Attorney General Alan Wilson part of 32-state coalition urging Congress to pass Kids Online Safety Act
November 20, 2024
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and 31 other states are calling on Congressional leadership to pass the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act (“KOSA”), crucial legislation that protects children from online harm, before the end of the year. In a letter, the coalition emphasized the urgent need to address the growing crisis of youth mental health linked to social media use, with studies showing minors spend more than five hours daily online.
“Protecting our children from unscrupulous practices which can cause them harm is of paramount importance,” Attorney General Wilson said. “I announced last month that we’re suing TikTok for violating South Carolina consumer protection laws by knowingly addicting children to their platform and making money by doing that. I think the Kids Online Safety Act will better protect our children from the addictive and harmful nature of social media.”
The attorneys general highlighted several key provisions of KOSA that would enhance online protections for minors:
- Mandatory default safety settings: Requiring platforms to automatically enable their strongest safety protections for minors rather than burying these features behind opt-in screens;
- Addiction prevention: Allowing young users and their parents to disable manipulative design features and algorithmic recommendations that keep children endlessly scrolling;
- Parental empowerment: Providing parents with new tools to identify harmful behaviors and improved capabilities to report dangerous content.
This push for federal legislation comes as many state attorneys general offices launched investigations and lawsuits against major social media platforms like Meta and TikTok for their targeting of underage users.
South Carolina joins the attorneys general of Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming in this letter to Congressional leadership.
