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🚨THE KIDS ACT IS AN INTERNET SURVEILLANCE BILL🚨 Congress is rushing the KIDS Act toward a vote. This blend of KOSA, the SCREEN Act, SAFE Bots, and other bills is a single package that is a threat to privacy and free expression for ALL internet users. 🧵(1/10)

Buried inside the KIDS Act are provisions that will 🪪Push online services to verify users’ ages 🏛️Require government-directed moderation policies for online speech 🔐Create new rules about private and encrypted communications (2/10)

Supporters claim this bill protects minors online, but this “protection” comes at the expense of privacy, free expression, and the ability of people of ALL ages to use the internet without revealing sensitive data. (3/10)

The new version of KOSA says it doesn’t require age verification, but it also obligates sites and apps to take reasonable steps to determine whether a user is a minor or an adult. How will they do it? By collecting more information about age before a lawsuit happens. (4/10)

Services will have to collect licenses or passports, or they’ll rely on age estimation services, which often make mistakes when guessing the ages of people of color, people with disabilities, and trans and nonbinary people. (5/10)

The KIDS Act also pressures platforms to police lawful speech. If platforms must police speech about the “sale or use” of narcotics, can teens discuss addiction and recovery? Can a 15-year-old post that she’s worried she has a friend who is drinking too much? (6/10)

The consequences of the KIDS Act won't be limited to minors. If websites and apps are expected to reliably identify teens and restrict what they can discuss, adults will increasingly be asked to prove they are adults. The result of the KIDS Act will be a less private and censored internet. (7/10)

Curious about what EFF thinks can help keep young people safe online while protecting the privacy of all users? Check out our Age Verification Hub at eff.org/age or read our Privacy First whitepaper. www.eff.org/wp/privacy-... (9/10)