SENATE TO CONSIDER BILLS THAT AIM TO PROTECT CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS ONLINE

The Senate will consider legislation this week that aims to protect children from dangerous online content, moving forward with what could become the first sweeping new regulation of the tech industry in decades.

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Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Tuesday that he will bring the bipartisan bill up in the Senate, with hopes of passing it before the chamber leaves for its August recess. The legislation had stalled for months even as more than two-thirds of the Senate signed on to support it and families of children who have suffered online bullying and harm advocated for its passage.

Schumer said on the Senate floor that the bill is “personal” for him after meeting in recent months with parents of children who died by suicide after they were harassed online, targeted by predators or had their information stolen. The parent advocates say social media and other tech companies need to do more to try to help prevent trauma endured by children and teenagers who inevitably spend a lot of their time online.

“Social media has helped hundreds of millions of people connect in new ways over the last two decades,” Schumer said. “But there are also new and sometimes serious health risks that come along with those benefits. We cannot set these risks aside. On this issue, we desperately need to catch up.”

The online safety bill, which the Senate will consider along with a separate bill to update child online privacy laws, would be the first major tech regulation package to move in years. While there has long been bipartisan support for the idea that the biggest technology companies should face more government scrutiny, there has been little consensus on how it should be done. Congress passed legislation earlier this year that would force Chinese-owned social media company TikTok to sell or face a ban, but that law only targets one company.