To protect kids online today, let’s rethink this 1990s law
March 14, 1924
In late January, Congress hosted Big Tech chief executives on Capitol Hill for a hearing on their collective failure to protect children online. Senators expressed outrage, and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg was forced to apologize, but there was no consensus on what action should be taken.
That’s no surprise. Ever since the Supreme Court shot down crucial provisions of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) — Congress’s 1996 attempt to prohibit the knowing transmission of obscene content to minors — legislators on both left and right have been reluctant to pass laws to protect children in our increasingly digital world. Often, they offer the same concerns about regulations’ chilling effect on free speech that the Supreme Court cited in its 1997 Reno v. ACLU decision.
