Poison pills have been added to once-commonsense legislation, making well-intentioned bills dangerous once again. Bipartisan agreement on the need to keep kids safe online led to the introduction of the Kids Online Safety Act, which initially gave parents the power to approve the apps their children use.
The latest changes, made to appease the progressive left, predictably substitute the judgment of parents and local elected officials for that of federal bureaucrats. What were once proposals to protect children from online abuse will open the door for the FTC and the government to impose the political and cultural values of unelected bureaucrats on children.
Lina Khan and the unelected federal employees at the FTC have no right to raise our children.
“As it stands, this bill does not deserve the support of conservatives in Congress. Better options would arise if the state took a more innovative approach to this issue. This version of KOSA is not the answer.”
KOSA, first introduced in 2022, properly gave state attorneys general the power to enforce rules about content social media companies are responsible for blocking for children. Instead, the left called for a one-size-fits-all approach in which political allies appointed at the federal level have the power to override parents’ decisions.
The outcry against the original bill from far-left and LGBTQ activist groups was predictably hyperbolic: these groups called for and instigated opposition to the original draft, labeling it dangerous: While they nominally agreed that children should not be exposed to inappropriate content online, they wanted children of all ages to have access to information about their sexual orientation.
As a result, these blatant concessions to LGBTQ groups strip state attorneys general of their enforcement power: Going forward, the Federal Trade Commission will enforce KOSA’s duty of care provisions.
Biden’s appointee to head the FTC, Lina Khan, has already come under fire for mismanaging the commission to advance her own left-wing views, allegations that were outlined in a recent House Judiciary Committee report. Khan and the unelected federal employees at the FTC have no right to raise our children.
The new version of KOSA furthers the expansion of government power. Drafted by Democrats, this legislation completely bows to pressure from these progressive groups and puts politics above the safety of children.
State Attorneys General already manage consumer protections in their states. Why put this job in the hands of unelected bureaucrats in Washington? Decisions about what children watch online should be made by state officials who are elected and accountable by voters.
One common sense proposal from my home state’s leader Recently asked Congress to adopt Before a child can start using an app, a parent must approve the child’s app download in the app store. This is Empowering Parents And make sure they are supervised all These range from well-known platforms like YouTube and Instagram to more questionable ones like Whisper, an anonymous social media platform, and Stranger Talks, an app literally made for kids to talk to strangers.
Providing parents with a simple, streamlined solution for approving apps their teens download within app stores is the best approach lawmakers can take to keep kids safe online.
Ultimately, parents, not the government, should be the ones making decisions about their children’s internet use, and Congress would be well-served to craft laws that put parents in control.
Congress should focus on requiring parental approval for teen app downloads from app stores, rather than legislation that allows politically motivated federal bureaucrats to decide what is appropriate for kids. KOSA as it stands is harmful.
