Many human rights groups express opposition to the ``Children's Online Safety Act'' that protects minors from the dangers of the Internet.

With the spread of social media, the number of cases in which minors are involved in crimes or subjected to slander is increasing. In the United States , the Children's Online Safety Act (KOSA) is being enacted to protect minors on social media platforms, but more than 50 human rights organizations oppose the enactment of the KOSA. Masu.

Stop KOSA
https://www.stopkosa.com/

In recent years, bullying, slander, sexual exploitation, and fraud have become problems on social media platforms popular among young people, such as Instagram and TikTok.In the United States, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Several public hearings have been held, including the summoning of Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino.

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KOSA is a law aimed at restricting access to social media for users under the age of 16, controlling the content displayed, protecting privacy on platforms, and strengthening parental supervision functions. Lawmakers and Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn authored the bill, which was introduced to Congress in February 2022.

S.1409 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Kids Online Safety Act | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1409

The bill would require operators of online services, such as social media platforms, gaming sites and messaging apps, to use their platforms to make 'reasonable efforts' to prevent harm to minors, including bullying, harassment, sexual exploitation and predatory marketing. It is mandatory to take appropriate measures.

Users under the age of 18 will be required to turn on the highest privacy and safety settings by default, as well as 'forced' features such as recommended feeds, smartphone notifications, and video autoplay. It is also mandatory to allow users to limit or opt out of certain features.

However, many American human rights groups have expressed opposition to KOSA on the grounds of freedom of speech.

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that KOSA ignores the fundamental principle of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states that ``the government cannot indirectly regulate speech that it cannot directly regulate,'' and that it could lead to excessive censorship. Another problem is that the definition of 'harm' mentioned in the bill is not clear.

In addition, he said that it is impossible for platforms to know the age of users and rationally manage content, and urged that online anonymity and privacy be respected.

Furthermore, the American non-profit organization ``Fight for the Future'' has launched a movement called ``Stop KOSA'' to oppose KOSA, and at the time of writing, 58 organizations have expressed support.

Fight for the Future says: ``KOSA will pressure platforms to put in place filters that remove from the internet anything deemed 'inappropriate' for minors. It instructs platforms to censor places that already use content filters, restricting important information about suicide prevention and LGBTQ+ support groups, and KOSA wants to ensure that such censorship is enforced in every corner of the internet. 'They could shut down websites that deal with topics such as race, gender, and sexuality.'

Additionally, 'KOSA will increase online surveillance of all internet users by expanding the use of age verification and parental monitoring tools. These tools are not only unnecessarily invasive, but also a threat to domestic violence. 'It poses a huge safety risk to young people trying to escape abuse,' they said, calling for voices of opposition to be heard in Congress.