The Kids Online Safety Act Will Make The Internet Worse For Everyone

The Kids Online Safety Act Will Make The Internet Worse For Everyone

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is back in the Senate. Sponsors are claiming—again—that the latest version won’t censor online content. It isn’t true. This bill still sets up a censorship regime disguised as a “duty of care,” and it will do what previous versions threatened: suppress lawful, important speech online, especially for young people.…

The EFF reveals that the KOSA law is back to the Senate in the United States. According to the EFF, its main function is to allow government agencies to pursue platforms, large or small, that do not block or restrict content that someone later claims to have contributed to one of these harms. To avoid liability, platforms will practice overcensorship. When the safest legal option is to delete a forum, platforms will remove it.