Speaker Mike Johnson told us he likes the idea behind the Senate-passed Kids Online Safety Act but the text has big issues.
Johnson’s concerns likely spell doom this year for the bill, which would require large social media companies to implement design features that protect young users from a range of potential harms.
Here’s how the speaker described KOSA to us during his recent swing through Pennsylvania: “I love the principle, but the details of that are very problematic.”
Johnson’s qualms will obviously come as a blow to pro-KOSA advocates. Some of them had even followed the speaker to Louisiana this past weekend in the hopes of getting him on board.
It doesn’t sound like he’s open to persuasion, at least not on the version that passed the Senate in July.
KOSA as written would have “unintended consequences,” Johnson said.
House dynamics: We’ve reported extensively on House GOP leadership’s worries about the bill. Top Republicans see the bill’s imposition of a legal “duty of care” on platforms as too broad and think the measure could lead to censorship of rightwing voices.
But it’s House Majority Leader Steve Scalise who was responsible for urging changes in meetings with KOSA sponsors last month. Advocates for KOSA had seen Scalise as a hard no while viewing Johnson as potentially flexible.
The lawmakers behind the bill have told us they’re trying to find more changes to appease leadership. But some changes they’ve already made, which fell far short of what Johnson and Scalise would want, almost caused Democrats to bolt en masse.
Democrats’ view: House Democrats prefer the Senate version, which passed with 91 votes. Any further changes that move the bill toward one GOP that leadership supports could send Democrats over the edge into open opposition.
In addition to conservative concerns, some progressives and civil liberties advocates have also worried that the bill could result in the censorship of LGBTQ content.
