US Internet Under Siege: Age-Verification Laws Expand Across the Country

Members of Congress considered 19 online safety bills Tuesday, which may soon have a major impact on the future of the internet as age-verification laws have spread to half of the US and around the world. In response, digital and human rights organization Fight for the Future is hosting a week of events across Reddit, LinkedIn, and various livestreams to raise awareness of how it believes these bills are setting a dangerous precedent by making the internet more exploitative rather than safer. The proposed bills, including the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Reducing Exploitative Social Media Exposure for Teens Act, would require tech companies to implement age verification measures, such as ID or age verification, which forces people to upload an ID, allow a face scan, or otherwise authenticate that they are not a minor before viewing adult content. Fight for the Future says the policies will lead to increased censorship and surveillance. "These bills are a thinly veiled attempt to control what people can and can't see online," said Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future. "They will do nothing to keep kids safe and will only serve to further erode our civil liberties." The bills were considered at a hearing conducted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has been actively working on online safety legislation. The Kids Online Safety Act, which passed with sweeping bipartisan approval in the Senate last year, would require social media companies to implement age verification measures and provide parents with more information about their children's online activities. The Reducing Exploitative Social Media Exposure for Teens Act would ban tech companies from allowing minors under the age of 16 to use their platforms without parental consent. The age-verification laws have been spreading rapidly across the US and around the world, with over half of the country's states implementing some form of age verification requirement. The laws are intended to protect minors from online exploitation, but critics argue that they will have unintended consequences, such as increased censorship and surveillance. "The internet is a global network, and these laws will only serve to create a patchwork of different regulations that will be difficult to navigate," said Greer. Fight for the Future is hosting a week of events to raise awareness about the proposed bills and to encourage people to contact their representatives and express their opposition. The events will include livestreams, Reddit AMAs, and other online activities. "We want to make sure that people understand the implications of these bills and are able to make their voices heard," said Greer. The current status of the bills is uncertain, but it is expected that they will be voted on in the coming weeks. The outcome will have significant implications for the future of the internet and the way that people access online content. As the debate continues, it is clear that the issue of online safety is complex and multifaceted, and that there is no easy solution.