Congresswoman Schrier Helps Advance Key Legislation to Protect Children Online During Energy and Commerce Markup

WASHINGTON, D.C.- This week, Congresswoman Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08), helped advance key legislation to protect children online during a House Committee on Energy and Commerce markup. Congresswoman Schrier's bill, Sammy's Law, passed during the hearing. This legislation would improve kids' online safety by requiring social media companies to cooperate with third-party watchdog apps that would alert parents if their children have been exposed to harmful messages or interactions online.

"As a pediatrician, I've seen firsthand how social media and online threats have compromised children's health and well-being," said Congresswoman Schrier, M.D. "I've also witnessed how social media companies have refused to put responsible guardrails on their platforms to keep our kids safe, instead choosing to prioritize profits. This week's Energy and Commerce markup was an important step in advancing my bill, Sammy's Law, that would empower parents and protect our children online. I also fought against legislation that would roll back protections for children online and fail to hold social media companies accountable for promoting harmful content."

During the markup, Congresswoman Schrier voted against the watered-down version of the Kids' Online Safety Act (KOSA), a traditionally bipartisan, comprehensive piece of legislation intended to protect children from harmful content online. Congresswoman Schrier was a lead sponsor on this legislation last Congress, and it passed through committee with support from both parties. However, the version of KOSA reintroduced this year is significantly weaker. Specifically, this year's bill has completely banned the duty of care provision found in previous iterations of this legislation, which required social media companies to actively prevent or mitigate harms to children on their platforms and held them legally responsible if they failed to do so. This version of KOSA also would have overridden more protective state online safety laws, actually decreasing children's safety in many states.

To view Congresswoman Schrier's remarks on Sammy's Law, click here, and to view her remarks on KOSA, click here.