I'm writing to urge you to oppose the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). While I understand the intention to protect young people online, leading civil liberties and privacy organizations—including the EFF, ACLU, and Center for Democracy & Technology—have raised serious concerns that this legislation would do more harm than good.
The EFF warns that KOSA would push platforms toward invasive age verification systems, requiring millions of users to surrender government IDs or biometric data just to access social media. This creates massive databases of personal information that could be breached, sold, or misused. As EFF noted in their August 2026 statement, "Congress should reject KOSA"—it encourages more data collection, not less.
More troubling still, the ACLU has highlighted how KOSA's vague "duty of care" provisions would force platforms to err on the side of censorship to avoid liability. This threatens LGBTQ+ youth's ability to find support, limits access to mental health resources, and silences conversations about sensitive topics. When platforms face legal risk, they'll restrict lawful speech—and minors lose access to life-saving information about identity and well-being.
These organizations also point out that KOSA gives the government power to decide what content is "harmful" to young people, fundamentally undermining First Amendment protections. Children deserve privacy and free expression too.
Rather than KOSA, Congress should pursue approaches that genuinely protect kids without sacrificing everyone's digital rights—such as strengthening existing consumer protection laws, funding digital literacy education, and holding bad actors accountable without imposing sweeping content restrictions.
Please vote against KOSA. Protecting children doesn't require compromising the privacy and free speech rights of all Americans.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
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