A congressional committee has advanced a bill aimed at protecting children online that could create complications for advertisers trying to promote legal marijuana and other regulated substances.
Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) filed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) earlier this month, and the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade approved an amended version of the legislation on Thursday on a party-line vote of 13-10, with Republicans in support and Democrats in opposition.
Bipartisan senators introduced a version of the measure earlier this year, but it has not advanced in that chamber this Congress even though a prior iteration was passed by the body in 2024.
Under the new legislation, online platforms would be prohibited from facilitating the “advertising of narcotic drugs, cannabis products, tobacco products, gambling, or alcohol to an individual that the covered platform knows is a minor.”
The provision around drug use lists the “distribution, sale, or use of narcotic drugs, tobacco products, cannabis products, gambling, or alcohol” as risks that platforms would need to actively guard minors against.
One section that was in prior iterations of the bill that seems to have been omitted from this latest version had stipulated that video streaming
Read full article on Marijuana Moment
