ICYMI Video: Blumenthal & Experts Discuss House Leadership Inaction & Big Tech Lies on Kids Online Safety

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) discussed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) during a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on stopping the exploitation of children online. During the hearing, Blumenthal and witnesses called attention to House Republican leadership’s failure during the last Congress to take up the Senate-passed KOSA and rejected a First Amendment argument used by Big Tech and its lobbyists.

During his questions, Blumenthal raised House Republican leadership’s unwillingness to meet with parents who have lost children to social media, including South Carolina House of Representatives member Brandon Guffey. In response to Blumenthal’s question about the influence and lobbying by Big Tech, Representative Guffey shared “we have too many politicians worried about their next election, instead of leaders worried about the next generation.”

Blumenthal also discussed myths spread by Big Tech about the legislation with Professor Mary Graw Leary. “KOSA affects the conduct involved in product design. There is no more limitation on free speech than there would be if and when, because it does, the federal government regulates the safety of the design of an automobile, or a toaster, or a washing machine. If they explode, there is liability for it. It is not free-speech to design a defective and harmful product. It’s conduct. And there is no censorship, no blocking of content, in KOSA,” said Blumenthal.

In response to Blumenthal, Professor Leary agreed. “The thing to keep in mind with free speech is the First Amendment, that is an amendment designed to help inform us on how to handle these sticky issues. It is not a reason to not engage in legislation, and that it’s being used in that manner. There is a distinction between speech and conduct. And specifically with KOSA, KOSA addressed conduct, not content. And so, the speech argument was particularly misplaced with regard to that piece of legislation,” said Leary.

“I think the United States Senate has recognized that it’s a false narrative through a strong bipartisan vote here, 91-3 in the last session. I am hoping that we will have the same kind of support again, and I thank my Republican colleagues, particularly Senator Blackburn, who has been such a steadfast partner in this effort,” continued Blumenthal.

Blumenthal and Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) first introduced the Kids Online Safety Act in February 2022 following reporting by the Wall Street Journal and after spearheading a series of five subcommittee hearings with social media companies and advocates on the repeated failures by tech giants to protect kids on their platforms. The Kids Online Safety Act will require platforms to enable the strongest privacy settings by default, force platforms to prevent and mitigate specific dangers to minors, provide parents and educators new controls to help protect children, and require independent audits and research into social media companies.

Blumenthal’s full remarks can be found below, and a video of his remarks can be found here.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): Thank you, Chair Blackburn. Representative Guffey, thank you for being here today, and I think our hearts go out to you. I know I’m not the first to have said it, but your courage and strength makes an enormous difference. I know how strongly you supported the Kids Online Safety Act, and I am deeply grateful to you for your support and your activism, in going to Louisiana, for example, seeking to talk to Representative Scalise and Representative Speaker Johnson on behalf of that bill. You did an article that I would like to have entered into the record, if there is no objection. And there seems to be none. When you went to see Representatives Scalise and Johnson, were you given an opportunity to talk to them?

Brandon Guffey: No, sir, myself or the other parents. We did meet with Representative Scalise’s staff, which of course was in district at that time, but even coming up here to the Hill, unable to meet with either one of the Representatives.

Blumenthal: Would you like to meet with them?

Guffey: I would love to.

Blumenthal: Well, we’ll try to arrange it for you.

Guffey: Thank you, sir.

Blumenthal: I’m hoping they’ll hear from you. I’m hoping they’ll support the bill this time. Do you agree?

Guffey: I 1000% agree.

Blumenthal: Why don't you tell us, as a parent but also as an advocate and the author of that article, why you think some of the arguments made against KOSA based on a supposed free-speech thesis are incorrect?

Guffey: I believe it is all follow the money. If you look at Big Tech and their lobby, and you look at the narratives that get put out there, and you look at the Representatives that fight against it, and you follow the money and where it ends up, I believe that that fear, and as an elected official, you know, I see it myself. You are often worried about what this will look like. And that is one of the reasons whenever I was presenting I used the phrase we have too many politicians worried about their next election, instead of leaders worried about the next generation. I believe that is a false narrative that has been put out there. The argument has been had over and over, and people will agree with you and then they will turn right around and share a false narrative.

Blumenthal: I think the United States Senate has recognized that it’s a false narrative through a strong bipartisan vote here, 91-3 in the last session. I am hoping that we will have the same kind of support again, and I thank my Republican colleagues, particularly Senator Blackburn, who has been such a steadfast partner in this effort.

I would like to turn to Professor Leary. I think I misattributed the article to Representative Guffey. But maybe you can expand on his response on that free-speech false narrative.

Mary Graw Leary: Sure, thank you, Senator. So, first thing about free speech—well, first, as you know, I believe the article you are referring to, the op-ed, myself and other scholars wrote this piece. And it really dispelled these arguments about KOSA, and really, that we see again. In fact, if you look back in history, it is interesting to look at what some of what Tech has said over the years. I can go back to 2014. They were making this argument. We can go back actually before that to 1996. They told us the Communications Decency Act was going to ruin free-speech. Then they said it about the SAVE Act. Then they said it about SESTA-FOSTA. And lo and behold, we still have plenty of free speech. The thing to keep in mind with free speech is the First Amendment, that is an amendment designed to help inform us on how to handle these sticky issues. It is not a reason to not engage in legislation, and that it’s being used in that manner. There is a distinction between speech and conduct. And specifically with KOSA, KOSA addressed conduct, not content. And so, the speech argument was particularly misplaced with regard to that piece of legislation.

Blumenthal: Thank you. In fact, KOSA affects the conduct involved in product design. There is no more limitation on free speech than there would be if and when, because it does, the federal government regulates the safety of the design of an automobile, or a toaster, or a washing machine. If they explode, there is liability for it. It is not free-speech to design a defective and harmful product. It’s conduct. And there is no censorship, no blocking of content, in KOSA.

Thank you all for your testimony today. Thank you, Madam Chair.

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