Support for the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), With Caution.

T o the Editor: We are a group of health scientists working in diverse fields of study who have come together to conduct research addressing risks from suicide for transgender and non-binary teenagers and the potential role of social media in addressing these events. We are writing this letter to provide partial support for the Senate bill “Kids Online Safety Act” (KOSA). We applaud the spirit of the bill to protect youth from harmful social media content, as well as to facilitate enhanced research of social media risks for youth. We also believe the bill should have provisions that prevent its abuse, in particular prevent censoring critical content important for the well-being of LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) young people, who extensively rely on social media. The KOSA is a bipartisan bill introduced by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) earlier this year. It holds social media platforms accountable for risks posed to children and adolescents younger than 17 years. The overall intention of the bill is to protect youth from content that could be harmful to them, indicating that those online platforms have a duty to prevent the promotion of harmful behaviors, including suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, and substance abuse. The KOSA allows parents and users to opt out of algorithmic recommendations installed on any platforms, prevents third parties from viewing a minor’s data, and limits the amount of time kids could spend on the platform. It also includes provisions regarding online platform disclosure policies and advertising systems. Importantly, the bill requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to enable researchers to apply for data sets that platform companies would have to provide to allow them to study potential online communication harms to minors. However, this does not mean that this bill would make social media platforms fully safe for transgender youth. Bullying, discrimination, and harassment of transgender youth and other minority groups have become rampant in social media platforms. These negative factors could lead to depression, anxiety disorders, and even suicide. We know that the teen suicide rate has increased significantly, and some sub-