Blumenthal So Eager To Bring Back KOSA, He Admits Its Purpose Is Censorship

Policy

from the saying-the-quiet-part-out-loud dept

Senator Richard Blumenthal is at it again. The long-time Connecticut Senator, who never met an internet regulation he didn’t like, is eager to reintroduce his Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) — a bill that would trample all over the First Amendment in a misguided attempt to “protect the children.”

As we’ve explained countless times, KOSA is a dangerous and unconstitutional bill that would force online platforms to censor a wide swath of speech. But Blumenthal doesn’t seem to care. He’s more interested in grabbing headlines than crafting thoughtful policy.

Indeed, he’s so eager to bring back KOSA he admits that the point of the bill is to suppress content he dislikes.

The 119th Congress is underway, and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said one of his priorities is passing legislation to protect kids on social media.

He said he plans to reintroduce his Kids Online Safety Act legislation this session.

[….]

Supporters of the bill, including Blumenthal, have denied that it threatens the First Amendment.

“The dangers of social media are no less now than they were in the last session, and we need to pass the Kids Online Safety Act to give parents tools and young people control so that addictive, destructive content on bullying, eating disorders, and self-harm can be stopped,” Blumenthal told reporters at an unrelated event on Thursday

I mean, I guess it’s a choice for Blumenthal to first claim there are no First Amendment concerns and then straight up admit that he thinks KOSA can be used to “stop… destructive content.”

So he admits it’s a censorship bill.

We’ve spent years now explaining the problems with KOSA, including the fact that his co-author on the bill had admitted that she believes KOSA will be useful in silencing LGBTQ+ content that she believes is dangerous. And here, Blumenthal is admitting that, yes, of course the bill is designed to “stop” content that he finds “destructive” without realizing that what other people (including the bill’s co-author) find “destructive” is things like “trans people exist.”

Does Blumenthal not realize that censoring content in response to regulation is (1) a violation of the First Amendment he swore to uphold and protect, and (2) doesn’t stop the actual harms he’s complaining about?

The bill is inherently problematic. As Senator Rand Paul pointed out, censoring the internet doesn’t protect kids. Indeed, it doesn’t help prepare them for the modern world at all.

At best, the bill will simply lead companies to block all kinds of valuable speech to avoid having to fight about it in court. It would inevitably lead to overly cautious censorship in an attempt to avoid liability, doing real harm to free speech (including important speech around LGBTQ issues, health issues, and more).

Blumenthal, of course, doesn’t care. He did the same thing with FOSTA, and despite overwhelming evidence (as many of us warned!) that bill has resulted in real human suffering and made law enforcement’s job harder, Blumenthal still shamelessly insists that bill was a success.

Because that’s Blumenthal’s default posture. But the truth is clear. And it goes against Blumenthal.

Blumenthal cares not for good policy. He cares only about policy that makes him look good in the headlines. These are often not the same thing.

We’ll see what the bill says when it eventually gets reintroduced, but it is noteworthy that House Republicans were concerned enough about how it could be used for censorship that they refused to move it in the last Congress.

Filed Under: censorship, free speech, kosa, protect the children, richard blumenthal