[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 37 (Wednesday, February 25, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S667-S668]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Kids Online Safety Act

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, new court documents that were made 
public last week revealed that nearly one in five--one in five--young 
teenagers have reported seeing ``nudity and sexual images on 
Instagram'' that they did not want to see. That is one in five--things 
that were just fed to them. They were not aware they were going to see 
this pop up on their screen. That is what was reported. These are the 
kids that said: Hey, this is what has happened on my Instagram screen.
  That is just one shocking fact that we have learned from a landmark 
trial that is taking place in California that is focused on how social 
media platforms are harming our Nation's children.
  It is appalling what these companies have done. Yet when he testified 
last week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg actually doubled down on his record 
of denial. While sitting just feet away from parents who have 
tragically lost their children due to social media harms, he said: We 
didn't do this--nothing to see.
  And, once again, he asserted that there is no link between youth, 
social media use, and, worse, mental health outcomes.
  But we know that this is not what the facts and the data and the 
research tell us. We also know it is not what parents and principals 
and teachers and pastors and pediatricians and psychologists are 
telling us. We also know it is not what the kids are telling us.
  We know that Meta has buried their child safety research because it 
didn't fit their narrative. They didn't like the results. They did not 
want to admit that the product that they are pushing is something that 
is harming kids. We learned that last year. We learned from brave 
whistleblowers who testified before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee 
on Privacy, Technology, and the Law that Meta knows what is going on, 
but they tried to hide it.
  The whistleblowers have alleged that there is a toxic culture at 
Meta, starting at the top with Zuckerberg and the C-suite, and that 
they have encouraged a coverup and a denial of what their own research 
is telling them.
  Years ago, internal reports showed that Meta downplayed the toxic 
impact of Instagram on teenage girls. To no one's surprise, Zuckerberg 
dodged questions last week about how Instagram can worsen anxiety, 
depression, body image issues, and eating disorder risks.
  He claims that their platform does not allow people under the age of 
13 to be on the platform. Yet internal Meta documents--their own 
documents--show that the company was building ``social products''--
using their term--``social products'' that are targeting children as 
young as 6 years old. Let's start this addiction early.
  Now, Meta promises that their Instagram ``Teen Accounts'' are going 
to protect kids online. Yet reports show that only 17 percent of their 
safety features work as advertised. You know, that is a failing rate, 
and Big Tech companies have proven that you cannot trust them to police 
themselves. They cannot be trusted to tell the truth about the way 
their products are affecting young users.
  Well, what we have seen is that parents are indeed outraged. And they 
have the right to be outraged. These

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are their kids, and this is a product that is addicting their kids, and 
the company does nothing about it.
  Research and a poll that we saw last week said 86 percent of 
Americans--86, a pretty good majority there--now say that they want 
tech companies to be held accountable for their role in the social 
media addiction crisis, and Congress should listen to them.
  Last year, Senator Blumenthal and I reintroduced the Kids Online 
Safety Act. That legislation passed the Senate on a 91-to-3 vote. It 
has a veto-proof majority of 75 Senate cosponsors. I thank each of my 
colleagues who have cosponsored this bill. This legislation would place 
a duty of care on social media companies to ensure their platforms are 
safe for children--a duty of care, safety design, safety as the 
default.
  Now, I think it is important to note that every industrial sector has 
safety standards and safety-by-design requirements. Whether you are 
buying a car or a toaster or a mattress or a curling iron, safety 
standards have to be met. The only industrial sector without safety 
product design is the virtual space--these AI companies and social 
media platforms.
  We are finally seeing momentum that is saying: Let's pass some 
restrictions. Let's get the Kids Online Safety Act to the President's 
desk.
  Last week, Vice President Vance called KOSA a ``great piece of 
legislation about child safety online.''
  There is a reason Big Tech has fought us over the last 5 years, 
trying to keep this bill from passing. It is because they put profit 
over our children's safety. When a child is online, they are the 
product. The longer they are online, the richer their data. The more 
eyeballs they collect to a platform, the longer those eyeballs stay on 
that platform, and the data is richer.
  And what do they do with that data? They sell it. They sell your 
child's data. They don't want to change their business model.
  So last year, Meta spent roughly $20 million fighting the Kids Online 
Safety Act--greed, selfish.
  They hired--get this--one lobbyist for every six Members of Congress. 
That is the extent they will go to to make certain they keep their 
business model and they keep your kid scrolling on their site. They 
have even gone so far as to assign a dollar value to each kid who is on 
their platforms.