Attorney General Moody and Multistate Coalition Urge Congress to Pass Kids Online Safety Act

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Release Date
Nov 19, 2024
Contact
Chase Sizemore
Phone
(850) 245-0150

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody is fighting to protect children online. Attorney General Moody, along with 31 other attorneys general, is urging Congress to pass the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act, crucial legislation that protects children from online harm, before the end of the year. Attorney General Moody and the coalition are emphasizing the 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.

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “As the mother of a school-aged child, I am extremely concerned about how social media is affecting the mental health of our children. As Florida’s Attorney General, I am joining my colleagues in asking Congress to put into place simple measures to protect minors online.”

In a letter to congressional leadership, Attorney General Moody and the coalition 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; and
  • 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 attorney general offices launched investigations and lawsuits against major social media platforms, like Meta and TikTok, for their targeting of underage users.

Attorney General Moody is joined by the attorneys general of the following states and districts in the multistate effort: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, 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 Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and Wyoming.

You can view the letter here.

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