Arkansas Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has urged congressional leaders to pass the Children’s Online Safety Act before the end of the year, joining X owners Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr. in support of historical legislation.
The bill, also known as KOSA, would impose a legal “duty of care” to ensure social media apps protect children from sexual abuse, drug addiction and dangerous stunts that could cause injury or even death. It is widely seen as the most important law governing Big Tech in decades.
Governor Sanders, a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, described KOSA as a “sensible step in the right direction that preserves free speech” while also addressing an alarming increase in teen suicide and self-harm rates caused by Big Tech applications.
The governor outlined her case in Thursday’s letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and the leaders of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), which was obtained exclusively by The Post.
The Post has reached out to lawmakers for comment.
The letter from Sanders — who served as Trump’s White House press secretary during his first term — comes at a critical time for the law’s advocates. Congress has a few days left to pass KOSA before the current session ends.
The legislation received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate and passed in a 91-3 vote last July — but has since stalled in the House because of concerns among some top Republicans that it could be used to enable censorship.
Johnson has yet to schedule a vote on the bill and threw cold water on the notion of passing the bill before the end of the year, telling Politico last week: “I think we can do it early next year and we achieve that achievement”.
Sanders noted that she pushed for Arkansas schools to go “phone-free” and recently hosted Dr. social media on child development.
“America experimented with unlimited social media use for our children, and the results of that experiment are clear: It’s an unmitigated disaster,” Gov. Sanders wrote in Thursday’s letter obtained by The Post. “We must reverse these alarming trends and protect children online.”
“I urge you to act quickly to pass KOSA before the end of the year and protect our children,” she added.
“These companies are spending millions of dollars lobbying against legislation that installs reasonable safeguards on their platforms, and millions more suing states like Arkansas that take preventative steps to protect children,” Sanders wrote. “It’s time for a federal fix of this statewide problem.”
KOSA gained major allies last week in the form of Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino — who revealed they had worked with the bill’s co-authors and made adjustments to “further protect free speech while maintaining safety for minors.” on the Internet”.
Musk, a top Trump donor and adviser, said: “Protecting children should always be the No. 1 priority.”
Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), key co-sponsors of the Senate version of KOSA, said X’s help “should eliminate once and for all the false narrative that this bill would be weaponized by unelected bureaucrats to censor Americans.”
Elsewhere, Trump Jr. passed the legislation, writing that “we can protect free speech and our children at the same time from Big Tech.”
As The Post has reported, Big Tech advocates have mounted a no-holds-barred fight to kill the legislation — including by tailoring their message about KOSA depending on the constituency they’re trying to influence.
Lobbyists have told House Republicans it could fight conservative speech and told Democrats it’s “anti-LGBTQ+” and could limit pro-choice speech.
Google and Meta have spent heavily to kill or weaken the bill.
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