More than 30 attorneys general from across the country, including New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, sent a letter to Congress urging them to pass the Kids Online Safety Act.
KOSA seeks to protect children from harm online.
“We are acutely aware of the threats minors face on social media,” the letter states. “Many social media platforms target minors, resulting in a national youth mental health catastrophe. These platforms make their products addictive to minor users, and then profit from selling minor user data to advertisers. These platforms fail to disclose the addicting nature of their products, nor the harms associated with increased social media use. Instead, minor users receive endless tailored and toxic content.”
Related: NM Attorney General Torrez speaks about social media harms at town hall
KOSA seeks to require social media platforms to utilize mandatory default safety settings for child users, addiction prevention measures such as allowing young users and their parents or guardians the option to disable features that promote endless scrolling and enable parents and guardians to use tools that can identify harmful actions and better ways to report dangerous content.
“Every day that Congress delays is another day children are exposed to harmful content that threatens their mental health and wellbeing,” Torrez said in a press release. “We cannot allow profits to come before the safety of our kids. It’s time for Congress to act and give families the tools they need to protect their children online.”
Torrez and the New Mexico Department of Justice filed suit against Meta in 2023. The case is expected to go to trial in 2025.