If Senate Democrats wants to help kids, they should stop pushing legislation that hurts kids

Bloomberg is reporting that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants to fast-track tech legislation that focuses on children, including the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), an extremely controversial bill that has been opposed by human rights experts and nearly every major LGBTQ organization in the US. Digital rights group Fight for the Future issued the following statement, which can be attributed to the group’s director, Evan Greer (she/her):

“This is outrageous. Leader Schumer was more or less single-handedly responsible for derailing the most serious efforts at tech reform last Congress, and now he wants to revive deeply controversial legislation that would put vulnerable kids in danger and pour gasoline on the growing attacks that LGBTQ+ young people are facing across the US.

KOSA is fatally flawed and a flurry of last-minute changes during the last Congress failed to address the concerns of LGBTQ groups and experts. There is no safe way to create a vague duty of care that encompasses content moderation and user speech at a time when right wing politicians are actively conflating queerness with criminality and predation, and state attorneys general are investigating supportive families of transgender youth for “child abuse” simply for seeking medically recommended care for their kids. Nearly 250 anti-LGBTQ state laws have already been introduced this year. Legislation like KOSA would give the law enforcement agencies of those same states new tools to target and oppress LGBTQ+ youth and adults.

It’s disgusting that Senate Democrats would even consider reviving legislation that would hurt the LGBTQ community while they claim to be defending us. They should immediately drop this bill and instead advance thoughtful and comprehensive measures that strike at the root of Big Tech giants harm. We need policies that lead to the type of world we want our kids to grow up in. That means ending surveillance capitalism and cracking down on harmful business practices by advancing thoughtful regulation, rather than taking the easy path of advancing bills that claim to “think of the children” while throwing them under the bus.”

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