An excellent article by Melissa Gira Grant. An excerpt:
"In the 2000s, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal called social media sites a “playground for predators.” Blumenthal’s rhetoric hasn’t changed much in 15 years: Now he and h>is allies in this effort on the Hill speak of the platforms themselves as preying on children’s well-being…
For KOSA supporters on the right, like the think tank the Heritage Foundation, defining “harm” to children in this way—aligning with the broader reactionary movement to silence any opponents of the white, straight, and cis patriarchal order—is precisely the benefit of the bill. Democrats who say they support trans kids, though, seem to be unalarmed by the reasons a group like Heritage might back this bill."
If you’re in the US, https://www.stopkosa.com/ has a form to contact Congress. Or look up your Senators’ phone numbers here and call them directly. Tell them you want to oppose S. 1409, the Kids Online Safety Act because it won’t help keep kids safe and it’ll harm LGBTQ teens.
Sadly, any time a politician says the words “children” and “online” together today, another chunk of your digital freedom’s likely on the chopping block.
Yep. But more positively, in the Senate Commerce Committee markup ten days ago, both Cantwell and Markey mentioned that they’ve gotten a lot of calls from constituents with concerns that will need to be addressed going forward, and specifically mentioned about issues for LGBTQ+ people. So that’s encouraging … we just need to keep the pressure up.
Some progressive supporters of KOSA describe the bill as a way to protect kids from the harm platforms can cause. Yet despite how it has been marketed, KOSA is ultimately concerned with policing the content and conduct of internet users, not with addressing the relatively unaccountable power of the tech platforms themselves.
Yep. It seems like people in power don’t like how easy it is for people to share ideas/information. People might start thinking in ways that disrupt the status quo and they can’t have that.
I remember Democrats being fully on board with the “think of the children” bullshit since at least the 90s, so they aren’t being fooled as much as continuing the tradition.
