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A bipartisan pair of senators reintroduced the Kids Online Safety Act on Tuesday with updates that aimed to address concerns that the bill could inadvertently cause more harm to the young internet users it seeks to protect. But some activists who raised those issues say the changes are still insufficient.

The bill aims to make the internet a safer place for kids to access by putting the onus on social media companies to prevent and mitigate harms that might come from their services. The new version of the bill defines a set list of harms that platforms need to take reasonable steps to mitigate, including by preventing the spread of posts promoting suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse and more. It would require those companies to undergo annual independent audits of their risks to minors and require them to enable the strongest privacy settings by default for kids.

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Congress and President Joe Biden have made clear online protections for children are a key priority, and KOSA has become one of the leading bills on the subject. KOSA has racked up a long list of more than 25 co-sponsors and the earlier version of the bill passed unanimously out of the Senate commerce committee last year. The new version of the bill has gained support from groups such as Common Sense Media, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Eating Disorders Coalition.

At a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who introduced the bill alongside Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is “a hundred percent behind this bill and efforts to protect kids online.”

While Blumenthal acknowledged it’s ultimately up to Senate leadership to figure out timing, he said, “I fully hope and expect we’ll have a vote this session.”

A Schumer spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Late last year, dozens of civil society groups warned Congress against passing the bill, warning it could further endanger young internet users in different ways. For example, the groups worried the bill would add pressure for online platforms to “over-moderate, including from state Attorneys General seeking to make political points about what kind of information is appropriate for young people.”

Blumenthal and Blackburn made several changes to the text in response to critiques from outside groups. They sought to more carefully tailor the legislation to limit the duty of care requirements for social media platforms to a specific set of potential harms to mental health based on evidence-backed medical information.

They also added protections for support services like the National Suicide Hotline, substance abuse groups and LGBTQ youth centers to ensure they aren’t unintentionally hampered by the bill’s requirements. Blumenthal’s office said it did not believe the duty of care would have applied to those sorts of groups, but opted to clarify it regardless.

But the changes have not been enough to placate some civil society and industry groups.

Evan Greer, director of digital rights nonprofit Fight for the Future, said Blumenthal’s office never met with the group or shared the updated text in advance of the introduction despite multiple requests. Greer acknowledged the co-sponsors’ offices met with other groups, but said in an emailed statement that “it seems they intentionally excluded groups that have specific issue-area expertise in content moderation, algorithmic recommendation, etc.”

“I’ve read through it and can say unequivocally that the changes that have been made DO NOT address the concerns that we raised in our letter,” Greer wrote. “The bill still contains a duty of care that covers content recommendation, and it still allows state Attorneys General to effectively dictate what content platforms can recommend to minors.”

“The ACLU remains strongly opposed to KOSA because it would ironically expose the very children it seeks to protect to increased harm and increased surveillance,” ACLU Senior Policy Counsel Cody Venzke said in a statement. The group joined the letter warning against its passage last year.

“KOSA’s core approach still threatens the privacy, security, and free expression of both minors and adults by deputizing platforms of all stripes to police their users and censor their content under the guise of a ‘duty of care,'” Venzke added. “To accomplish this, the bill would legitimize platforms’ already pervasive data collection to identify which users are minors when it should be seeking to curb those data abuses. Moreover, parental guidance in minors’ online lives is critical, but KOSA would mandate surveillance tools without regard to minors’ home situations or safety. KOSA would be a step backwards in making the internet a safer place for children and minors.”

At the press conference, in response to a question about Fight for the Future’s critiques, Blumenthal said the duty of care had been “very purposefully narrowed” to target certain harms.

“I think we’ve met that kind of suggestion very directly and effectively,” he said. “Obviously, our door remains open. We’re willing to hear and talk to other kinds of suggestions that are made. And we have talked to many of the groups that had great criticism and a number have actually dropped their opposition, as I think you’ll hear in response to today’s session. So I think our bill is clarified and improved in a way that meets some of the criticism. We’re not going to solve all of the problems of the world with a single bill. But we are making a measurable, very significant start.”

The bill also faced criticism from several groups that receive funding from the tech industry.

NetChoice, which has sued California over its Age-Appropriate Design Code Act and whose members include Google, Meta and TikTok, said in a press release that despite lawmakers’ attempts to respond to concerns, “unfortunately, how this bill would work in practice still requires an age verification mechanism and data collection on Americans of all ages.”

“Working out how young people should use technology is a difficult question and has always been best answered by parents,” NetChoice Vice President and General Counsel Carl Szabo said in a statement. “KOSA instead creates an oversight board of DC insiders who will replace parents in deciding what’s best for children.”

“KOSA 2.0 raises more questions than it answers,” Ari Cohn, free speech counsel TechFreedom, a think tank that’s received funding from Google, said in a statement. “What constitutes reason to know that a user is under 17 is entirely unclear, and undefined by the bill. In the face of that uncertainty, platforms will clearly have to age-verify all users to avoid liability—or worse, avoid obtaining any knowledge whatsoever and leave minors without any protections at all.”

“Protecting young people online is a broadly shared goal. But it would contradict the goals of bills such as this to impose compliance obligations that undermine the privacy and safety of teens,” said Matt Schruers, president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include Amazon, Google, Meta and Twitter. “Governments should avoid compliance requirements that would compel digital services to collect more personal information about their users — such as geolocation information and a government-issued identification — particularly when responsible companies are instituting measures to collect and store less data on customers.”

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De minimis trade loophole that boosted Chinese online retailers to end May 2

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De minimis trade loophole that boosted Chinese online retailers to end May 2

A driver for an independent contractor to FedEx delivers packages on Cyber Monday in New York, US, on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023.

