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The Senate just passed two landmark bills aimed at protecting minors online

The Senate has passed two major online safety bills amid years of debate over social media’s impact on teen mental health.

One of the most controversial provisions in the bill creates what’s known as a “duty of care.” This means platforms are required to prevent or mitigate certain harmful effects of their products, like “addictive” features or algorithms that promote dangerous content. In a statement last week, the ACLU said that KOSA would encourage social media companies “to censor protected speech” and “incentivize the removal of anonymous browsing on wide swaths of the internet.” The CEOs of Meta, Snap, Discord, X and TikTok testified at one such hearing earlier this year, during which South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham accused the executives of having “blood on their hands” for numerous safety lapses.

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