It was in judiciary committee yesterday. What we are trying to do is to put some provisions in place so that Big Tech has to make certain that their platforms are safe for our children because what we have learned is that children are meeting predators, pedophiles, groomers, drug dealers, sex traffickers, all in the virtual space,” said Blackburn.

Blackburn said the Kids Online Safety Act would “require safety by design”.

“It would require these tech platforms to open their algorithms and to have a tool box so that kids and parents can delink from these algorithms that just drive them down the rabbit hole when it comes to eating disorders, suicide, and things of that nature.”

For more information about the KOSA Act, click here.

For more news across the state, click here.