OPINION
There is a proposal sitting in Congress that would give the Biden Administration the power to control social media. The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., has passed the Senate and is at the House of Representatives.
It would be politically dumb and bad policy, to hand over control of social media companies just days before the 2024 election.
Proponents of this legislation are using serious problems social media has imposed on American families to provide a Trojan Horse for the Biden administration to seize power over these platforms.
This is nothing more than a power grab of government directed at the private sector.
This writer, as a parent, is as concerned as anyone about the ills of social media and how it impacts kids.
Some of these companies send kids down evil rabbit holes which end up harming them emotionally, while exposing them to information they're not prepared (as in mature enough) to process.
Parents need to step up to protect kids.
Why?
Because it is not the government’s job to censor speech ending up on a child’s iPad or computer.
Social media companies have become a favorite bipartisan target.
While it's legitimate to criticize social media companies for allowing too much violence and harmful content on their sites, it's concurrently fair game to hit large media companies for extreme violence in movies, TV shows, and music.
Content that kids are exposed to daily. The family is the place to monitor that content.
The legislation is a bait-and-switch effort to use kids to give government bureaucrats the power to regulate speech.
My former employer, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., argued in an opinion piece in Louisville, Kentucky’s Courier-Journal (July 30, 2024) that "KOSA would impose an unprecedented duty of care on internet platforms to design their sites to mitigate and prevent harms associated with mental health, such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders.
"This requirement will not only stifle free speech, but it will deprive Americans of the benefits of our technological advancements."
Sen. Paul points out that this legislation will silence free speech by requiring a "duty of care" on online platforms that will result in government action that violates the Bill of Rights.
Look at a recent arrest in France of Telegram founder, Pavel Durov, because French bureaucrats did not like content on that platform.
Politico Europe reported on Aug. 27, 2024, that "according to a French justice official not working on the case but familiar with its background, Telegram had drawn frustration in France due to its reluctance to cooperate with authorities."
The official was quoted as saying that Durov "pi**ed off people" by refusing to give information in "dirty files."
Telegram responded that it is absurd to claim that the platform is responsible for individuals who abuse it. Americans need to resist importing a European treatment of speech that will limit that freedom.
Think about the way the Biden administration in 2020 pressured social media companies to censor stories about the infamous Hunter Biden laptop.
Mark Zuckerberg recently admitted that Facebook was contacted by the FBI to stop sharing content that ended up impacting the 2020 election.
KOSA would further empower federal and state government officials to pressure social media companies, under the color of law, to engage in similar conduct in the upcoming Nov. 5 election.
This legislation violates the highest law of the land: the First Amendment.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation calls the bill a "dangerous and unconstitutional censorship bill that would empower state officials to target services and online content they do not like."
The bill requires online platforms to "exercise reasonable care" in designs to prevent and mitigate harms to minors, including mental health, patterns of use that indicate or encourage addiction-like behaviors and bullying.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general are empowered to enforce this law.
One practical problem is that the language in the bill is vague and ambiguous to the point that it will give enforcement authorities the power to crack down on content they don’t like while claiming it hurts kids.
KOSA will force platforms to self-censor perfectly legal content for fear of government reprisals. You can bank on Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson being cancelled.
The bill passed the Senate on a 91-3 vote, yet the House has not taken it up.
Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., should not schedule a vote, and, hopefully, the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) will block it.
The last thing we need are Biden bureaucrats censoring speech before the election.
Brian Darling is former counsel for Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.