Oppose the KIDS Act — It Threatens Privacy for All Internet Users

Vote no on the KIDS Act. Despite language claiming otherwise, this bill effectively requires websites to verify users' ages before they can read content, send private messages, or join online communities. In practice, that means companies collecting passports and driver's licenses — or deploying facial scanning systems that guess ages and get it wrong. This isn't a bill that protects kids. It's a bill that builds surveillance infrastructure for everyone. Encrypted communications face new legal risks, platforms get pressured to moderate broad categories of lawful speech, and ordinary internet users lose privacy just to prove they're allowed to be online. Congress should be pushing the internet toward more security and privacy, not more age gates and monitoring. The KIDS Act moves us toward a world where you must show ID before you can read a webpage. That's not child safety — that's a fundamental shift in how the internet works, and it harms users of all ages. Please oppose this bill.