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Floor Speech

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Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, while there is no doubt our country has greatly benefited from the internet, for some families, it has come at a painful and even tragic cost.

Every parent I know is concerned about the online threats directed at our kids. Whether it is predators targeting children or online videos promoting self-harm, risky life choices, or undermining their lack of self-esteem, we all know someone who has had to grapple with the failure of Big Tech to take responsibility for the harms caused by its products.

Today, the Senate is beginning to put Big Tech on notice. The Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA 2.0, will both help keep children safer online and protect their privacy.

I want to thank Senators Blackburn, Blumenthal, Markey, and Cantwell for collaborating with me and my team over the past year to significantly improve both measures.

In KOSA, we added an express preemption provision that will help limit the litigation magnet from a patchwork of State laws.

We eliminated all FTC rulemaking authority, putting in place guardrails against government overreach.

Importantly, we also struck an important balanced approach on the obligation tech companies have with respect to determining whether a user online is a minor in both KOSA and COPPA 2.0. Instead of the current law's age-verification approach--an actual knowledge standard that has permitted tech companies to rely on children absurdly claiming to have been born in 1882--tech companies will now have to bear more responsibility to enforce underage online accounts. This update is not a constructive knowledge standard, but it reflects, rather, a balance that puts greater responsibility on tech companies without imposing unfeasible requirements.

Nearly 30 years after the original COPPA's passage, the internet has changed, and I believe COPPA 2.0 meets the moment to update the current privacy issues effectively.

Congress should continue to build off the specific bipartisan provisions in COPPA 2.0 for children's privacy and enact a comprehensive data privacy bill. In the Commerce Committee, I intend to continue that work.

KOSA and COPPA 2.0 are important first steps in protecting children online, but we are not finished. More work remains to be done.

Senator Klobuchar and I have together introduced the Take It Down Act, which targets bad actors who use AI to create and publish on social media sites fake, explicit imagery of real people--often teenage girls. The Take It Down Act gives them the justice they deserve by criminalizing the spread of so-called revenge porn and requiring Big Tech to remove the images immediately upon notice by the victim. It also applies to fake images made using AI, deepfake images that we are seeing more and more becoming a plague targeting young people and in particular young women.

Senator Schatz and I have also introduced the Kids Off Social Media Act, KOSMA, which builds upon KOSA by addressing specific harms to children from social media--especially in schools. Big Tech claims users under 13 aren't permitted, so KOSMA makes that explicit. It prohibits children under 13 from having social media accounts. It stops companies from targeting minors, and it requires schools to block social media in school.

I hope this body will meet parents where they are and say enough is enough. Let's also soon pass KOSMA because there is no good reason for an 8-year-old to be on Instagram or a teenager to be doom-scrolling Twitter in a classroom at taxpayers' expense.

Parents across the country agree: It is time Congress answered the call and held Big Tech accountable. I am proud to work alongside Republicans and Democrats. I am proud of the work the Commerce Committee has done to bring KOSA and COPPA 2.0 forward. I look forward to continuing this critically important work of protecting our kids online.

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