KOSA is a censorship bill that won’t make kids safe. Instead, it'll put all internet users at risk, especially youth. If you believe in a free and open internet, tell your lawmakers to reject #KOSA! https://stopkosa.com/
kosa
Wait, really? KOSA's dead? I thought it passed like yesterday or something? Does anyone have clear information as to what the current status of KOSA is?
As you may have heard, the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA as it's more commonly known, just passed the US Senate by a vote of 91-3; only one Democrat, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) voted against it. The bill was co-written and sponsored by Marsha Blackburn (Nazi Party-TN), one of the most virulently anti-queer fascists in American government, and endorsed by The Heritage Foundation (the very same nazis who brought you Project 2025.) As an American trans woman facing down a real-as-fuck, increasingly mainstream fascist pogrom against trans people, I'm furious at this betrayal by Senate Dems, and more than a little afraid for my future online, or otherwise.
Despite its protested benevolent intentions, this is a foundationally fascist bill that would give the FTC (controlled by whoever happens to be President) and State Attorney Generals (including hardcore nazis like Ken Paxton in Texas) the ability to force online platforms to censor any content they *think* might cause minors "anxiety" or "distress." What exactly is content fascists think might cause "distress" or "anxiety" in young people? Well, given the vague wording of the bill, it's hard to say, but the "conservatives" who support it have repeatedly made clear that they consider information about sex education, sexual abuse/assault, anti-racist literature, history they don't like, information about contraception, and information about queer, particularly trans people, simply existing, to be "distressing" and "damaging" to children, so it's not that hard to guess. Blackburn herself has given interviews where she admits the fascist right intend to use the bill to "protect" young people from "the transgender" and "gender ideology." The Heritage Foundation and various other fascist think tanks who support the bill have also indicated the same. While the far right insists the purpose of the bill is to protect children from harm and pornography, that reasoning falls a little flat when you realize they've openly stated that just knowing trans and queer people exist is "harmful to children" and "pornographic" or "sexualizing" in nature.
Furthermore, the prosecution of an anti-queer agenda, and an ongoing anti-trans pogrom aren't the only horrifying problems with this bill. While the Act is ostensibly designed to protect young people, and its sponsors swear up and down it won't lead to age-gating and violations of privacy for everyday adult users of online platforms, it does require those platforms to know which users are, and aren't, minors; which is going to be pretty much impossible without demanding identification or some form of identifying age-verification process. One can easily imagine numerous ways this poorly-thought out censorship regime can go completely sideways. For example, if "red-state" fascists want to unmask you on large online platforms, all they're going to have to do is flag you as a potential minor, which in turn will force you to essentially identify yourself to prove otherwise or lose access.
Liberal proponents of the bill, and disingenuous fascists trying to hide their already-admitted intentions, have of course insisted that KOSA contains safeguards that will prevent it from acting as a fascist censorship law on large internet platforms. This argument is however clearly divorced from reality when you examine the intentions and standard operations of those platforms. No Big Tech company will wait around to get sued by nazi American parent groups and fascist State Attorney generals, and they sure as fuck aren't going to spend the resources necessary to resolve this on a case by case basis when they can just pre-emptively ban anything myopic wingers might find objectionable and call it a day; especially since that will cost less and reactionary Tech Bros who own big online platforms don't really want to host queer content, resources for sexual abuse victims, or anti-racist content in the first place. Half the folks running these companies already donate to Trump and wholly support the Christian Nationalist agenda Project 2025 is designed to further.
Of course passing the Senate doesn't make KOSA a law yet, but given that fascist Republicans prosecuting a Christian Nationalist agenda hold a slim majority in Congress, and President Biden has already endorsed the bill, I'm not feeling very optimistic it won't be soon. And while I'm certainly outraged at nazis who intend to use this bill to prosecute a fundie fascist agenda designed to pogrom trans people and chase their political opponents out of public life, I must admit I reserve a special ire for Senate Dems empowering that agenda in exchange for warm feelings of "bipartisan co-operation" and the purely hypothetical support of white suburban nazis who call themselves parents. It's pretty hard for me to believe you folks oppose Project 2025, when you're already helping the fascists pass laws that support it and Trump hasn't even been elected President, yet.
Edited 229d ago
Americans, do you like having privacy online, at all, ever? Act now to keep your privacy!
The Senate is voting TODAY on KOSA, a bill that uses child safety as an excuse to make every adult scan their face or their ID for every website they visit or app they use.
Contact your senators right now and tell them to vote AGAINST KOSA.
You can find your senators with this form. Call or email or use ResistBot, just contact them ASAP.
https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm
BREAKING: Schumer is moving to a floor vote on the dangerous and misguided Kids Online Safety Act.
