Rand Paul Calls Out “Kids Online Safety Act” as Giving Government “Bizarre” Censorship Powers
Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2024 12:22 pm
https://nypost.com/2024/08/02/us-news/r ... any-lives/
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) passed with flying bipartisan colors in the Senate Tuesday — but Rand Paul stood virtually alone against it.
“I have a great deal of sympathy for the issue,” Sen. Paul (R-KY) told The Post. “But I’m afraid it will lead to censorship.”
The bill, which passed with a whopping 91 votes in favor, is an attempt to protect children from the harms of the internet. It establishes a “duty of care” for social media platforms to protect minors, and would require them to suppress content that could cause harm.
Paul said that, while the bill is well-intentioned, it could enable the government to censor speech that it subjectively deems anxiety-provoking for youth.
“The whole idea that we’re going to set up a committee and we’re going to give a vague definition of anxiety — and then say anything that causes anxiety we’re going to give a group the power to regulate — is bizarre,” Paul added.
He referred to the “absurdity of the anxiety argument,” explaining that virtually anything could be considered anxiety-producing by the Federal Trade Commission, which has been tasked with enforcement of KOSA.
Paul points to a Harvard survey that found 65% of people aged 15 to 30 say they have intrusive anxiety about climate change on a daily basis. Therefore, KOSA could theoretically be used to censor climate change content.
“I would be one of the first people kicked off the internet because I’m sure that I say things that cause people anxiety,” the senator said. “I just think there’s a real danger in letting government regulate this or take things down.”