VIDEO: Blackburn Calls on Congress to Pass Senate Version of KOSA Following Latest Meta Scandal
December 3, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) delivered remarks on the Senate floor calling on Congress to pass the Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act, which currently has a veto-proof majority of 69 co-sponsors. Earlier this week, Senator Blackburn penned an op-ed in TIME following new reporting that revealed sex trafficking on Meta platforms was both difficult to report and widely tolerated.
Click here to download Senator Blackburn’s remarks on the Senate floor.
REMARKS AS PREPARED
It’s No Secret Big Tech Has Sold Out Kids’ Safety for Profit
We have known for years that Big Tech has sold out children’s safety online for profit.
Their algorithms connect children with drug dealers and flood their feeds with pro-suicide content.
Their AI chatbots sexualize children in roleplaying fantasies.
Their design features allow children to share their precise, real-time location on a map with anyone, including predators eager to track them down.
Their entire profit model depends on addicting children to their products—no matter the consequences.
And every day, we learn more about this appalling abuse.
New Court Filings Reveal Meta Had “17x Strike” Policy for Individuals Who Engaged in Sex Trafficking
A recent brief filed by more than 1,800 plaintiffs, including parents and children, shows how Meta knowingly exposed children to unthinkable harms.
According to the brief, Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, conducted internal studies showing that social media addiction among minors fuels anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and suicidal thoughts.
But when those findings surfaced, Meta buried the research and misled Congress about the results.
As a matter of policy, Meta allegedly refused to remove individuals who engaged in sex trafficking on its platforms until users reported the offender at least 17 times.
Even when the company detected child sexual abuse material with “100% confidence,” Meta often failed to remove the content.
An internal audit even showed that the company knowingly connected minors with potential predators through its algorithmic follow recommendations.
On a single day in 2022, it made such recommendations 1.4 million times.
Senate Version of KOSA Would Finally Require Big Tech to Take Responsibility for How Platforms Are Designed
One thing should be clear: Big Tech companies cannot be trusted to make their platforms safe by design because meaningful safety measures would cut into their bottom line.
That’s why Congress must step up and ensure that these companies finally face accountability for the harm they have inflicted on an entire generation of children.
Earlier this year, I reintroduced the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act, which would ensure children are afforded the same protections from harm in the virtual world that they have in the physical world.
The Senate’s version of KOSA would establish a clear duty of care for online platforms to prevent their algorithms from pushing dangers on minors, including sexual abuse, illicit drugs, and the promotion of suicide and eating disorders.
This duty of care is critical: Requiring Big Tech companies to take responsibility for making their own products safer is essential to protecting kids and giving parents peace of mind.
It’s a big reason why this legislation has gained a veto-proof majority with 69 co-sponsors here in the Senate.
Blackburn Makes the Case for the Duty of Care
Last week, our colleagues in the House released a discussion draft of a new version of KOSA that would strip this duty of care.
While our colleagues in the House have not yet formally introduced this weaker version of KOSA, it’s important to note the difference in language.
With the Senate version, social media platforms would be required to “exercise reasonable care in the creation and implementation of any design feature to prevent and mitigate … harms to minors where a reasonable and prudent person would agree that such harms were reasonably foreseeable.”
With the House version, platforms would only be required to “establish, implement, maintain, and enforce reasonable policies, practices, and procedures that address” such harms.
Without the duty of care to prevent foreseeable harms, this new requirement is completely unenforceable.
That’s not all. The House version weakens the standard to prove that Big Tech companies have knowledge of harms on their platforms. This would empower executives to bury their heads in the sand to avoid any accountability.
While the Senate version only preempts state laws, rules, or regulations that “conflict” with its provisions, the House version would wipe out any state law that “relates to” the provisions of the bill—even if they don’t conflict.
This would do nothing to protect children online. It would only protect Big Tech from facing accountability.
The Senate version of KOSA would ensure that Big Tech Companies can’t design their platforms to prey on our children for profit. We must preserve the duty of care and send this landmark legislation to President Trump’s desk as soon as possible.
Future generations of American children and families are depending on us to rein in Big Tech. Failure is not an option.
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