The Kids Online Safety Act, also known as KOSA, and the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act, also known as the KIDS Act, have been making their way through the Government and it threatens to alter the way the internet works by incentivizing users to upload government issued ID.
KOSA was introduced by Tennessee Republican senator Marsha Blackburn while the KIDS Act was introduced by Kentucky Republican and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie and includes portions of KOSA. Both aim to do the same thing, tackle how unsafe the internet is for kids and teenagers.
In the article posted to The Hill by Miranda Nazzaro, Sen. Blackburn was quoted saying “We need a strong federal standard in place that will ensure Big Tech companies can’t design their products to addict, exploit, and harm America’s children.”
That all sounds good but there’s many issues with these bills and it starts with the how. India McKinney of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) puts that “how” into light.
“There is no way to determine a user’s age online that is both privacy protective and accurate. Some age verification processes may rely on collecting government-issued ID, while others may use biometric scans. Others will use algorithms to guess a user’s age based on facial images or online behavior. But no matter the method, every system demands users hand over sensitive personal information that links their offline identity to their online activity.”
While the bills don’t outright say it wants but the wording of it does put websites in a position where they might have too. Tess Vartanian from the Center of Democracy and Technology words it as such:
“Facing hindsight liability and steep penalties for guessing wrong, the safest compliance posture is to establish a user’s age for certain. A statute that says “we are not making you verify age” does not change the calculus for a company that concludes age verification is the only sure way to avoid being told, after the fact, that it should have known a user was a minor.”
So now, after being told for decades to never put our sensitive information online out of safety, are now under threat of being forced to do that very thing just to use the internet. We’ve already seen how badly that can go.
Back in February Discord tried to get a headstart by testing out age-verification by setting all accounts to a teen-appropriate mode “until users prove they are adults,” as said by Pieter Arntz on a blog post on Malwarebytes.com.
They tried to do this after they suffered a massive data breach in late 2025 that resulted in “users’ real names, selfies, ID documents, email and physical addresses, phone numbers, IP addresses, and other contact details or messages provided to customer support” being leaked as said here in an EFF round up of hacks from last year.
Data breaches can lead to a lot of terrible things. Blackmail, stalking, identity theft, and so much more.
This also removes anonymity. LGBTQ+, abuse survivors, political dissidents, and people looking for safe spaces won’t have that mask they can have online to keep themselves safe in situations where they need it. Which leads to another concern about these bills, surveillance.
“KOSA risks subjecting teens who are experiencing domestic violence and parental abuse to additional forms of digital surveillance and control that could prevent these vulnerable youth from reaching out for help or support,” says Milo Santamaria in a 2023 article posted to Library Futures.
Where do these bills stand as of right now? The KIDS Act passed the House with a vote of 267-117 on June 29th and as CNBC reported by Justin Papp, KOSA cleared the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on July 8th which means it will be voted on the floor within the coming months.
Papp’s story does mention that the Senate and House don’t agree with the direction of each other’s version of the bill so there are chances for them to fail but it’ll be something that will continue to reappear since both bills have strong bipartisan support.
If you wish to make your voice heard and to help stop either of these from passing, contact your Senators and Representatives and tell them to vote no on both because everyone will be affected by this if either pass and will alter how the internet works forever.