Read why this bill is a danger to LGBTQ youth and human rights here: https://them.us/story/kids-online-safety-act-kosa-youth-lgbtq-content
Tell your Senators to vote NO on #KOSA here: https://www.stopkosa.com
NEW: my colleague Anna and I have a piece in Them today telling the story of how LGBTQ youth have led the charge against the dangerous and misguided Kids Online Safety Act (#KOSA), but have largely been dismissed and ignored by Democratic lawmakers who claim to protect them https://www.them.us/story/kids-online-safety-act-kosa-youth-lgbtq-content
RIGHT NOW: We've parked a billboard truck outside the House E&C Committee hearing displaying comments from young people and parents who oppose dangerous censorship bills like #KOSA and want lawmakers to actually address the harms of Big Tech. https://www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2024-05-22-listen-to-kids-billboard-outside-house-hearing-raises-up-voices-of-lgbtq-youth-who-oppose-kosa/
The authors of the dangerous Kids Online Safety Act (#KOSA) have amended it for 2024, and it remains a censorious and dangerous bill. We are asking everyone to demand that their representatives oppose it—even if they already have. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/02/dont-fall-latest-changes-dangerous-kids-online-safety-act
it takes a lot to get me to willingly pick up the phone, but i just called my senators to urge them to vote no on #KOSA and you should too.
there are some script templates going around if you prefer to have a reference, here's one:
Edited 1y ago
This bill isn’t just bad for LGBTQ folks it’s more invasive than the patriot act and if you think it won’t be used against unions and people trying to organize to fight fascism please think more deeply.
From: @charliejane
https://wandering.shop/@charliejane/111812194821525168
#KOSA #PatriotAct #Privacy #surveillance #LGBTQ #unions #protests #1stamendment
BREAKING: Politico reports that Senator Cantwell says she will delay hotlining the Kids Online Safety Act (#KOSA) because of ongoing concerns around LGBTQ rights and the need for further changes.
This is an important win for human rights. But we have so much more to do
Okay y'all. I often tell people not to cry wolf or preemptively panic about legislation.
BUT THIS IS THE WEEK TO CALL SENATORS TO STOP THE KIDS ONLINE SAFTY ACT (#KOSA)
They're making real attempt to sneak it through. We just need ONE Senator to object
Bad Internet Bills week of action (US-focused, activism)
Edited 1y ago
government backdoors in cryptography be like
#privacy #surveillance #encryption #e2ee #KOSA #EARNITAct #OnlineSafetyBill #OSB #ChatControl
(my OG post from bird site 2017 July 15)
Bad news: The #RestrictAct isn't the only bill threatening to end the internet as we know it. There are now 5.
Good news: Fight for the Future has created a single action you can take to prevent them from becoming law. It only takes a couple of minutes. Do it now!
https://www.badinternetbills.com/
#KOSA #StopCSAM #AgeGating #EarnItAct #encryption #OnlineSecurity #censorship #privacy
The Sacramento Bee quoted me in an article about #KOSA.
"As a trans woman, but also as someone who has found community and fellowship in many ways online, I am desperate to protect the internet from the new wave of repression that KOSA would bring."
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article280213074.html
I’m having #KOSA nightmares.
This US bill could push mandatory age-verification on all major platforms (meaning you would have to give your ID to someone likely to abuse or not protect very well your sensitive data).
Imagine how more horrible and more unsafe that could make the internet.
Imagine how much worse that would be for any marginalized groups.
Imagine how much that could endanger vulnerable people.
Imagine how destructive that would be for anyone’s #privacy.
If you live in the #US
please please do something NOW to help us all. It will affect us all if it becomes law: https://act.eff.org/action/tell-congress-kosa-will-censor-the-internet-but-won-t-help-kids
Just to be clear: #KOSA is a horrible piece of legislation that could utterly wreck the internet, especially for LGBTQIA+ folks.
But you could fix the worst problem pretty easily, by taking out the part that allows every state attorney general to sue at will. Just make it the FTC instead.
This is disgraceful that Elizabeth Warren has come out and support a flawed yet true censorship bill in #KOSA which would be a death blow to LGBTQIA+ voices everywhere if passed into law. https://www.techdirt.com/2023/10/03/senator-elizabeth-warren-supports-bill-to-silence-lgbtq-voices/
For those somehow out of the loop, I encourage you to read these two great pieces posted below:
By the @eff, which delivers two of them: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/kids-online-safety-act-still-huge-danger-our-rights-online
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/09/get-real-congress-censoring-search-results-or-recommendations-still-censorship
And from @charliejane https://buttondown.email/charliejane/archive/the-internet-is-about-to-get-a-lot-worse/
Edited 1y ago
Every Internet Child Protection bill:
1:"New child safety bill!!"
2: "Wow great! What's in it?"
1: "Well, you have to give your social security number, a picture of the weakest part of your skull, and your home address to Hammers The Clown. You also have to download COVID 19 into your eyeball once per month."
2:"What that sounds terrible what does that have to do with--"
1:"Wow. Ok. HEY EVERYONE THIS GUY HATES CHILDREN!!!!!!!"
And there it is, the lead sponsor of the Kids Online Safety Act saying the quiet part out loud: she wants to use #KOSA to "protect minor children from the #transgender in this culture" https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/senator-appears-suggest-bipartisan-bill-will-censor-transgender-conten-rcna103479