A Battle Against Big Tech: Senator Moody Champions Legislation to Protect Children from Online Harms.
Senator Ashley Moody is intensifying her campaign to protect children online, urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) ahead of a pivotal hearing with Meta whistleblowers.
As a cosponsor of the bill, Moody’s push highlights the growing dangers children face from social media platforms, including predators, addictive algorithms, and harmful content.
Addressing the Digital Dangers
In her remarks, Senator Moody articulated three primary threats to children online:
- Online Predators: She warned that predators can access children “in their bedrooms,” often without parents’ knowledge.
- Addictive Algorithms: Moody pointed out that apps and algorithms are specifically designed to target and hold children’s attention, negatively impacting their mental health and well-being.
- Harmful Content: She emphasized the “endless” volume of dangerous, explicit, and obscene material readily available to children.
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Moody described these dangers as a “tidal wave” that families are ill-equipped to combat, noting that current laws are outdated and fail to hold tech companies accountable.
“From predators to addictive algorithms to dangerous material, it is a tidal wave coming at families with no way to combat it or … seek redress if your child is harmed,” said Moody.
She mentioned her previous role as Florida’s Attorney General, where she sued Meta but faced legal immunity arguments based on decades-old legislation.
Key Provisions of the Kids Online Safety Act
The KOSA bill is designed to update existing laws and provide new protections for minors. Key provisions of the legislation include:
- Mandatory Default Safety Settings: This requires platforms to automatically enable their strongest safety features for minors, rather than forcing parents to find and activate them.
- Addiction Prevention: The bill allows young users and their parents to disable manipulative design features and algorithms that contribute to endless scrolling and screen time.
- Parental Empowerment: KOSA provides parents with new tools to monitor for harmful behaviors and report dangerous content more effectively.
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A History of Advocacy
Senator Moody’s advocacy for child online safety is a continuation of her work as Florida’s Attorney General. In that role, she launched investigations and took legal action against Meta and Instagram for their practices designed to addict children.
She also called for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify on how his platforms are used by human traffickers.
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