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Considering KOSA: A Bill to Protect Children from Online Harms
['Tim Bernard']
Tech Policy Press
Reminiscent of the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act and the UK’s Online Safety Bill, KOSA (§3) establishes a duty of care for platforms “to act in the best interests of” users who are minors. The disclosuresmandated in §5 cover the aspects of platform policies and affordances relevant to the online harm categories the bill has established, and “whether the covered platform ... pose[s] any heightened risks of harm to a minor.” Platforms are therefore incentivised to make use of age verification services (with associated privacy concerns) and either close the platform to under-17s to avoid being in scope and all together escape the burdens such as notice, research and reporting (for large platforms), or to give minors a radically pared-down service to avoid a complete rebuild.