Hey, Lizzo, You’ve Been Lied To. KOSA Will Harm Kids

It’s always a mixed bag when entertainment industry stars get roped into supporting this or that internet regulation. Remember how there was a Hollywood-backed campaign to have a bunch of big name stars support FOSTA, the bill that sounded good to people who didn’t understand intermediary liability law, but has literally ended up killing women and increasing sex trafficking, while making it harder for law enforcement to stop sex trafficking?

We’re still waiting for the stars who stumped for FOSTA, including Amy Schumer, Tony Shalhoub, Josh Charles, Seth Meyers, and others to admit that they were lied to and co-opted into a dangerous marketing campaign that literally put women’s lives at risk.

It appears that the enemies of the internet are looking to use the same playbook for KOSA. KOSA is yet another anti-internet bill from Senator Richard Blumenthal (and Senator Marsha Blackburn, who once insisted that Congress shouldn’t be regulating the internet at all, noting that the internet should “never need a federal bureaucrat to intervene”) and it’s got massive, massive problems that will actually make the internet more dangerous for kids.

We’ve gone over this before, KOSA gives way more power to law enforcement, including state AGs (yes, including Republican ones) to effectively force websites to block information that they define as “harmful.” So, Republican states may no longer be able to access abortion information or information on LGBTQ+ communities. The bill’s “parental tools” mandate seems to not even comprehend that not every child has a relationship (or a good, loving relationship) with their parents, meaning it’s wide open to abuse by parents.

Furthermore, the whole nature of the bill, creating a “duty of care” for companies sounds good until you realize how it actually functions under the 1st Amendment: which is that it becomes either a tool that forces companies to stifle any kind of controversial speech (even important speech, such as those mentioned above) or it makes companies look the other way, because even with a “duty of care,” companies can’t be held liable for speech they were unaware of. Thus, it encourages websites to do much less to protect children, rather than do more.

It’s so bad that nearly 100 civil society organizations told Congress that the bill would be dangerous to kids last year.

But, if you don’t know all that, the bill sounds warm and fuzzy. It says it’s about protecting kids online, and who doesn’t want to do that.

Now, the supporters of KOSA have brought music superstar Lizzo into their campaign to push for this dangerous bill. Lizzo, who is the personification of using the internet in a good, positive, helpful way… now brought into the campaign to help make that kind of internet impossible. Bizarrely, this all seems to be coming from Dove, the soap company, which seems to have no clue how bad a law this is, and seems to have been suckered in themselves into supporting such a bad bill that is dangerous for children.

Lizzo’s known for being smart and thoughtful, so this is pretty disappointing. Again, though, it’s not surprising. Those who don’t understand the nuances and the ins-and-outs of specific legal proposals, and how they intersect with our legal system might not understand just how dangerous KOSA is. That’s why it’s presented in such a misleading way. It’s just disappointing that Dove got suckered into this, and, in turn, brought Lizzo in to help.

And that’s especially true given that Lizzo has been a vocal supporter of abortion rights, when this bill will allow Republican Attorneys General to make it impossible to even find out information about abortion in red states. I’m assuming no one explained that part of the law to her.

Lizzo’s participation in this event about KOSA even demonstrates how much she values social media:

Throughout Dove’s live event, panelists and participants spoke about the silver lining of social media for young people. As Lizzo points out in a press release, “Social media is supposed to be a place where people can express themselves and be a source for beauty confidence, not anxiety.” But in order to emphasize the good and minimize the harm, she noted “platforms [need] do more to make social media safe for young people.”

At the event in Santa Monica, Lizzo urged the crowd to repeat her mantra: “I control social media. Social media does not control me.”

The problem is that KOSA doesn’t make social media “safe for young people.” It makes it way more dangerous, and gives powerful tools to law enforcement to force websites to take down important information by declaring it harmful to children.

Lizzo is right that the lesson to learn is “I control social media. Social media does not control me.” But by endorsing KOSA she’s now saying “Government controls social media now, and I don’t.”

Given how ridiculous culture warrior grifters went after Lizzo for her amazing bit of history, in which she got to play James Madison’s crystal flute, it’s exceedingly disappointing that she’s supporting a bill that will give such grifters more power to silence powerful messages of empowerment that she’s been spreading for years. It literally will allow those grifters who hold elected office (of which there are too many) to effectively suppress all kinds of content I would imagine Lizzo supports by claiming it puts children at risk.