‘Pass It, Pass It, Pass It, Pass It, Pass It,’ The President Says About A Bill The GOP Says Will Be Useful To Silence LGBTQ Voices

Well, this is not surprising, but unfortunate. With the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) to be debated in a Congressional hearing on Thursday, the White House had President Joe Biden come out and give a full throated endorsement of the horrible, dangerous, bill that will damage privacy and harm children.

We’ve got to hold — we’ve got to hold these platforms accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on — on our children for profit. 

Later this week, senators will debate legislation to protect kids’ privacy online, which I’ve been calling for for two years.  It matters.  Pass it, pass it, pass it, pass it, pass it.

I really mean it.  Think about it.  Do you ever get a chance to look at what your kids are looking at online?

But that’s not even remotely close to accurate about anything. Remember, the Republicans have been quite vocal about how they support KOSA because they know they can use it to suppress LGBTQ voices. They flat out said that they believe that “keeping trans content away from children is protecting kids.”

This is why so many people are up in arms about KOSA. It’s not about “protecting” kids privacy at all. It’s about giving the government more control over kids. The nature of the bill will require more data collection, not less. It will create serious 1st Amendment concerns by holding companies potentially liable if kids face harm that can be (indirectly) traced back to anything they found online.

It will create systems that will put kids who are at odds with their parents in extremely dangerous positions.

This bill is not about privacy, because it will put private data at risk.

This bill is not about kids’ safety, because it will put their safety at risk.

It is not about parental oversight, because it takes those issues out of the hands of parents.

It is not about helping kids, because it’s going to shield kids from useful information that has literally saved lives.

The Republicans seem to know all this and are embracing it for these reasons. Which leaves a big question open: why are the Democrats supporting it at all?