Comparing Definitions of “Social Media Platform” in KOSMA
The Kids Off Social Media Act (KOSMA),* introduced on May 1st, is a bipartisan bill that combines Senator Schatz’s Protecting Kids on Social Media Act and Senator Cruz’s Eyes on the Board Act. According to the press release, KOSMA aims to:
- “Prohibit children under the age of 13 from creating or maintaining social media accounts, consistent with the current stated policies of major social media companies;
- Prohibit social media companies from pushing targeted content using algorithms to users under the age of 17;
- Provide the FTC and state attorneys general authority to enforce the provisions of the bill; and
- Follow existing Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) framework to require schools to block and filter social media on federally funded networks and devices.”
During our research on the bill, we came across the following quote from the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition’s April 30th letter to the bill’s sponsor, Senator Schatz, along with the Senate Commerce Committee:
“Several terms in the legislation are unclear or undefined. For instance, schools may have difficulty determining which platforms meet the bill's definition of "social media" and must be blocked. Similarly, the terms “covered services, devices and networks”, and “parent-sanctioned learning management systems and school information systems” are inherently difficult to define. These ambiguities could lead to schools over-blocking sites to ensure compliance, thereby limiting students' access to valuable educational resources.”
We decided to take a closer look at how various terms are defined in KOSMA, starting with “social media platform.” Social media platform is defined twice in KOSMA, with the same term meaning different things in Title I and Title II. To help identify how this term differs throughout KOSMA, we made a table comparing the definitions in Title I and Title II. While we are still analyzing the potential impacts of KOSMA’s requirements for schools that receive E-Rate funding, we wanted to share our comparison table to assist others in tracking potential changes in legislative language.
| TITLE I | TITLE II |
|---|---|
| (6) SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM.— (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘social media platform’’ means a public-facing website, online service, online application, or mobile application that— | (B) SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM.—The term ‘social media platform’— (i) means any website, online service, online application, or mobile application that— |
| (i) is directed to consumers; | (I) serves the public; and |
| (ii) collects personal data; | |
| (iii) primarily derives revenue from advertising or the sale of personal data; and | |
| (iv) as its primary function provides a community forum for user-generated content, including messages, videos, and audio files among users where such content is primarily intended for viewing, resharing, or platform-enabled distributed social endorsement or comment. | (II) primarily provides a forum for users to communicate user-generated content, including messages, videos, images, and audio files, to other online users; and |
| EXCEPTIONS IN TITLE I | EXCEPTIONS IN TITLE II |
|---|---|
| (B) LIMITATION.—The term ‘‘social media platform’’ does not include a platform that, as its primary function for consumers, provides or facilitates any of the following: | ‘(ii) does not include— |
| (i) The purchase and sale of commercial goods. | |
| (ii) Teleconferencing or videoconferencing services that allow reception and transmission of audio or video signals for real-time communication, provided that the real-time communication is initiated by using a unique link or identifier to facilitate access. | (VI) a teleconferencing or videoconferencing service that allows for the reception and transmission of audio or video signals for real-time communication that is initiated by using a unique link or identifier to facilitate access; |
| (iii) Crowd-sourced reference guides such as encyclopedias and dictionaries. | |
| (iv) Cloud storage, file sharing, or file collaboration services, including such services that allow collaborative editing by invited users. | (VII) a product or service that primarily functions as business-to-business software or a cloud storage, file sharing, or file collaboration service; or |
| (v) The playing or creation of video games. | |
| (vi) Content that consists primarily of news, sports, sports coverage, entertainment, or other information or content that is not user-generated but is preselected by the platform and for which any chat, comment, or interactive functionality is incidental, directly related to, or dependent on the provision of the content provided by the platform. | (III) an online service, application, or website— (aa) that consists primarily of content that is not user-generated, but is preselected by the provider; and (bb) for which any chat, comment, or interactive functionality is incidental to, directly related to, or dependent on the provision of content described in item (aa); |
| (vii) Business, product, or travel information including user reviews or rankings of such businesses, products, or other travel information. | |
| (viii) Educational information, experiences, training, or instruction provided to build knowledge, skills, or a craft, district-sanctioned or school-sanctioned learning management systems and school information systems for the purposes of schools conveying content related to the education of students, or services or services on behalf of or in support of an elementary school or secondary school, as such terms are defined in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). | (IV) an online service, application, or website— (aa) that is non-commercial and primarily designed for educational purposes; and (bb) the revenue of which is not primarily derived from advertising or the sale of personal data |
| (ix) An email service. | (II) electronic mail; |
| (x) A wireless messaging service, including such a service provided through short message service or multimedia messaging protocols, that is not a component of, or linked to, a social media platform and where the predominant or exclusive function of the messaging service is direct messaging consisting of the transmission of text, photos, or videos that are sent by electronic means, where messages are transmitted from the sender to the recipient and are not posted publicly or within a social media platform. | (V) a wireless messaging service, including such a service provided through a short messaging service or multimedia service protocols— (aa) that is not a component of, or linked to, a website, online service, online application, or mobile application described in clause (i); and (bb) the predominant or exclusive function of which is direct messaging consisting of the transmission of text, photos, or videos that— (AA) are sent by electronic means from the sender to a recipient; and (BB) are not posted publicly or on a website, online service, online application, or mobile application described in clause (i); |
| (xi) A broadband internet access service (as such term is defined for purposes of section 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation). | (I) an internet service provider; |
| (xii) A virtual private network or similar service that exists solely to route internet traffic between locations. | |
| (VIII) an organization that is not organized to carry on business for the profit of the organization or of the members of the organization. |
*Legislative text not yet available on Congress.gov. Using bill text the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee linked to in a recent press release: Sens. Cruz, Schatz Lead Colleagues With New Bill To Keep Kids Safe, Healthy, and * * * Off * * * Social Media (May 1st, 2024).