Lawmakers who grilled the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, Discord and X on Wednesday all seemed to agree that protecting children\u2019s safety online was a priority. Many of those children were less accepting of the idea, and they let their opinions flow as they listened to the hearing through a Discord server.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese senators don\u2019t actually care about protecting kids, they just want to control information,\u201d one teenager posted. \u201cIf congress wants to protect children, they should pass a \u2026 privacy law,\u201d another teenager said. Others in the server accused the lawmakers of \u201ctrying to demonize the CEOs to push their \u2026 bills,\u201d which were often described with profanity.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re not alone in their opposition to the Kids Online Safety Act, a bill introduced in Congress by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D\u2011Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R\u2011Tenn.), and similar efforts by state legislatures.<\/p>\n
KOSA would require digital platforms to take \u201creasonable measures\u201d to prevent harms to children, specifically enumerating sexual exploitation, mental health, substance abuse and suicide. It would also require companies to enable their strongest privacy and safety settings for kids by default, provide parents with greater control over their children\u2019s account settings and force companies to regularly audit their products for potential risks.<\/p>\n
The measure has twice advanced out of committee with broad bipartisan support and is now backed by nearly half the Senate, but has yet to be taken up by the full Senate and lacks a companion bill in the House, clouding its potential path to passage.<\/p>\n
More than 100 human rights and LGBTQ groups have condemned the bill, saying it would endanger minors, especially LGBTQ youth. First Amendment lawyers and organizations focused on protecting free speech also have lambasted the proposal and similar state laws, saying they would place dire restrictions on free speech and expression.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is a rash of legislation that both doesn\u2019t do what it thinks it\u2019s going to do, will be used to do bad things specifically, and also will impact the First Amendment rights of adults and minors alike,\u201d said Ari Cohn, free speech counsel at TechFreedom, a tech policy think tank. \u201cNothing should terrify you more than having to identify yourself before speaking online.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opponents say KOSA would result in the collection of more sensitive data on both children and adults, violate the First Amendment, impose legal mandates that are inherently unenforceable, and significantly limit the ability for children to access and benefit from the internet, according to a report from R Street, a policy research organization that describes itself as center right.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole hearing was a joke; it was a sham,\u201d said May, the 26-year-old Michigan activist who created the Discord server in hopes of rallying opposition to KOSA. She agreed to speak to The Washington Post on the condition that she be identified by first name only. \u201cThe way they were attacking political content that they disagree with, it\u2019s obvious they\u2019re using this bill to censor speech.\u201d<\/p>\n
Activists pointed to moments in the hearing such as when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) claimed TikTok is \u201cbeing used to basically destroy Israel\u201d as examples of how the real issue the senators had with social media is views with which they don\u2019t agree. LGBTQ groups also cited earlier comments by Blackburn, where she claimed KOSA would help in \u201cprotecting minor children from the transgender in this culture,\u201d claiming that social media \u201cis where children are being indoctrinated.\u201d<\/p>\n
An open letter written in 2022 by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital rights group, has been signed by dozens of LGBTQ and human rights organizations. It outlined an extensive list of issues with the bill, saying it would require social media sites \u201cto employ broad content filtering to limit minors\u2019 access to certain online content\u201d and would \u201cthreaten the privacy, safety, and access to information rights of young people and adults alike.\u201d<\/p>\n
A member of Blumenthal\u2019s staff acknowledged in an interview that the bill faces opposition, but said since the 2022 EFF letter, the bill has gone through several updates and revisions and that they are working with advocates to address their concerns, specifically around data collection and LGBTQ issues.<\/p>\n
Those revisions haven\u2019t silenced critics. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have been using the idea of protecting children as the justification for authoritarian policies that actually hurt children for decades,\u201d said Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future, another human rights advocacy group. \u201cKOSA is not a privacy bill; it\u2019s a censorship bill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greer listed the concerns: \u201cKOSA, as written, would make kids less safe by cutting them off from access to lifesaving information and resources on controversial but important topics like abortion, gender-affirming care, substance abuse and even current events.\u201d Especially concerning was the bill\u2019s requirement that social media exhibit a \u201cduty of care\u201d that would cover content recommendations by a site. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt can and will be used as a censorship bill,\u201d Greer said. \u201cIt will force platforms to suppress a wide range of content that has nothing to do with harming kids, just to avoid possible litigation. And there\u2019s no meaningful way to comply with it without conducting invasive age verification.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cohn, the free speech counsel, blasted the hearing as feeding those who believe, without evidence, that any new cultural development threatens young people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we are seeing is the same exact thing as when people said comic books were causing kids to commit crime and juvenile delinquency, or when they said TV is melting kids\u2019 brains, or that Dungeons and Dragons is causing an unprecedented mental health crisis,\u201d Cohn told The Post. \u201cEvery new form of media has at some point been declared to be destroying the mental fabric of American youth.\u201d<\/p>\n
166\/ It\u2019s just the latest example of Congress caring more about soundbites than careful legislation.<\/p>\n
