"Members of Congress considered 19 online safety bills Tuesday that may soon have a major impact on the future of the internet as age-verification laws have spread to half of the US and around the world. In response, digital and human rights organization Fight for the Future is hosting a week of events-across Reddit, LinkedIn, and various livestreams -to raise awareness on how it believes these bills are setting a dangerous precedent by making the internet more exploitative rather than safer."
"Among the 19 bills considered at the hearing conducted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee was the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which passed with sweeping bipartisan approval in the Senate last year, and the Reducing Exploitative Social Media Exposure for Teens Act (RESET), which would ban tech companies from allowing minors under the age of 16 on their platforms. In addition to age-verification, the bills raised concerns over issues of parental controls, consumer research of minors, AI, and data privacy."
"Fight for the Future says the policies will lead to increased censorship and surveillance. "We're seeing this huge wave towards ID checks being the norm in tech policy, and it felt like we needed to capture the already activated communities who are not feeling heard in Congress," says Sarah Philips, a campaigner with Fight for the Future. "If you look on YouTube, if you see people making content about KOSA, or responding to a lot of this legislation, it's very unpopular with people. But it's viewed on the Hill as very common sense.""
Congress considered 19 online safety bills that would expand age verification and change platform rules for minors. Several proposals include mandatory ID or biometric checks before accessing adult content, or bans on minors under 16 on some platforms. Proposals also cover parental controls, research on minors, AI limits, and data privacy. Rights groups warn these measures could increase censorship and surveillance, and rely on third-party verification services that risk data breaches. Fight for the Future is organizing online events to mobilize communities opposed to ID checks and to raise awareness of potential harms.
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