Bipartisan Bill to Bar Children Under 13 From Social Media Moving in Senate

Parents at the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington hold photos of children who died, on Jan. 31, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Lawmakers in the Senate introduced a bipartisan proposal Wednesday to bar children under the age of 13 from accessing social media sites because, according to one of the co-sponsors, “there is no good reason for a nine-year-old to be on Instagram or TikTok.”

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) are leading the effort to pass the Kids Off Social Media Act (KOSMA).

“The growing evidence is clear: Social media is making kids more depressed, more anxious, and more suicidal. This is an urgent health crisis, and Congress must act,” Mr. Schatz said in a statement issued jointly by the two lawmakers.

The proposal was written in conjunction with committee staffers of the two senators and aides to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). The measure was scheduled to be marked up Wednesday by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, on which Mr. Cruz is ranking member, but it was pulled from the panel’s agenda late Tuesday due to Senate scheduling difficulties.

The most controversial feature of the revised proposal, which bars social media access to minors below the age of 13, has changed little from previous versions. Other provisions bar social media companies from using algorithms that specifically target individuals younger than 17, and reinforce the authority of public schools to block access to social media.

Civil Liberty Concerns

Mr. Cruz told The Epoch Times that most parents are concerned about the impact of social media preoccupation among young people and need to be able to work with other authorities, such as school teachers, to address the problem.

“Every parent with a young child or a teenager either worries about, or knows first-hand, the real harms and dangers of addictive and anxiety-inducing social media. Parents know there’s no good reason for a child to be doom-scrolling or binge-watching reels that glorify unhealthy lifestyles,” Mr. Cruz said.

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Children “should have their eyes on the board, not their cellphones,” he added.

Co-sponsors announced Wednesday include Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Angus King (I-Maine), and Mark Warner (D-Va.).

The new proposal is drawing opposition, however, from one of Mr. Cruz’s most conservative allies, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who worries that parents will be supplanted if the legislation becomes law.

“We can all agree about the pernicious threats to our children, nobody has been more vocal about that than me,” the Tennessee Republican told The Epoch Times. “Banning social media for young children is not feasible and is a decision to be left to parents. I believe the best way to keep our kids safe is by creating a safe environment by default to allow children to learn and communicate with appropriate guardrails in place.”

Civil liberties advocates have expressed similar opposition to previous versions of the bill.

In a letter dated Nov. 29, 2023, to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Ore.), the chair of the commerce panel, and other panel members, a coalition of six groups led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) warned that “restricting access to online services hurts young people and their development. It is also likely unconstitutional. Courts have previously held that laws proposed in Arkansas and Texas that ban children from accessing online platforms without parental consent violated the First Amendment, a restriction similar to the prohibition at issue in this legislation.”

Latest in Recent Push

The new Schatz-Cruz proposal represents the latest development in a growing movement both inside and outside Congress to limit children’s access to social media, where they can be exposed to sex traffickers, bullying, promotion of eating disorders, drug dealing, and other harmful influences.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on Aug. 6, 2022. (Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)

The movement captured national attention when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appeared during a Jan. 31, 2024, Senate Judiciary Committee hearing and apologized to parents of children who died by suicide or by drug overdose via narcotics they had purchased online.

The new proposal replaces the version first introduced in 2023 by Mr. Schatz and co-sponsored by Republicans including Ms. Britt, as well as Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.). It was unclear Wednesday why Mr. Cotton and Mr. Ricketts were not listed as co-sponsors of the latest version of the proposal.

Democrat co-sponsors, in addition to Mr. Schatz, Mr. Fetterman, Mr. Murphy and Mr. Welch, include Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Margaret Hassan (D-N.H.).

In a related development, the House of Representatives on Monday approved a voice vote on S. 474, the Revising Existing Procedures On Reporting via Technology Act (REPORT Act), originally introduced by Ms. Blackburn and co-sponsored by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.). The bill was previously passed by the Senate and President Joe Biden is expected to sign it into law.

The REPORT Act strengthens federal requirements for digital service providers to send information and data to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) whenever they are made aware of violations involving online sexual exploitation of children.

The NCMEC claims to have received more than 36 million such reports last year.