WASHINGTON — Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (D) has signed on as a co-sponsor of the controversial Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a bill to limit online free speech, which has been endorsed by homophobic religious conservative groups.
In a Motherboard article Friday, Evan Greer, who is the director of digital rights group Fight the Future, reported that Warren is now advocating for passage of the bill. Greer, who is transgender, noted that right-wing Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) was recently caught on camera saying the goal of KOSA is to “protect minor children from the transgender in this culture.”
“That’s not that surprising,” Greer writes. “Senator Blackburn is one of the most anti-LGBTQ members of the Senate, and has said many terrible and offensive things about transgender people. What is surprising, is that Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, long seen as an LGBTQ ally, apparently wants to help Blackburn advance her legislative attack on our community.”
As XBIZ reported, KOSA has had bipartisan support, with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) helping Blackburn sell it to their colleagues as a “protect the children” measure. 2023 marks the second time the bills have gone through this process; the first attempt to pass them was in 2022.
In a scathing March 2022 editorial, Jason Kelley of leading digital rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation argued that behind its kid-friendly name and supposed mission, KOSA hides “a plan to require surveillance and censorship of anyone 16 and under.”
The bill, Kelley noted, would actually “greatly endanger the rights, and safety, of young people online” while also chilling controversial speech — including sexual expression — across the internet.
In July, President Joe Biden urged lawmakers to take action regarding online speech that he considers harmful to children. Politico’s Rebecca Kern described Biden repetitively “chanting” the words “Pass it” after referencing KOSA and COPPA during a public appearance about expanding access to mental health care.