Alright, it's official. The dangerous & misguided Kids Online Safety Act (#KOSA) will go to a "mark up" vote in the House Energy & Commerce Committee this morning, Thursday, May 23. THIS IS JUST A SUBCOMMITTEE VOTE. WE CAN STILL STOP OR FIX THIS BILL! https://www.stopkosa.com
Some important things: First, #KOSAhas not been fixed. There have been several rounds of changes to the bill, some of which have convinced large DC-based NGOs to drop their opposition, but there is still a large coalition of LGBTQ, human rights, racial justice groups opposed.
The latest version of #KOSA would still allow, for example, a future Trump administration, to go after platforms simply for showing certain types of content to younger users. This will lead to another SESTA/FOSTA , where platforms aggressively filter content to cover their butts.
We've proposed changes to #KOSA that would fix this by ensuring it only applies to "content neutral" design features like autoplay and infinite scroll. The ACLU have proposed changes. Senator Wyden has offered amendments to address concerns. They haven't made them yet.
Hundreds of parents of trans kids have also urged lawmakers to consider alternatives to #KOSA and explained why it would make their kids less safe, rather than more safe, by cutting them off from lifesaving online resources and community: www.transparentsletter.com
There's some good news about the hearing tomorrow. The committee is also marking up #APRA. We think this bill needs to be strengthened, and we're concerned about pre-empting state laws and FTC rulemaking, but we generally think a privacy bill is way better idea than #KOSA.
There were some worries that #KOSA would be attached to #APRA. So far it seems like that isn't happening. So there is a clear path for lawmakers to improve and pass a strong privacy bill rather than advancing a dangerous and controversial censorship bill.