WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee is holding an Executive Session markup to consider five kids’ online safety and artificial intelligence bills. The proposals would hand federal bureaucrats sweeping new authority over what Americans can see, say, and access online — while doing little to address the actual sources of harm to young people.
“Real safety comes from equipping parents with tools and partnering with industry to root out bad actors — not from handing federal bureaucrats a bigger say over what kids can read,” said Amy Bos, Vice President of Government Affairs at NetChoice.
“American families rely on digital tools, internet platforms, and emerging artificial intelligence to learn, work, and stay connected. Each of these bills relies on the faulty premise that by restricting minors’ access to an integral part of modern society, we will be keeping them safe.”
Read NetChoice’s analysis of the SCREEN Act, the Kids Online Safety Act, the Youth AI Privacy Act, the CHATBOT Act, and the Children’s Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act. Together, the five bills would impose sweeping age-verification requirements, vague “duty of care” liability standards, and rigid AI design and data-use mandates.
These proposals do far more to punish American technology companies than to address why young people encounter harm online in the first place. Going after bad actors requires collaboration between lawmakers, parents, educators, and the companies building these platforms, not adversarial legislation built on the assumption that industry is the enemy.
We urge the Senate Commerce Committee to advance real safety solutions, like education initiatives and law enforcement funding, like those advocated for in NetChoice’s Digital Safety Shield for America.
Read further analysis on each of the bills here.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.
Image via Unsplash.