Democrats Continue to Support Kids Online Safety Act

WASHINGTON—Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, is the latest liberal Democratic lawmaker to come out supporting the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Presented as a sweeping online safety measure with bipartisan support, a coalition opposed to the bill argues that KOSA would censor forms of online speech, namely LGBTQ+ speech, protected by the First Amendment. After a slate of organizations supporting KOSA requested a meeting with her office to discuss the bill, congressional records show Sen. Warren has added her name as a sponsor for the bill.  “There is an urgent need for stronger protections of kids online, and we believe KOSA is essential to both the young people of Massachusetts and the country,” reads a letter requesting the meeting. Organizations that signed the letter include Common Sense Media, the American College of Pediatrics, and the American Psychological Association. Mike Masnick, editor of Techdirt, and Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future, writing for Vice News, note Sen. Warren’s was added shortly after Common Sense Media and the other groups forwarded her office the letter and met with her and her personal legislative affairs staff. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, and Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, are the prime co-sponsors of the bill. Ideologically opposite of each other, Blumenthal and Blackburn have been working overtime to pitch the bill in the mainstream news media after several blunders. AVN reported several times that many of these blunders are linked to Sen. Blackburn, a socially conservative Republican. Blackburn was interviewed by a right-wing family policy organization saying that KOSA could be to “protect” minors from “the transgender.” Blumenthal has taken to The Washington Blade a few times in a bid to assuage concerns from the LGBTQ+ community. “I’d hoped Senator Warren wouldn’t make this kind of trade,” Greer wrote for Vice. “It’s a deal that will have deadly consequences for the most vulnerable people in our society, especially transgender youth, who already face disproportionate rates of violence, discrimination, self-harm, and who are actively being targeted by extreme right-wing legislatures and attorneys general." Note that 46 members of the 100-member Senate support the bill. This also means that not every senator is yet sold. California lawmakers, namely Democratic Sens. Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler, have remained quiet on KOSA. Butler was just appointed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s position for the rest of the term. A spokesperson for Sen. Padilla’s office told The Sacramento Bee on October 9 that he is “closely monitoring the legislation but [has] not taken a position as of yet.”  Sen. Michael Bennet, a senior Democrat from Colorado, has not signed on to KOSA. His junior colleague, Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper, has signed on as a sponsor for the proposal.  Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden is opposed. Wyden was one of the original drafters of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. KOSA would significantly reform Section 230. Organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union, Woodhull Freedom Foundation, Free Speech Coalition, Greer’s Fight for the Future, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are all opposed to KOSA. GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign have dropped their opposition to the bill. Hard-right organizations are still in support of the Kids Online Safety Act, including the conservative Heritage Foundation.