Taxpayer Watchdog Warns Against Congressional Tech Overreach

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kara Zupkus (224) 456-0257

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This morning, the Senate Commerce Committee is holding a markup of five tech bills, including the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). This bill has long been panned by critics as a threat to online free speech that will do little to protect children online.

In anticipation of the markup, David B. McGarry, Research Director of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, offered the following statement:

“KOSA has been a poor proposal and a mistake from the point of its first introduction in 2022. This is no surprise, as the bill is built on the foundation of a rotten idea. Although its congressional supporters have from the beginning denied its likely censorial effects, they have continuously trimmed, tweaked, and changed the bill in attempting to save it. Each new version, it is said, has finally removed the bill’s violations of the First Amendment. The truth is much simpler: KOSA’s premise is unconstitutional, and its supporters ought to reverse course and design an entirely new bill.

“Members of the House have long opposed this version of KOSA for its duty of care, which effectively would provide a statutory authorization for the type of censorship for which the Biden administration was so deeply criticized. The bill’s lead sponsor, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), has even admitted that it would prevent children from ‘being indoctrinated,’ which, despite its appeal to some, amounts to a constitutionally impermissible breach of free speech. The First Amendment, it must be remembered, applies in full to the internet.

“The Senate can do much to protect children online. At present, predators and pedophiles roam the digital streets without much fear of law enforcement. This problem—which is massive in scale—must be solved with funding from, and coordination led by, the federal government. This is an effort which the Senate should lead, yet instead, energy is being squandered on unconstitutional proposals that would threaten free speech and leave minors unprotected.”

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The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis, and dissemination of information on the government’s impact on the economy.