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By coming out in support of the Kids Online Safety Act, X betrays its past commitments to opposing government censorship.
Hundreds of millions of Americans express themselves online every day. KOSA poses a direct threat to the free speech of adults and minors alike by letting the government dictate how websites and apps used for online speech can be designed and operated. This opens the door to direct government censorship, and it puts pressure on social media companies to aggressively moderate content and suppress viewpoints the government opposes.
There is no way to reconcile these grave threats to free speech with X’s past criticisms of government censorship.
The following statement is attributable to FIRELead Counsel for Tech Policy Ari Cohn:
It’s alarming that X would support a government takeover of online speech. They say defending the user’s voice is one of their core values — but KOSA is a direct threat to that voice. X should rethink its position, and the House of Representatives should continue holding firm against this unconstitutional bill.
KOSA hands government bureaucrats a powerful weapon to wield over social media websites — one that threatens every American’s ability to express themselves online.
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