Repeated claims that the committee is open to hearing criticism of their bills and fixing language is LAUGHABLE. They have brushed off such feedback wholesale.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Ari Cohn (@AriCohn) January 31, 2024<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The evidence of social media\u2019s impact on young people\u2019s mental health is not supported by studies of the subject, opponents say. A 2022 Pew Research survey found that the majority of teens credit social media with \u201cstrengthening their friendships and providing support.\u201d LGBTQ youths specifically have more positive outcomes when they have access to social media, according to a 2023 report by the U.S. surgeon general that was mostly a warning on the harm social media may cause for children.<\/p>\n
A 2023 Oxford study that analyzed data from close to a million people across 72 countries over the course of 12 years, found no \u201csmoking gun\u201d linking the internet with psychological harm. In fact, it found a potential association between Facebook use and positive well-being. \u201cOur results do not provide evidence supporting the view that the Internet and technologies enabled by it, such as smartphones with Internet access, are actively promoting or harming either well-being or mental health globally,\u201d Oxford researchers said in the study.<\/p>\n
In fact, research shows that how social media makes people feel depends largely on how they use it. In a 2023 advisory, the American Psychology Association said that \u201cusing social media is not inherently beneficial or harmful to young people. Adolescents\u2019 lives online both reflect and impact their offline lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teenagers and Gen Z activists echoed those sentiments on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe internet allows people to see different ideas,\u201d said Nathan, a 15-year old in New York who agreed to speak to The Post on the condition that they be identified only by their first name. \u201cThey can hear different ideas. They can learn about LGBT people. They can see so many things. These bills are created to censor and hide children. They are created to cut people off from the outside world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan, who is nonbinary, said the internet helped them overcome an eating disorder. They worried the information that helped them would no longer be accessible if social media platforms were required to wall off certain topics such as eating disorders.<\/p>\n
TechFreedom\u2019s Cohn agreed. \u201cPeople who are anti eating disorder use the same language as people who are pro eating disorder,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to determine in any meaningful way at large scale whether content is pro or anti eating disorder and what kind of effect it\u2019s going to have on viewers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Onyx, a 15-year-old in Tennessee who agreed to talk only if just his first name was used, said the internet had saved his life by helping to relieve the isolation of his physical environment. \u201cI\u2019m not really allowed to go anywhere,\u201d he said. He worries that bills like KOSA would eliminate his access to online communities he considers essential to his ability to socialize.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also an enormous disparity in terms of which Gen Z activists get a voice and meetings with representatives and whose voices are silenced, young people said. \u201cWe have lives. We have jobs. We have stuff to do. We\u2019re not poli-sci majors backed by billionaires and certain organizations,\u201d May said. \u201cJust because you\u2019ve got a couple kids up there who can afford to go to D.C., does not mean Gen Z agrees with KOSA.\u201d<\/p>\n
May and other young people listening to the hearing on the Discord server were particularly incensed that some of KOSA\u2019s biggest supporters have voted against gun-control measures or public funding for parks and other measures they feel would actually help teenagers\u2019 mental health.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery person who claims to care about kids online is ignoring the fact that the internet is the only space left for kids,\u201d May said. \u201cIn real life, you\u2019re dealing with mass shooters, no public spaces that are free and nearby. Nobody has money to go hang out at a mall or anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Activists and tech policy experts both said they sympathize with parents who believe their children have been harmed by the internet, but that doesn\u2019t mean they support legislation they think would be damaging.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are real stories with real tragedy and sadness,\u201d said Taylor Barkley, director of technology and innovation policy at the Center for Growth and Opportunity, a policy research center at Utah State University. \u201cThat makes it all the more important to find solutions that work, and a lot of major leading proposals are not going to end up helping kids and teens in the long run. It\u2019s going to end up restricting their access to information, educational content, connection, community.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the hours after the hearing, members of May\u2019s Discord group traded screen recordings they said they planned to disseminate online. Some said they\u2019d already called their representatives\u2019 offices to voice their anger, but were ignored. They wondered whether it was because they aren\u2019t yet of voting age.<\/p>\n
Adam Kovacevich, founder of the Chamber of Progress, a tech trade group, said he hopes Congress will listen to opponents of the bill. \u201cThere used to be a quaint time in American politics where politicians preached a message of personal responsibility and parental decisions,\u201d he said. \u201cNow, it seems the elements of both the right and left have converged on a much more heavy hand from the government.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also hopes that the moral panic around technology will subside.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is something timeless about moral panics,\u201d Kovacevich said. \u201cYou could say they are a reflection of every parent\u2019s worry and desire to do best by their kids. But you can respond in a variety of ways. You could say, \u2018Look, I want that for my kids. And I\u2019m going to help them navigate the rough edges of adolescence.\u2019 Or you could say, \u2018I want the best for my kids and so I\u2019m going to go ask a politician to pass a new law.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Lawmakers who grilled the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, Discord and X on Wednesday all seemed to agree that protecting children\u2019s safety online was a priority. Many of those children were less accepting of the idea, and they let their opinions flow as they listened to the hearing through a Discord server. \u201cThese senators don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}