WASHINGTON, May 12 - A prominent Republican senator announced on Tuesday he will support legislation aimed at increasing social media companies' responsibilities for how their platforms affect children and adolescents. The measure, titled the Kids Online Safety Act, mandates that social media firms "exercise reasonable care" when creating features that may contribute to harms to minors.
At an event outside the U.S. Capitol attended by parents who say they lost their children to online harms, Senator Ted Cruz said he would back the bill and committed to advancing the measure through the Senate's procedural channels. "We are going to pass it out of the Commerce Committee, we’re going to pass it in the Senate," he said at the gathering.
The bill specifies a range of harms linked to platform design that would fall under its scope, including eating disorders, depression and sexual harassment of minors, among other categories cited in the legislation. The statutory language requires platforms to take steps in their design and feature choices so as not to contribute to such harms.
Cruz's support carries procedural weight because he serves as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee - the committee that customarily reviews and advances communications and technology-related legislation before it reaches the full Senate for a vote. While Cruz has backed similar proposals in the past, the article notes he had not previously scheduled a formal committee vote on the bill during the 119th Congress, the current legislative session.
Observers will watch whether the commitment at Tuesday's event leads to an actual committee markup and recorded vote. A spokeswoman for the senator did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the announcement.
The statement at the event marks a visible development in the bill's trajectory, as it ties the chairman of the committee responsible for such measures directly to the proposal. The extent to which the pledge will translate into formal procedural steps and eventual Senate passage remains to be determined.