1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

I’m writing to urge you to reject the Kids Online Safety Act, a misguided bill that would put vulnerable young people at risk. Even though there have been significant promising changes to the bill, KOSA still fails to address the root issues related to kid’s safety online. Unless the duty of care language is removed to stop government censorship of content, KOSA remains harmful. Instead, it would endanger some of the most vulnerable people in our society while undermining human rights and children’s privacy. The bill would result in widespread internet censorship by incentivizing platforms to suppress content about LGBTQ resources, reproductive healthcare, and other lifesaving content for marginalized communities. This power could be abused in a number of ways and be politicized to censor information and resources. KOSA would also likely lead to the greater surveillance of children online by requiring platforms to gather data to verify user identity. There is a way to protect kids and all people online from egregious data abuse and harmful content targeting: passing a strong Federal data privacy law that prevents tech companies from collecting so much sensitive data about all of us in the first place, and gives individuals the ability to sue companies that misuse their data. KOSA, although well-meaning, must not move forward. Please protect privacy and stop the spread of censorship online by opposing KOSA.