The controversial Kids Online Safety Act passed out of the Senate today by a vote of 91-3. As the vote was taking place, a group of human rights, LGBTQ+, and civil liberties experts held a virtual press conference to discuss the longstanding issues with the bill, how passing it would be a major handout to Big Tech, and why the House must reject it.
You can watch the press conference in full at this link or below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwufHSTjdgE
Here a sampling of important quotes given during the press conference:
“The fact of the matter is, young people are naturally curious and taking away potentially educational resources limits their learning and can actually endanger them.” –Jenna Leventoff, Senior Policy Counsel at American Civil Liberties Union
“I think some of this is just based on hoping or believing that the enforcement of a speech law will be done by the good guys. And that’s we’ve just never seen that be the case. And that’s why it’s better to stick by our First Amendment values.” –Joe Mullin, Senior Policy Analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation
“I’m really particularly concerned about the impact on youth in states that are already living under abortion bans or living in the 25 States that have bans on gender and care. I think you’re just gonna see that kind of censorship get much worse.” –Mandy Salley, Chief Operating Officer at Woodhull Freedom Foundation
“I’ve literally had legislators tell me to my face that they would love to see our website taken off the Internet because they don’t want people to have the kinds of vital community resources that we provide.” –Dara Adkison, Executive Director of TransOhio
“We need legislation that addresses the harm of big tech. And still lets young people fight for the type of world that they actually want to grow up in.” –Evan Greer, Director at Fight for the Future
Senator Ron Wyden (OR) also sent in this quote to be read during the press conference:
“Everyone agrees tech companies need to be held accountable, and Congress needs to do more to keep kids safe online. But that shouldn’t mean making some kids safer while putting others in harms’ way. I appreciate the intent of KOSA, and support restrictions on harmful design elements, along with new privacy protections for teenagers. At the same time, I implore my colleagues in the House to listen to the LGBTQ+ teens and the folks on the call today. It is not too late to do more to ensure that KOSA can’t be misused by MAGA politicians who are waging a dangerous and retrograde culture war. It’s not too late to make commonsense changes that ensure KOSA can’t be used to scare platforms away from responsible use of privacy protecting technologies like encryption or anonymous accounts. I hope Congress can work together to pass legislation to make ALL kids safer online.”
The grassroots human rights coalition opposing KOSA will redouble our efforts to stop it in the House, where younger progressives like Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep Maxwell Frost have already come out against it.
Additional resources about the opposition to KOSA:
