X's Yaccarino praises child safety bill and urges House backing

Alicia Diaz, Bloomberg News on Dec 7, 2024

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WASHINGTON — Elon Musk’s X social media service and key U.S. senators agreed on the wording of a bipartisan online safety bill to protect children from bullying and exploitation, Chief Executive Officer Linda Yaccarino said.

“After working with the bill authors, I’m proud to share that we’ve made progress to further protect freedom of speech while maintaining safety for minors online,” Yaccarino said in a post on X Saturday. She urged the House to help pass the Kids Online Safety Act before the end of the year.

The Senate passed the bill as part of a sweeping tech privacy package in a 91-3 vote in July, prompting President Joe Biden to pledge he would sign it into law. House Republicans have stalled the legislation amid criticism from tech companies that it could censor conservative content.

If passed by the House, the legislation would break a trend of unsuccessful pushes from Congress to regulate Big Tech.

Musk responded to Yaccarino’s post with a signal of support. “Protecting kids should always be priority #1,” Musk posted on Saturday.

The changes to the bill were led by X, Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, and GOP Senator Marsha Blackburn said in a joint statement. The alterations “strengthen the bill while safeguarding free speech online and ensuring it is not used to stifle expression,” the lawmakers said.

The House has just two weeks left of scheduled session days this year, with several priorities left on the agenda including a stopgap spending measure to fund the government.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise didn’t respond to requests for comment asking if the bill would be brought to the floor.