House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he still has lingering doubts about a children’s online safety bill that Elon Musk threw support behind this weekend.
‘There’s still some concern about the free speech components of that, and whether it might lead to further censorship by the government of valid, you know, conservative voices, for example. So we’re working through all that,’ Johnson told reporters at his weekly press conference Tuesday.
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is the most significant social media reform pushed by the Senate in decades.
It breezed through Congress’ upper chamber in a 91 to 3 vote but hit a snag in the House of Representatives, where leaders have expressed concern about possible censorship and about the power it bestows on the Federal Trade Commission.
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of the Musk-owned social media platform X, announced over the weekend that they have worked with the Senate sponsors of the bill to alleviate some of those issues.
‘We’ve heard the pleas of parents and youth advocates who seek sensible guardrails across online platforms, and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) addresses that need. After working with the bill authors, I’m proud to share that we’ve made progress to further protect freedom of speech while maintaining safety for minors online,’ Yaccarino wrote on the platform this weekend. ‘We urge Congress and the House to pass the Kids Online Safety Act this year.’
It precipitated a pressure campaign over the weekend by allies of President-elect Donald Trump pushing the House to take up the bill. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders and Donald Trump Jr., were among those who sounded off, as well as Musk himself, who posted on X, ‘Protecting kids should always be priority #1.’
Johnson said Tuesday that he appreciated the efforts behind the legislation. He also suggested the effort could be renewed next year, with only two weeks left in the current congressional term.
‘I’m grateful for the hard work that’s been done. I’m grateful for the support behind it. Certainly, I think all of us, 100% of us, support the principle behind it,’ the speaker said.
‘But you’ve got to get this one right when you’re dealing with the regulation of free speech. You can’t go too far and have it be overbroad, but you want to achieve those objectives. So it’s essential that we get this issue right.
‘We are very optimistic that if it’s not done this year, that we can do that early next year with our Republican majorities, because it’s the Republican Party that has been working aggressively to protect children online.’
The bill’s leaders, Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., thanked Musk and Yaccarino for their work over the weekend.
‘These changes should eliminate once and for all the false narrative that this bill would be weaponized by unelected bureaucrats to censor Americans,’ Blackburn and Blumenthal said. ‘We appreciate that this endorsement and revised text reflects their publicly stated goal of furthering free speech without fear of censorship. We reiterate X’s call to pass KOSA by the end of the year – it is clear that this legislation has overwhelming support from Congress.’
KOSA would put the onus on social media companies to prevent and mitigate potential harm that could be caused to users under age 17.
The bill would also force platforms to block addictive components for minor users and make it easier for minors to protect their information, among other measures.