Tech companies are trying to wipe abortion from the internet. Here’s what you need to know

Conservative policymakers have been ban happy over the last few years. TIME. Book bans, bathroom bans and abortion bans have plagued the country but a new piece of legislation could be used to push this culture of erasure further – wiping information about abortion and LGBT+ from social media.

The latest version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) was introduced to Congress in May 2023 by Connecticut Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn and has gained support of two dozen bipartisan senators, according to The Verge. Blackburn came under fire in September for stating that protecting children from “the transgender in this culture and that influence” should be a priority for conservatives.

The policy is now being backed by Silicon Valley, as Twitter/X CEO Linda Yaccarino, SNAP CEO Evan Spiegel, and Microsoft’s Vice Chair and President Brad Smith have all expressed support either verbally or online.

Ahead of a Jan. 31 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on online safety for children, these big tech companies made the rounds in promoting their latest efforts to combat child sexual exploitation, according to the Hill. Meta’s Global Head of Safety Policy Antigone Davis announced via a blogpost on Medium recommendations for federal mandates on parental consent and age verification on the app store or in a device’s operating system.

“We support KOSA and we’ll continue to make sure that it accelerates,” Yaccarino said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Jan. 31.

Predators, harassment and the complexities of protecting kids online

According to Jezebel, the title of this bill is misleading. While the intention of this legislation could be to prevent children from finding harmful or predatory content online, KOSA has the potential to censor everything from LGBTQ+ resources, to sex and abortion information from internet users of all ages, in the name of child safety.

KOSA places a responsibility on social media websites and apps to “prevent and mitigate” content that could be harmful to kids, including not suggesting content to them that could cause depression or lead to sexual exploitation, Jezebel reports. This would allow states to sue companies on the basis of content being harmful to anyone under 17. Though CyberScoop reports that the bill provides a “carve out” for suicide support services, hotlines, and educational software, advocates say the vague language leaves room for interpretation on what is considered harmful.

“The way this provision is currently written, it would lead to platforms suppressing, not just content that’s promoting those things, but also content that’s helping kids avoid those things,” Evan Greer, director of the Boston-based group Fight For The Future, told CBS Boston.

For example KOSA could weed out content that “glamorizes” eating disorders or promotes self-harm, but could simultaneously censor or block self-help content and other resources.

“While the issues we’re talking about here are real, this legislation would actually make them worse,” said Greer.

Parents of trans kids sound the alarm

In September, a group of parents of trans children urged Congress to oppose the bill, citing that censorship makes the internet less safe, and that state attorney generals could politicize the enforcement of the bill’s “duty of care,” restricting content about reproductive healthcare.

“It would grant extraordinary new power to right wing state attorneys general to dictate what content younger users can see on social media, cutting our kids off from lifesaving online resources and community. These are the same attorneys general that are actively working to ban gender affirming health care that saves kids’ lives, criminalize drag performances, and label families that accept our children as ‘groomers’ and ‘child abusers’,” the parents wrote in their letter to Congress.

According to NBC, under KOSA the apps for minor users would default to the most restrictive settings, and allow them to opt out of receiving content recommended by the platform’s algorithm – giving parents control over their children’s data privacy and what the platform shows them. Platforms would also be required to conduct annual independent audits to identify any potential risks to underage users and ensure they are complying with the law.

Meta, Discord and TikTok notably have not come out in support of the legislation. During the hearing, TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew said he would support the bill after “some changes,” and Discord CEO Jason Citron said that

TikTok CEO Shou Chew pointed out it will only support the bill after “some changes,” while Discord executive Jason Citron said that his company supported “parts” of the bill, but would prefer to support the standard national privacy policies, according to iTechPost.