What Is Going On With KOSA in the US and Why The Rest Of The World Should Be Paying Attention

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is back on the table.

This is the U.S. bill that would force tech platforms to actively reduce digital harm to children. It would require default privacy settings for young users and more responsibility around algorithmic design.

It passed the Senate last year with 90+ votes. Then it crashed and burned in the House because the politics got messy. Now, it’s back. Slightly revised. Still urgent. Still polarising.

In the US, this is being sold as a moral war over censorship and children. In Australia, it’s a warning.

KOSA didn’t appear out of nowhere. It’s being driven by parents, bereaved parents, who’ve lost children to suicide, overdose, and exploitation. These are families who believe, with reason, that if platforms had been more accountable, their kids might still be alive. They want regulation that has teeth. And they’re sick of hearing that safety is too hard, too expensive, or too politically inconvenient.

Civil liberties groups like the ACLU initially came out swinging. They feared KOSA’s early drafts gave too much power to state attorneys-general, some of whom have a track record of using “child protection” as a Trojan horse to go after LGBTQ+ content, especially trans-supportive resources.

The fear? That platforms would over-correct. That they’d remove supportive, identity-affirming material for fear of being sued. That censorship would wear the mask of safety. But the bill has changed. Those broad enforcement powers have been removed. The language has been sharpened. Several critics have withdrawn their opposition. Apple has endorsed it. Elon Musk’s X worked with the bill’s authors to lock in “viewpoint neutrality.” And yet US House leadership still won’t put it to a vote.

What Does This Have to Do With The Rest Of The World?

Everything.

The Online Safety Acts in the UK and Australia are evolving as is the European DSA. The regulators are under increasing pressure to keep up with AI, encrypted apps, and cross-border harms. And we’re still relying heavily on reporting after the fact.

Our kids are in the same digital ecosystems. They’re exposed to the same algorithms. And the same platforms that are lobbying to stall KOSA in the US are more than likely whispering in the ears of our policymakers too.

We can’t wait for legislation to catch up.Even if KOSA passes tomorrow, it won’t fix everything. It won’t bring back the kids who’ve been lost. And it won’t stop the harm that’s already embedded in design.

So what do we do?

We educate like it’s a form of resistance.We teach kids how platforms profit from their pain.We teach parents that safety isn’t in the app it’s in the conversation.We call out performative platform policies for what they are. And we do the boring, relentless, critical work of building digital resilience one school, one family, one messy conversation at a time.

Legislation may set the tone. But culture is what raises our kids. Let the US fight over KOSA. We’ve got work to do at the kitchen table.

Can you help us out? We have a petition to have AI Companion Bots banned for. kids under 18yrs. You can sign or share it from here: Sign the petition