New(ish) KOSA, Same Old Problems

October 2, 2024

We’ve written extensively about the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), and we’ve made our position clear: KOSA’s plan for online censorship threatens our cherished human rights. In the words of Daly Johnson on Woodhull’s Blog from over a year ago, KOSA “attempts to regulate too much”; its broad language “has the potential to censor information that is not harmful, like sex education, LGBTQ information, and abortion content.” Johnson was correct in 2023, and she’s correct today.

Unfortunately, politicians don’t seem to have recognized KOSA’s dire consequences. When the Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill on a 91-3 vote in July 2024, KOSA’s threats moved closer to reality. And now, just two months later, the House is considering an amended version, with modifications of KOSA’s “duty of care” standard of liability for platforms and a new list of harms that platforms must prevent and mitigate.

Make no mistake – the changes to KOSA’s language don’t change its dangerous outcomes. As Jason Kelley and Aaron Mackey opine, the changes “do not alter that KOSA will coerce the largest social media platforms into blocking or filtering a variety of entirely legal content, and subject a large portion of users to privacy-invasive age verification” – the bill remains an unconstitutional censorship bill.

We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation staunchly oppose KOSA, including its amended version. The House’s KOSA may have some new language, but it has the same old problems.