The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)
Just about everyone agrees more should be done to limit young people’s exposure to the internet’s most harmful material, but solutions for how exactly to do that can quickly devolve into a dangerous surveillance grab bag. Maybe the best example of this is the Kids Online Safety Act(KOSA) proposed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). In theory, the wide-reaching legislation would pressure platforms used by people under the age of 16 to adhere to a so-called “duty of care” to prevent the promotion of content depicting self-harm, substance abuse, bullying, or other harmful material linked to an increase in teen depression.
KOSA has received fierce and frequent backlash from dozens of rights groups who say its broad vision would unintentionally limit access to sex education and LGBTQ content and encourage platforms to increase data collection on young people. A coalition of more than 90 rights groups including the ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Fight For the Future signed a letter saying it would have “damaging unintended consequences for young people.”
