When the Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday in support of the most significant new online safety rules for children in decades, it delivered a major victory for parents who blame the ills of social media for injuring — and in some cases killing — their kids. But civil rights activists and free speech groups warn that the legislation, dubbed the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act — which combines two previous bills on students’ internet use that failed to gain traction — could lead to censorship of politically divisive subjects online and prohibit minors, particularly transgender youth, from accessing vital information, resulting in online censorship harming transgender youth.

Arguments in Favor of This Legislation

Ahead of the Senate’s bipartisan 91-3 vote, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, celebrated what he called “a momentous day” that would soon lead to “perhaps the most important updates in decades to federal laws” designed to protect kids on the internet. The rules ban tech companies from feeding targeted ads to kids, collecting teens’ personal information and allowing young users to opt out of personalized algorithm recommendations.

“Too many kids experience relentless online bullying, too many kids have their personal data collected and then used nefariously,” Schumer said in support of the bill. “And sadly, sadly, too many families have lost kids because of what happened to them on social media.”

The legislation now moves to the House, where it faces an uncertain future when representatives return from a six-week summer recess Sept. 9. If passed, the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act could fundamentally reshape the online experiences for young people — and everyone.

How This Legislation May Be Used To Censor Trans Issues Online

Despite the legislation’s overwhelming support in Washington, it has faced opposition from critics across the political spectrum who argue the bipartisan bill’s “duty of care” provision could be used to curtail, or at least chill, constitutionally protected speech. Under the rules, tech companies would be required to take “reasonable” measures in their products’ design to mitigate harms including cyberbullying, eating disorders, the promotion of drugs and sexual exploitation. The provision, these critics argue, paves the way for a new censorship tool that lawmakers could potentially weaponize to thwart teens’ access to politically divisive subjects, effectively censoring discussion of transgender issues online and content designed to help transgender youth.

“The government should not be standing between youth and what kinds of content they can access any more so than they should be standing between youth and their doctors and their health care decisions,” said Dara Adkison, the executive director of the nonprofit TransOhio, which offers resources to transgender youth, on a Zoom call Tuesday. On the call, Adkison joined other advocates, including those from the groups Fight for the Future and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to outline their opposition to the bill on the basis that online censorship harms transgender youth.

Read the full article about online censorship of transgender issues by Mark Keierleber at The 74.