Congress is considering passage of the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act (KIDS), a sweeping omnibus bill that would require age verification across much of the internet, restrict messaging for teens, ban certain app features, and grant the Federal Trade Commission a vague mandate to police “compulsive usage” on platforms. As with most power grabs in Washington, KIDS is framed as common-sense child protection. However noble it is to want age verification on the front-end of porn-sites, going down this road will have parents give up ultimate authority in their own households — authority they’ll never recover.
The House package is, to its credit, a compromise for anti-tech activists. KIDS is a much narrower bill than the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which was previously approved by the Senate. The controversial “duty of care” provision was cut out, which would have required social media companies to act in the best interests of the youngest users on their platforms.
Again, sounds nice — until you consider that if this principle were applied everywhere in public life, every shopping center and downtown area would resemble a Chuck E. Cheese.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has expressed reservations about KOSA. The act’s viability remains to be seen, as it currently sits stalled in the Senate. The false choice being offered by KIDS and the advocates boosting it is a world where children wander the online world with no guidance, and a censorship-surveillance regime that surrenders the privacy of all children and adults.