Stephanie Keith | Bloomberg | Getty Images

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order shutting the de minimis trade loophole, effective May 2.

Trump in February abruptly ended the de minimis trade exemption, which allows shipments worth less than $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free. The order overwhelmed U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees and caused the U.S. Postal Service to temporarily halt packages from China and Hong Kong. Within days of its announcement, Trump reversed course and delayed the cancellation of the provision.

Wednesday’s announcement, which came alongside a set of sweeping new tariffs, gives customs officials, retailers and logistics companies more time to prepare. Goods that qualify under the de minimis exemption will be subject to a duty of either 30% of their value, or $25 per item. That rate will increase to $50 per item on June 1, the White House said.

Use of the de minimis provision has exploded in recent years as shoppers flock to Chinese e-commerce companies Temu and Shein, which offer ultra-low cost apparel, electronics and other items. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has said it processed more than 1.3 billion de minimis shipments in 2024, up from over 1 billion shipments in 2023.

Critics of the provision say it provides an unfair advantage to Chinese e-commerce companies and creates an influx of packages that are “subject to minimal documentation and inspection,” raising concerns around counterfeit and unsafe goods.

The Trump administration has sought to close the loophole over concerns that it facilitates shipments of fentanyl and other illicit substances on the claims that the packages are less likely to be inspected by customs agents.

Temu and Shein have taken steps to grow their operations in the U.S. as the de minimis loophole has come under greater scrutiny. After onboarding sellers with inventory in U.S. warehouses, Temu recently began steering shoppers to those items on its website, allowing it to speed up deliveries. Shein opened distribution centers in states including Illinois and California in 2022, and a supply chain hub in Seattle last year.

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Apple leads a drop in tech stocks after Trump tariff announcement

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 Apple leads a drop in tech stocks after Trump tariff announcement

Apple CEO Tim Cook, center, watches during the inauguration ceremonies for President Donald Trump, right, and Vice President JD Vance, left, in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025.

Shawn Thew | Afp | Getty Images

Apple slid more than 6% in late trading Wednesday and led a broader decline in tech stocks after President Donald Trump announced new tariffs of between 10% and 49% on imported goods.

The majority of Apple’s revenue comes from devices manufactured primarily in China and a handful of other Asian countries. Nvidia, which manufactures new chips in Taiwan and assembles its artificial intelligence systems in Mexico and elsewhere, fell about 4%, while electric vehicle company Tesla dropped 4.5%.

Across the rest of the megacap universe, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta all dropped between 2.5% and 5%, and Microsoft was down by almost 2%.

If Apple’s postmarket loss is matched in regular trading Thursday, it would be the steepest decline for the stock since September 2020.

Trump on Wednesday afternoon said the new taxes on imported goods would be a “declaration of economic independence” for the country. He announced a 10% blanket tariff on all imports, and higher duties for specific countries, including 34% for China, 20% for European nations, and 24% for Japanese imports, based on what tariffs they charge on U.S. exports, Trump said.

“We will supercharge our domestic industrial base, we will pry open foreign markets and break down foreign trade barriers,” Trump said during his speech. “Ultimately, more production at home will mean stronger competition and lower prices for consumers.”

Stocks broadly got hit by Trump’s announcements. An exchange-traded fund tracking the S&P 500 slid 2.8%, while an ETF following the Nasdaq 100 lost more than 3%.

During his speech, Trump praised Apple, Meta, and Nvidia for spending money and investing in the United States.

“Apple is going to spend $500 billion, they never spent money like that here,” Trump said. “They’re going to build their plants here.”

The Nasdaq just wrapped up its worst quarter since 2022, dropping 10% in the first three months of the year, though the tech-heavy index rose in each of the first two days of the second quarter.

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Amazon submits bid for TikTok as ban deadline nears

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Amazon submits bid for TikTok as ban deadline nears

Guests including Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk attend the Inauguration of Donald J. Trump in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. 

Julia Demaree Nikhinson | Getty Images

Amazon submitted a bid to the White House to purchase the social media app TikTok from its Chinese owners, CNBC has confirmed.

The company sent its proposal in a letter this week to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to a source familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the discussions are confidential. The parties aren’t treating the bid seriously, however, given that it was submitted just days before a deadline staving off a U.S. ban is set to expire, the person said.

Amazon declined to comment.

The e-commerce company’s offer, which was first reported by The New York Times, comes as TikTok’s fate in the U.S. is up in the air. The short-form video app faces another potential shutdown in the U.S. on April 5 if ByteDance, its parent company, can’t reach a deal to divest TikTok’s American operations. Lawmakers passed a bill last year setting a Jan. 19 deadline for the sale, but Trump signed an executive order granting a 75-day extension for a potential deal.

Trump could announce a decision on TikTok’s fate in the U.S. as soon as Wednesday, sources familiar with the situation told CNBC’s David Faber. Mobile technology company AppLovin has also made a bid for TikTok, Faber reported separately, citing sources familiar with the matter.

TikTok has emerged as a major hub for e-commerce as it has poured money into growing its online marketplace, called TikTok Shop. TikTok’s lucrative marketplace, coupled with the app’s more than 170 million users, could be an attractive asset for Amazon. Following TikTok’s success, Amazon launched and then shuttered a short-form video service of its own.

Last August, the two companies formed a partnership that allowed TikTok users to link their account with Amazon and make purchases from the site without leaving the app. The deal attracted scrutiny from lawmakers who were concerned about its potential national security risks.

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