KOSA and the Impact on Civil Libertarians in the Age of Cyberbullying, Anisotropy, and Eating Disorder

The new online safety law would be a step in the right direction, according to Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer, but there is still more work to be done. Speaker Mike Johnson indicated support for the bill when it heads to the House.

Tech platforms are required to take reasonable measures to protect kids from harms such as cyberbullying, anxiety, and eating disorders when they use their services.

Many of the parents of children killed by suicide after experiencing cyberbullying received hope and support from KOSA. Congress doesn’t always listen to grieving parents: parents lobbying against guns, which are the leading cause of death among children and teens, have gained little to no ground. The parent advocates have had more success.

The bill has been opposed by free speech organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union, who think it will harm marginalized groups on the internet. They fear that legal pressure on intermediary platforms will generate chilling effects — here, civil libertarian and industry interests align. For that reason, the ACLU is walking arm in arm with tech-funded groups.

To be sure, the ACLU helped shape the understanding of KOSA for these students, and there are other youth organizations that are advocating for KOSA to become law.

Early on, lead co sponsor was Sen. Marsha Blackburn. cited “protecting minor children from the transgender in this culture” as a top priority and, shortly after, brought up KOSA and how she thinks children are being “indoctrinated” on social media. Since then, the bill has been amended to pacify critics like the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), with language that theoretically limits enforcing the law on ideological grounds or using it to prevent access to resources for trans youth. The Human Rights Campaign dropped their opposition though they stopped short of endorsing the bill.

Digital Literacy and Identity: What Teens Can Learn from the Internet and How They Can Use It, And How KOSA Can Prevent the Misuse of Social Media

The gap between policy makers who make policy and the kids who are affected is wide right now, which is atypical for this time of year. The average age in the Senate is the highest it’s been in over a hundred years (65.3 years old).

Lawmakers underestimate their generation’s intelligence and digital literacy, said an rising senior from Pennsylvania. “We take information online with a grain of salt, and we are able to evaluate sources and think critically and say, ‘Is this something that I want to take to heart? Is it something that I want to absorb?

Shradha Bista, a rising senior from Maryland, worried that being sheltered from information would leave young people unprepared when the floodgates of the internet fully opened as soon as they come of age. “We lose a lot of the skills that we could be learning at a younger age,” she said.

Lux Matt, a rising junior from Louisiana whose parent previously worked for the ACLU, said that state “Don’t Say Gay” laws or book bans “are preventing students from being themselves in school. And [for] some of those students, [the internet] is their only place to be themselves.”

The students were concerned that they could not share information. “As a Brown woman, I post a lot about immigration. Bista talks about who she is and how she defines herself in her posts. I inform those around me about the inner workings of my identity and the inner workings of systems that may be hurting me and who I am and what I stand for.

The ability to share and access information are not separate concerns for these teens. Bista learns about the experiences of other communities on the internet just as she learns from her own point of view. The internet has been used to discover and be oneself, and to understand oneself, in the modern era. For many LGBTQ teens, the internet becomes a lifeline to a community they may not otherwise have ready access to.

Some people in New Orleans, including Matt, rely on social media to spread the word about their events and advocacy. They fear KOSA could make it harder for others who could benefit from that community to find the group.

At the same time, students doubted how effectively KOSA could minimize the harms it purported to address. Even if KOSA limits the reach of posts that are pro-eating disorder, Matt said this won’t eliminate body image issues that stem from social media. The social context in which kids live means that content like “smaller models just posting on their Instagram” can fuel anxiety and self-doubt.

Matt said their mom was proactive in making sure they followed accounts that would make them feel safe and “happy about who I am” when they joined Instagram at age 15. The parent has the duty to protect their children while at the same time deciding how much freedom they should have. But it is not the government’s job to do that,” Matt said.

Philhower actually likes the idea that KOSA could mitigate addictive features like autoplay or infinite scroll feeds. But, she said, with KOSA’s approach, the harms outweigh the benefits. She hopes legislators can come up with a way to protect kids from online harms in a way that won’t limit valuable information.

