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John,
This is not good. Tech giants Microsoft and X (formerly Twitter) just threw their weight behind the dangerous and misguided Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, a bill that would make kids less safe by expanding Big Tech censorship and surveillance.1
Snap, maker of Snapchat, also said they support KOSA.2
KOSA would put vulnerable young people, and all of our most basic rights, in danger. But these companies care more about covering their own butts and currying favor in Washington, DC than they care about human rights and free expression. They will throw marginalized communities under the bus to support their bottom line.
Tech companies jumping on the bandwagon to support bad bills like KOSA could be the final straw that gets these dangerous bills passed, unless we redouble our efforts right now to show there is widespread public opposition. Will you rush a donation today to make sure we can respond?
Donate Now
Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing where they grilled the CEOs of several tech companies about the many ways they have legitimately failed to protect kids on their platforms.3
The hearing room was full of parents, many of whom have had the unimaginable experience of losing a child due to harms experienced online.
Here’s the thing: those parents are absolutely right to be demanding action from lawmakers. I cannot thank them enough for their courage and willingness to transform their pain into a call to action. But it's our elected officials job to legislate responsibly, which means listening to human rights experts and crafting legislation that will actually solve problems rather than make them worse.
Bills like KOSA, the EARN IT Act, and the STOP CSAM Act, which were pushed repeatedly during the hearing yesterday, would actually make kids less safe, not more safe, by cutting them off from access to lifesaving information and community, and by cracking down on access to basic security tools like encrypted messaging.4
But with so many Senators willing to trample civil liberties if it means they can claim to be “protecting the kids,” and self-interested tech companies cheering them on, we are in real danger of these bills passing without addressing our concerns.
We’re planning a series of coordinated actions, like a call-in day, targeted meetings with key lawmakers, press statements, and coalition sign-on letters, to stop these dangerous bills from becoming law. But all of that work takes resources, and we’re scraping the bottom of our budget for this type of grassroots lobbying work.
Will you chip in today? Even $5 or $10 can make a huge difference.
Some of these bills, like KOSA, also do some good things like banning targeted advertising to kids, and could be amended to fix the censorship and surveillance problems––but so far the sponsors have refused to make those types of common sense changes.
The louder we get, the better chance we have of stopping these bills or getting them amended to protect human rights.5 You have our word that we will never stop fighting. But we can only do it with your support.
Support Fight's Grassroots Work
For a world we want our kids to grow up in,
Evan at Fight for the Future
1. Microsoft, X throw their weight behind KOSA, the controversial kids online safety bill | Tech Crunch
2. First tech platform breaks ranks to support kids online safety bill | Politico
3. Senate hearing with five social media CEOs was a missed opportunity | Tech Crunch
4. Online safety legislation is opposed by many it claims to protect | The Washington Post
5. Learn more and take action and badinternetbills.com | Fight for the Future
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