Stop the Heartbreak: It’s Time for the House to Pass the Kids Online Safety Act

When Kathy Borum embraced her 17-year-old son Vaughn-Thomas one December evening three years ago, she had no idea it would be their final goodnight.

A dedicated student and skilled athlete, Vaughn-Thomas had recently returned from the gym and was preparing for bed.

However, unable to manage his academic stress, he made a tragic choice that has unfortunately become increasingly common among teens: he consumed a Xanax pill tainted with fentanyl, which he likely obtained via Snapchat.

The next morning, when he failed to respond to his alarm, Kathy discovered that her son had suffered a fatal overdose.

For years, my colleagues and I on the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees have listened to similar heart-wrenching stories from parents nationwide who have lost their children to social media dangers.

The heartbreaking truth Kathy shared about her son resonates with far too many victims: “One mistake should not have led to a death sentence.”

Yet, these tragedies occur daily as Big Tech prioritizes profits over the safety of children.

For years, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok have engineered addictive algorithms to keep children endlessly scrolling.

This has resulted in teenagers averaging 8.5 hours a day on their screens, leading to increasing rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide.

Simultaneously, these algorithms expose children to unimaginable risks, including pro-suicide content, drug dealers, and human traffickers.

In October, reports revealed that TikTok created addictive algorithms even as company leaders privately admitted these features contributed to mental health challenges, including memory and cognitive loss.

Moreover, the platform promoted self-harm and eating disorder content among minors while failing to remove posts endorsing drug abuse and pedophilia.

Even with TikTok’s potential U.S. ban, many other social media platforms continue to ignore the safety of minors.

Earlier this year, for instance, internal documents unveiled through a state attorneys general lawsuit disclosed that sexual predators on Facebook and Instagram sent sexually abusive content, including explicit images, to approximately 100,000 minors each day.

Despite employees raising concerns that Meta’s “People You May Know” algorithm connected minors with potential child predators, top executives dismissed these warnings.

One thing is certain: Big Tech’s reckless negligence towards children must cease — and Congress is close to making that happen.

In July, the Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act with an overwhelming bipartisan majority of 91-3.

This legislation, which I spearheaded alongside Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), aims to furnish parents and children with resources, protections, and transparency to safeguard against online dangers.

It would establish a duty of care for online platforms to avert specific risks to minors, including the promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, and sexual exploitation.

If enacted, KOSA would represent the first law designed to protect children in the digital realm since 1998, providing safeguards for minors that are mandated in nearly every other sector.

However, KOSA has stalled in the House of Representatives for months due to blatant misinformation propagated by the Big Tech lobby — including the unfounded claim that the legislation will lead to censorship.

To dispel this false narrative, Sen. Blumenthal and I collaborated with Elon Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino to revise the bill’s text, clarifying that KOSA will protect free speech while safeguarding children online.

The amendments include provisions stating that the law does not authorize the government to penalize companies based on users’ viewpoints and does not modify existing protections for third-party content under Section 230.

Furthermore, the updated text narrows the law’s duty-of-care application concerning anxiety and depression, offers clearer guidance for platforms regarding these responsibilities, and ensures that audits will focus solely on platform design — not content.

This revised language aligns with X’s publicly declared objective of promoting open expression without fear of censorship. It has also garnered the support of another free speech advocate: Donald Trump Jr.

With the new Congress commencing on January 3, time is running out to pass KOSA.

That’s why I recently joined my colleagues on the Senate Commerce Committee, including Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Sen. Blumenthal, in urging House leadership to vote on KOSA before the year ends.

This is crucial for the well-being of our children. Too much is at stake to defer it into the new year.

I am committed to remaining in Washington for as long as necessary to ensure KOSA passes so President Trump can implement its protections from Day 1, guaranteeing that social media is not a death sentence for any child ever again.

Marsha Blackburn (R) serves as Tennessee’s representative in the U.S. Senate.