Even though the online safety bill has broad bipartisan support, some lawmakers argue that the legislation could violate free speech rights. Others are concerned that the new regulations could prevent some kids from accessing information on LGBTQ+ issues or reproductive rights.

The Impact of the Voting Decree on Youth: The Perspective from the Center for Investigative Reporting: A Voice for Children’s Rights and Freedoms

On the phone after the vote, Matt said they weren’t entirely surprised that the Senate voted the way it did. The students themselves had mostly talked to House legislators. According to the ACLU, the students met primarily with lawmakers from their home states — this included more than 15 senators and more than 60 House representatives from both sides of the aisle.

When it comes to voting, Matt is confident that the House will reflect on the impact that it had on youth.

“Lawmakers, they don’t only doubt our media literacy; I think they frankly doubt our literacy about life,” Philhower told The Verge last week. The adults she had spoken to that day were “so proud and so surprised” that she had shown up to lobby on an issue. I was kind of frustrated because I wasn’t sure why this would be surprising to you. Why is a youth speaking up about something that she cares about, why is that out of the ordinary?’”

Kids used to be told to sit quietly at the dinner table and not say anything. I think there is an image that youth can’t do anything. That is only because we have not been permitted to do anything.

Philhower believes that will change. Older generations don’t see the power that we have. And maybe it’s because they grew up in a world where they weren’t heard and seen. But we want to be heard, and we want to be seen, and it’s time for people to listen to us.”

The Children’s Online Safety Act: Revealing a New Law to Protect Children from Online Adversarial Activities on Social Media

Along with the safety bill, the Senate also passed online privacy legislation that would prohibit online companies from collecting personal information from kids under the age of 17 without their consent.

Companies would not be able to push content that young people did not specifically search for. This addresses a huge concern of parents and advocates: that kids are targeted with content that promotes harmful behavior, such as eating disorders, sexual exploitation and substance abuse.

The maximum age of children covered by the law would be raised to 17 and there would be restrictions on companies collecting data from children as young as 12.

The responsibility needs to be put in the hands of companies that control what kids are seeing. We need to ensure that these kids are not being sent down such dangerous rabbit holes,” says Golin.

Vaishnavi J., the founder of Vyanams Strategies, which advises companies on how to create safe tech products for children, says that while the legislation does not directly call out cyberbully, its impacts are addressed.

They are often under represented from marginalized communities. They are not getting the range of societal support they deserve, says J. “That tends to extend to online as well.”

Source: A historic new law would protect kids online and hold tech companies accountable

A Game-Changing Experience for Families: Cyberbullying and the Death of a 16-Year-Old Son, Kristin Bride

All 50 states have laws against bullying, and every state — except Wisconsin and Alaska — include specific references to cyberbullying. Currently, there are no federal laws that criminalize cyberbullying.

The Senate passed a bill with the help of a few families. She lost her 16-year-old son, David, to suicide after months of relentless online threats and cyberbullying. She says the bill is a game-changing one that House members should vote in favor of.

It is a game-changing experience for young people. She says it’s game-changing for families. “I hear it over and over again that it’s like a game of Whac-A-Mole. As soon as parents figure out to keep their kids safe on one platform — three more pop up.”

Bride is part of an effort on Capitol Hill to craft legislation that would hold social media sites and other tech companies accountable for keeping children safe online.

Shortly after her son’s death, Bride joined Parents for Safe Online Spaces, an organization of families who lost their children after they were exposed to toxic online content. Some died by suicide after cyberbullying or sextortion; others after participating in viral challenges involving self-harm or taking drugs sold by online dealers.

Cox received more than 100 harassing and sexually explicit text messages from his high school classmates through an anonymous messaging app. The last search on his phone was to find out who was doing this to him.

Kristin Bride lost her 16-year-old son, Carson, to suicide in 2020. She claims that shortly before he took his life he was a target of online attacks.