The Senate Should Reject KOSA's Privacy Risks
The Senate Commerce Committee is considering the Kids Online Safety Act alongside several related bills that would impose new obligations on online platforms regarding minors. Critics argue the legislation would push companies toward broader age verification, resulting in more data collection and potential restrictions on lawful speech for all users.
Why this matters: Age verification sounds like a child protection measure. In practice it means platforms need to know who everyone is, not just kids. That is a lot more data collected, stored, and eventually leaked or handed over. Adults lose anonymity to protect children who may not be better off either. The duty-of-care framing also gives platforms cover to over-remove content rather than face liability. The people bearing the cost here are ordinary users who never agreed to be verified. Good intentions do not fix a law that trades one harm for another.
Who should care: General readers · AI governance · Policy · Privacy officers
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