Submitted by Jamie Vaughn
We find ourselves in a critical moment. As kids increasingly find themselves using social platforms, we must ensure that they are protected from potentially harmful or misleading content that contributes to our national child mental health crisis. This notion has driven Congress to continue consideration of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Yet, in this fervor to present solutions to the need for guardrails for children, lawmakers overlooked multiple problematic provisions in KOSA which I fear could jeopardize access to critical health-related resources online.
I know the importance of these online resources well. After being diagnosed with breast cancer, I often used the internet and social platforms, not just to discover more about my diagnosis and the road I would face, but also to find community and support.
Having these resources and access to people either currently or formerly facing the same situation helped to give me the strength I needed to combat breast cancer. That’s why when I was declared cancer-free, I vowed to do whatever I could to help others fight and win their battles – including by starting a podcast, Test Those Breasts, to help people learn more about the disease, treatments, resources, and support.
However, I know that the internet and social platforms are not just important to cancer survivors alone. Dozens of vulnerable communities across the country use these platforms as a place to connect and explore resources, such as the LGBTQ+ community, who often attribute it as an integral factor in the formation of their identities.
Unfortunately, the current version of KOSA dangerously risks content like this. The bill’s broad and untested definitions of content that is “harmful to minors” could lead to excessive censorship, inadvertently cutting off access to essential health information, including critical resources for vulnerable populations, like women seeking reproductive healthcare.
Meanwhile, its “duty of care” provision could force social platforms into over-moderating the content on their platforms to exclude anything that the FTC or attorneys general, who can take legal action under KOSA and state law, could find offensive. With such broad content categories, I fear even words like “breasts” could be censored even as “breast cancer is the most common cancer of adolescents and young adult (AYA) women aged 15 to 39 years, accounting for 5.6% of all invasive breast cancer in women.“
I worry about the impact KOSA could have on communities that are already targeted by partisan politicians today. After all, the silencing of content shared by vulnerable communities dangerously risks further isolating members of those communities.
Lawmakers must understand that KOSA’s impact would not just stop with what kids can share and see. Its expansive delegations of power risk establishing a regime that could lead to widespread censorship and suppression of content, particularly from the communities that are already frequently silenced in other mediums.
Instead of passing a poorly written bill with as many consequences as KOSA, I implore lawmakers to vote against it in its current form and take more time to develop legislation that strikes a balance between safeguarding our youth and ensuring they have the resources and knowledge to advocate for their health.
Jamie Vaughn is a retired teacher and the host of the “Test Those Breasts!” podcast, which aims to heal and educate anyone affected by breast cancer.
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