Online immunity debate
Meta lobbies Congress for immunity from child harm lawsuits amid KOSA debate.
Anonymous
Key Points
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Meta spokesperson Stephanie Otway said the proposal would instead “establish[] uniform national standards for online youth safety,” arguing it would ensure these issues are governed by “comprehensive federal legislation, not plaintiffs’ lawyers or patchwork state legislation.”
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Julia Duncan of the American Association for Justice (trial-lawyer group) warned that, if enacted, the provision could “knock out any lawsuits pending when the law took effect.”
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KOSA’s legislative sponsors are Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D), and the bill would require social media companies to take steps to prevent specific harms to minors—examples mentioned include compulsive use and features such as “endless scrolling,” “activity alerts,” and “filters.”
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KOSA had previously passed the Senate by a 91–3 margin in 2024 but stalled in the House; it has since been reintroduced and is supported by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, potentially increasing the odds it advances into law.
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Meta has previously pushed for age-verification measures—urging federal standards that would require app stores to verify users’ ages and supersede state regulations on children’s online safety—and one source said Meta offered the immunity-language push in exchange for withdrawing its opposition to KOSA.
Meta is lobbying Congress to add legal immunity language to the Kids Online Safety Act, a move that could wipe out more than 5,000 pending lawsuits from families who claim Instagram and Facebook harmed their children, according to Reuters. The push comes just days after a Los Angeles jury upheld a $6 million verdict against Meta and Google in a landmark child-safety case.
A source told Reuters that Meta offered to drop its opposition to KOSA entirely — in exchange for the immunity provision. Critics say the deal would let the company escape billions in potential legal liability while presenting itself as a champion of child safety online.
What Meta's Immunity Proposal Would Actually Do
Draft language Meta is pushing would shield online platforms from most or all state-law lawsuits over child safety and privacy harms, according to Reuters. It could also override existing state protections — laws like California's Age-Appropriate Design Code and New York's SAFE Act. There are currently over 5,000 lawsuits pending against social media companies from young users, parents, and school districts.
Meta spokesperson Stephanie Otway pushed back on the framing. She said the proposal "does not extinguish existing lawsuits" and would instead "establish uniform national standards for online youth safety," rather than leaving it to "plaintiffs' lawyers or patchwork state legislation." But Julia Duncan of the American Association for Justice disagreed sharply, warning the language was "clear-cut immunity" that would "knock out any lawsuits pending when the law took effect," according to Business Times.
The $6 Million Verdict That Spooked Big Tech
On March 25–26, 2026, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google liable for negligent product design in a bellwether case — a test case meant to guide thousands of others. The plaintiff, a 20-year-old woman named Kaley, was awarded $6 million. Meta was held responsible for 70% of the damages, or $4.2 million. Google was on the hook for the remaining $1.8 million, according to Detroit News.
The verdict was significant because it punched through the usual legal shield tech companies rely on. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act normally protects platforms from lawsuits over user-posted content. But lawyers in this case argued Meta's own design choices — features like infinite scroll, push notifications, and autoplay — were defective products. That strategy worked. A judge upheld the verdict in June 2026, rejecting Meta's appeal.
KOSA Has Momentum — But the Immunity Clause Could Sink It
KOSA was first introduced in 2023 by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). It passed the Senate by a 91–3 vote in July 2024 but stalled in the House. The bill was reintroduced in May 2025 with support from Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — a rare bipartisan show of force. It now has 68 co-sponsors, according to Business Times.
The bill would require social media companies to take concrete steps to prevent harm to minors — targeting features like endless scrolling, activity alerts, and filters designed to keep kids hooked. But a spokesperson for Sen. Blackburn said her office has not seen Meta's proposed immunity language and "would not consider its inclusion," according to Detroit News. Adding the clause could alienate progressive Democrats and trial-lawyer-aligned lawmakers, potentially stalling the bill in the House for a second straight session.
State AGs and Victim Advocates Say Federal Law Must Not Replace Lawsuits
A coalition of 40 state Attorneys General — including California's Rob Bonta, New York's Letitia James, and Maryland's Anthony Brown — have backed KOSA but drawn a firm line. They warned Congress against any "expansive preemption language" that would strip states of the power to protect children on their own. Their core argument: federal rules should be a floor, not a ceiling.
Parents' advocacy groups like ParentsSOS echoed that view, saying any version of KOSA that removes the right to sue leaves the law "toothless against Big Tech," according to Business Times. U.S. teenagers spend an average of 8 hours a day on screens, a figure cited by Sen. Blumenthal when reintroducing the bill. For families already deep in litigation, the stakes of Meta's lobbying push could not be higher.
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