As an activist and content creator, I know firsthand that the digital world is a double-edged sword. This is especially true for young users. However, while Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and her colleagues want to ride to children’s rescue with a fresh batch of tech regulations, their overreaching proposal will only rope social media companies into a legal wormhole. Blackburn’s attempts at child online safety will only invite government waste, censor online speech, and continue to leave our vulnerable youth at risk.
On May 14, Blackburn reintroduced the Kids Online Safety Act, a bait-and-switch bill that promises a safer digital sphere while disarming children’s best protectors: their parents.
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Hidden between the lines of the KOSA’s misleading child protection rhetoric is a controversial “duty of care” provision that hands the Federal Trade Commission the power to police online activity. Unlike prior failed versions of the KOSA, Blackburn’s latest draft grants the FTC the sweeping freedom to decide what content poses a danger and dole out penalties accordingly.
While shielding children from online harm is a noble end, the KOSA represents all the wrong ways to achieve that. Its legal rigmarole will inevitably lead to time-consuming trials against a handful of cherry-picked apps, and these drawn-out court proceedings will only obstruct the bill’s stated goals. With the FTC locked in an expensive, never-ending battle with private companies, cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, predatory scams, and other daily digital dangers will persist unchecked.
Even if parents are willing to entrust Washington bureaucrats with children’s safety and wait out the FTC’s uphill fight to enforce nebulous care duties, the KOSA’s design still undermines people’s right to free speech. By marshaling government resources to create an online environment that is “safe by default,” the KOSA greenlights censorship of whatever content the FTC deems threatening, a slippery slope for partisan speech policing.
Despite assurances from Blackburn and her co-sponsors that their bill will not censor certain discourses, the KOSA will inevitably crack down on some apps more than others. This government meddling is antithetical to an open digital marketplace and lets the government decide on parents’ behalf what content is permissible for their children to engage with.
By bending over backward to censor social media companies, the KOSA crucially fails to shed light on the internet’s darkest corners. Its approach ensures that the Snapchats and TikToks of the app store will tie up the FTC’s time and attention while small platforms slip through the cracks. Plus, the KOSA’s rejection of age-gating means that rebellious children can easily evade parental controls by misrepresenting their age, while parents are none the wiser. This untenable age verification loophole is further evidence that the KOSA’s Big Tech crusade fails to put children and families’ needs first.
It’s also important to note that many companies are innovating and implementing their own parental controls to empower parents and further give legal guardians oversight and control over their minor children’s digital access. Responsible companies are already taking action.
WE CAN’T TRUST META TO PROTECT CHILDREN
While there are problems online regarding bullying and inappropriate content, regulating around this problem does little to address its root causes.
In all other areas, the law trusts parents to know what is best for their children, and shaping their online experiences should be no exception. Children’s online safety is a matter for the family dinner table, not the FTC, and our elected officials should focus their efforts on empowering parents and guardians instead of overregulating the internet.
Hannah Cox is the president and co-founder of BASEDPolitics and is a frequent guest on Fox News.