KOSA’s aim is to ensure that online platforms prevent and mitigate specific dangers to minors, including eating disorders, depression, anxiety, online harassment, sexual exploitation, and compulsive use (Sec. 102(a)). For users the platform knows are minors, it would require the most protective privacy and safety settings by default, limiting design features such as infinite scroll and autoplay, and giving minors an option to opt out of personalized recommendation systems (Sec. 103(a)(1), (3)).
Social media regulations have up to this point attempted to target different aspects of digital platforms like the content published by users, the algorithm, and now these shiny trinkets that keep users entranced, like rewards for Snapchat streaks and autoplay. The platform’s architecture, on the other hand, is not any single feature but the structure which governs the extent to which users can connect and what actions are permitted. This connective tissue differs drastically between different online platforms and plays a large role in shaping what content can go viral and reach minors.
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