Democrats are sneaking online censorship of “hate speech” into the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) under the guise of “protecting kids” – and many Republicans on capitol hill appear to be on board.
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) was revised in December 2023 to require the National Academy to collaborate and consult with the Surgeon General on its recommendations. The Surgeon General already issued a report “Social Media and Youth Mental Health,” which complained of “hate-based content” and how “transgender youth are disproportionately impacted by online harassment and abuse.” In turn, the Surgeon General’s report was prompted by left censorship wing activist and Facebook “whistleblower” Frances Haugen, who complained that the tech giant didn’t censor enough conservative speech.”
The NAACP, President Biden, Microsoft, and dozens of left-wing senators, including Elizabeth Warren, Brian Schatz, and Chuck Schumer, all support it.
The bill’s conservative supporters are reacting to the severe problem of social media addiction and its relationship to teen depression and anxiety — very real problems. However, KOSA goes far beyond addressing this problem by requiring social media companies, online video games, and even websites like 4chan to take “reasonable measures” to prevent “online bullying and harassment.” of minors.
Vague laws about “harassment” have been the favored tool by Big Tech and Democrats to censor conservative speech. Critics claim the bill empowers State Attorneys General to enforce these rules. Blue State AGs such as Letitia James have already cited “harassment” and “cyberbullying” to threaten social media platforms for not censoring speech. James filed an amicus brief in Missouri v. Biden, which defended the Biden Administration’s collusion with the tech companies to “misinformation” because this prevented them from “protecting children from online harassment.”
KOSA defenders claim that State AGs and others will not have the power to censor speech under the laws. According to the KOSA FAQ:
No, the Kids Online Safety Act does not give state Attorneys General or FTC the power to bring lawsuits over content or speech. The Kids Online Safety Act would not censor, block, or remove any content from the internet.
The Kids Online Safety Act targets the harms that online platforms cause through their own product and business decisions – like how they design their products and applications to keep kids online for as long as possible, train their algorithms to exploit vulnerabilities, and target children with advertising.
Additionally, the Kids Online Safety Act does not amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides immunity to online platforms for third-party content. As a result, any lawsuits brought by the FTC over the content that online platforms host are likely to be quickly tossed out of court.
Finally, the bill includes a specific, express provision ensuring that a company cannot be liable for providing content to young users when the user has searched for that content.
Before Elon Musk acquired Twitter, the platform suspended Chaya Raichik’s Libs Of TikTok account twice for ” harassment” —for merely reporting on drag queen shows aimed at children.. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) accused Raichik of causing “real life harassment” simply for posting videos of hospital administrators stating their gender transition policies.
Former Trump administration lawyer James Lawrence, who has represented Raichik and many blacklisted creators against Big Tech, such as Alex Berenson and the Babylon Bee, has criticized the law for its definition of harassment and the National Academy of Sciences to conduct further policy recommendations.
Lawrence pointed out that the NAS already issued a report on “Social Media and Adolescent Health.” Its editor, Boston University Public Health Professor Sandro Galea, previously called hate speech, which he defined to include opposition to illegal immigration and the radical transgender agenda, a “public health issue.”
This is just the tip of the Iceberg with the National Academies. As Breitbart noted when exposing other “bipartisan” social media legislation that funded the National Academy, the NGO is “preoccupied with the problem of ‘misinformation.'” Social Media and Adolescent Health frequently discuss “misinformation” as a threat to public health.
More recently, the National Academies convened a working group on “Evolving Technological, Legal and Social Solutions to Counter Disinformation in Social Media” led by Joan Donovan, the former head of the Technology and Social Change Project at Harvard and editor of the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. Breitbart has reported that Donovan is one of the most extreme leaders in the censorship industrial complex.
- Donovan led the charge to call Hunter Biden’s laptop misinformation. Donovan urged the media to ignore the story even after it was proven true, calling it a “manufactured scandal.
- Before the creation of the Orwellian “Disinformation Governance Board,” Donovan called for creating a “Truth Commission” to hold social media responsible for January 6, which the NY Times approvingly described as a “Reality Czar.”
- The Chinese Communist Party has praised Donovan’s work pressuring Big Tech to censor coronavirus “disinformation.”
On April 11, the National Association of Sciences’ disinformation committee hosted a meeting with a presentation by Nandini Jammi, who led Sleeping Giants and now CheckMyAds, the two most prominent groups pushing to demonetize Breitbart News and other conservative groups. Her presentation was on “Regulatory and Other Incentives and Disincentives for Behavior Change,” and described Brietbart as a “disinformation network.” She added, “We started out demonetizing Breitbart” and moved on to “insurrectionist content.”
The Bill is sponsored by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Dick Blumenthal (D-CT) in the Senate and Kathy Castor (D-FL) and Representatives Gus Biliarakis (R-FL), Erin Houchin (R-IN) and Kim Schrier (D-WA) in the House.
Editor’s Note — This article has been updated to indicate that a December 2023 update to the bill requires collaboration with the Surgeon General, not the original 2022 bill which preceded the Surgeon General’s report. Additionally, information from the KOSA FAQ has been added to provide the perspective of KOSA supporters on the question of if State AGs can enforce the bill if it becomes law.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.