America lauds itself for its Constitution, which protects Americans’ right to freedom of speech and anonymity. The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), passed in July 2023, threatens these fundamental rights by granting social media platforms and government officials the ability to arbitrarily censor content. As innocuous as KOSA’s premise may be, the invasive measures taken to increase digital safety harms the children they claim to protect.
Though initially posed to protect minors from mentally disturbing content, KOSA allows political interference to judge what is suitable for children. KOSA Republican Senator and bill co-author Marsha Blackburn said in an interview with Family Policy Alliance that her main focus is to “protect minor[s] from the transgender,” implying that Congress can forcibly remove queer content under KOSA. Purposely using “protecting children” as an equivocation for censoring the LGBTQ+, KOSA’s ulterior motives are clear.
Silencing LGBTQ+ content defeats KOSA’s intention to protect children, damaging the mental health of queer youth by adding to the stigma that they are deviant from society. The incredibly homophobic idea that queer content is dangerous for kids also enforces the stereotype of the LGBTQ+ community sexually “grooming” children.
Queer people are not the only victims of the bill. Due to the naturally partisan nature of state attorneys general, “radical” content such as posts about racial injustices and youth activism are prone to disproportionate censorship. KOSA legally allows the government to prosecute those who post about such issues, destroying free speech and democracy.
Additionally, KOSA’s implementation of these pan-Internet age filters force social media platforms to use government-issued age verification systems, contradicting the golden rule of digital safety. Platforms like TikTok already ask for government ID to verify user ages and, despite claiming to not retain copies of IDs, still notoriously collect tons of data to send to larger corporations. Entrusting minors’ legal identification to social media companies puts sensitive data at risk of being breached and circulated.
Despite undergoing amendments to appease backlash, KOSA remains a censorship bill at its core. Originally, KOSA encompassed any online platform that could be “reasonably used by a minor,” but later rectified itself to state that companies were only held liable if they ask for the user’s age. Support services like LGBTQ+ youth center hotlines were also to be promoted online in a shallow attempt to counter possible censorship, but these minor changes fail to address the damages inflicted on youth.
Content regulations, when enforced neutrally, can greatly enhance online safety. However, KOSA overzealously attempts to predict how minors will use the Internet and allows both political bias and one-size-fits-all filters to combat such. Deeply personal matters such as Internet usage should be regulated by parents themselves, not placed in the hands of highly partisan government officials.
