Congress is closer than it’s ever been to updating children’s online safety legislation that dates back to the era of the dial-up modem. The Senate voted 91-3 on Tuesday to pass the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, which combines two earlier bills to impose the most stringent regulations on social media companies in history. Those include limiting data collection on users under 17, shielding kids from advertising, imposing third-party auditing, and forcing apps to track when children are using their platforms. The last time Congress passed a kids internet bill was the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The American Civil Liberties Union and industry groups including Netchoice blasted KOSPA for potential free speech violations, and it’s far from a sure shot in the House. One group had a nuanced reaction: the virtual reality industry. KOSPA extends protections for children in “virtual reality environment[s]”, where child safety has long been a major industry concern given the tech’s immersive nature. Yonatan Raz-Friedman, whose Supersocial, Inc. builds “experiences” for kids in the gaming platform Roblox, hinted that lawmakers could go even further, saying he hopes “the House will not only approve the Senate's bill but also continue to evolve the legal framework for protecting children online.” Raz-Friedman said social media had caused “truly tragic” damage over the past decade, and predicted that in the metaverse, “safety and privacy will be a greater challenge.” Major industry players’ mixed or evasive reactions to the bill’s passage in the Senate show that it’s far from guaranteed to cross President Joe Biden’s desk, at least not in its current form. At Meta, spokesperson Stephanie Otway said while the company supports the development of age-appropriate standards for teens online, federal legislation should make app stores responsible for requiring parents to approve downloads for children younger than 16 years old. Meta has been calling for Congress to regulate app stores since the fall of 2023, an approach to regulation that would put the onus for child safety on their rivals in the VR space like Apple. But industry’s wait-and-see attitude toward KOSPA can’t be chalked up to competition alone. Liz Hyman is president and CEO of the XR Association, a trade group that includes Google, Microsoft and Meta among other big-time VR competitors. In a statement to DFD, Hyman did not offer explicit support for KOSPA, but pointed to the association’s own safety initiatives and said the group supports “the goals of the bill sponsors in creating safe online and immersive environments and look[s] forward to collaborating with all stakeholders as this work advances.” Roblox, at the center of the Venn diagram between child safety and metaverse development, is a massive platform that could be forced to ramp up enforcement if KOSPA passes. In a statement to DFD, Roblox’s VP of public policy Nicky Jackson Colaco said the company supports “the spirit of the Senate’s work and appreciate[s] everything being done to protect kids online.” Jackson Colaco went on to hint that KOSPA’s requirements could be too heavy a lift, saying “we look forward to working with leaders in Congress to ensure legislation focused on child safety also supports data minimization principles and allows platforms of all sizes to continue to offer child-friendly applications.” As for what’s next in Congress: The House’s version of the legislation has yet to get a committee hearing, though House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he’s “committed to working to find consensus” on the bill.
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