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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate advanced online safety legislation Thursday aimed at protecting children from targeted advertising, data harvesting, bullying and sexual exploitation on popular social media platforms.
But the rare bipartisan effort by Senate lawmakers did not escape criticism from advocates who warn the legislative package would curtail free speech online.
The body voted 86-1 on a procedural vote to move ahead with the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act. Both were rolled into one legislative vehicle.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the sole no vote.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised the “ground-breaking step” just before the vote began.
The bill arrived on the chamber floor with the support of nearly 70 co-sponsors, well beyond the 60 votes needed for the procedural vote.
The New York Democrat thanked parents sitting in the Senate gallery to watch the vote — including those who lost children to suicide after cyberbullying — calling them the “true heroes of this effort.”
“We met together, we’ve felt pain together, we’ve cried together. What they have endured is incomprehensible,” Schumer said. “Today the Senate tells these parents: ‘We hear you, we’re taking action.’”
Schumer said the proposal will now be on a “glide path” for final passage next week before the chamber heads into August recess.