The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSPA) is a comprehensive piece of legislation aimed at protecting children and adolescents from harmful online content and practices. Here are the top 10 key areas addressed by KOSPA:
- Duty of Care: Platforms must take reasonable steps to protect users under 18 from physical, emotional, and mental harm.
- Default Settings: Platforms must prioritize child safety by setting default settings that minimize exposure to harmful content.
- Parental Controls: Platforms must provide robust parental controls that allow parents to monitor and manage their children’s online activity.
- Content Moderation: Platforms must implement effective content moderation systems to remove harmful content, such as hate speech, bullying, and self-harm promotion.
- Data Privacy: Platforms must limit the collection and use of children’s personal data and implement strong data security measures.
- Age Verification: Platforms must verify the age of users to ensure compliance with age-appropriate content restrictions.
- Transparency: Platforms must be transparent about their algorithms, data practices, and content moderation policies.
- Research and Development: Platforms must conduct research to understand the impact of their products on children’s well-being and develop features to mitigate risks.
- Accountability: Platforms must be held accountable for violations of KOSA through civil penalties and other enforcement mechanisms.
- Education and Awareness: Platforms must educate users about online safety and provide resources to help them protect themselves.
KOSA represents a significant step forward in safeguarding children online. By addressing these key areas, the legislation aims to create a safer and more positive digital environment for young people.
What does this mean for schools?
How we talk about technology like devices and online spaces matters. While it’s important to take steps to protect young people online, we need to move past a strictly paternalistic approach and engage directly with young people’s insights and experiences. Developing agency and resilience in young people will be key to their wellbeing, a concept that is central to social and emotional learning. To that end, understanding the forces that are guiding legislation at the state and federal levels will help inform our conversations with young people as we help them grow and thrive for years to come.
For more insight into KOSPA and including young people in conversations about online safety and wellbeing, you can listen to Safety is Sexy, a podcast by former CADA board member Matthew Soeth. It’s available online, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
