To further add on to this post, I would like to quote some sources on why the KOSA bill should be stopped:
“Why is KOSA a bad bill? KOSA uses two methods to “protect” kids, and both of them are awful. First, KOSA would pressure platforms to install filters that would wipe the net of anything deemed “inappropriate” for minors. This = instructing platforms to censor, plain and simple.” - stopkosa.com
“KOSA violates the First Amendment rights of children (and adults) While we support parental control tools that allow parents to create appropriate experiences for their children online, government mandates that restrict minors’ access to online avenues for free speech violate their First Amendment rights.” - rstreet.org
“Critics warn KOSA could trigger widespread censorship, privacy concerns . Debate continues to rage over the federal Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which seeks to hold platforms liable for feeding harmful content to minors. KOSA is lawmakers’ answer to whistleblower Frances Haugen’s shocking revelations to Congress.” - arstechnica.com
“But not only does KOSA violate the constitutional rights of children , it also violates the constitutional rights of adults. If websites are required to know who on their platform are and are not children, they will have to verify the identity and age of every user.” - rstreet.org
“Republicans and Democrats alike are backing age-gating bills. For some lawmakers, it’s an extension of a yearslong fight against Big Tech — a way to rein in the alleged harmful effects of social networks on youth. For others, it’s part of a much broader culture war. Conservative state houses and school districts have recently altered public school curriculums and banned books predominantly written by and about people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. Online child protection bills are a new weapon in the fight.” - theverge.com
“These parallel movements have created an unprecedented appetite for a new kind of internet. It’s one where parents might have far more control over what minors see online and kids are more shielded from the darker spaces on the internet. It’s also one where adults and young people alike could have trouble reading, watching, or otherwise engaging with constitutionally protected speech and where privacy is hard to find.” - theverge.com
“Shielding children from porn isn’t a controversial idea, even if the systems put in place to protect them add hurdles for adults. But the broader movement to limit the access of children and teens to the internet does more than hide porn. It effectively restricts access to politically fraught information related to gender and identity.” - theverge.com
“For other restrictive bills, GOP lawmakers may not be concerned with how their legislation harms queer youth — specifically a recent Utah law banning minors from social media without parental consent. The Utah Social Media Regulation Acts would require everyone to verify their age before joining a social network. If they’re under 18, a platform would need to receive parental permission for a kid to create an account and provide guardians access to all of their children’s posts. For queer kids and teens, bills like the one in Utah could cut them off from online resources and communities, especially for kids in abusive households.” - theverge.com
“I think progressives had the idea that they wanted to regulate Big Tech without fully appreciating the degree to which they were playing with fire,” Evan Greer, Fight for the Future director, said in an interview with The Verge earlier this month. “We’re in a moment where the far-right has gone fully and completely mask off to advance an agenda that makes children profoundly unsafe and is about harming and attacking LGBTQ folks and children’s access to sexual health information and education about consent.” - theverge.com
“If precedent holds, many of these laws could be short-lived. But their quick success will only inspire more and more copycats before the courts have time to catch up, especially with so few political leaders standing against them. Without more pushback, age verification bills, just like the ongoing book bans taking place in schools, will continue to fuel the right’s censorship fire all at the expense of speech protected by the First Amendment. “Many people are afraid of standing up for free speech and for the access of minors to content because so many things are turned into divisive grooming or child trafficking conversation when they are not that at all. That sort of opinion can be weaponized right now by that very conservative, fairly right-wing portion of the electorate and of the population,” Jason Kelley said.” - theverge.com
There are many other sources on this topic; I encourage all of you to do research, and if possible, contribute to acts to deny the KOSA bill. We can’t let the politicians do any more harm on the youth of today. The US has already created too many anti-lgbtq+ bills this year, so we can’t let them win. We still have a chance to fix things before they get worse!