Senators Advance Bill to Ban Children Under 13 From Social Media

Senators are moving forward with a sweeping proposal aimed at keeping young children off social media, but the measure faces an uphill battle as the technology industry lobby rails against it.

The Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday approved the Kids Off Social Media Act, or KOSMA (S. 278), which would ban children under the age of 13 from accessing social media platforms and prohibit algorithmically driven content to teens under 17.

It’s the first legislative effort this Congress to protect children and teens online—a bipartisan goal of lawmakers for the past few years following claims that social media ...