But here's the thing: the Senate version of KOSA they just advanced is wildly different from the House version of KOSA they advanced as part of the KIDS Act. The committee knows they can't be reconciled This is theater not substance. They want to say they "protected the kids" without doing anything

THREAD: Here's what happened in today's "We are exploiting peoples' legitimate fears around kids online safety to advance dangerous censorship and surveillance legislation" hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee... 🧵

The SCREEN Act just failed to pass in the Senate Commerce Committee! 🎉 Enormous thanks to the thousands (!!) of you who told your Senators to vote no! Your voice matters and you should feel good that you made a difference. Obviously, the fight isn't over, but this was an important victory.

Good morning! Coming up at the top of the hour (10:00 am Eastern, 7:00 am Pacific), it's the Senate Commerce Committee markup on several bad internet bills, including KOSA, the SCREEN Act, and the CHATBOT Act. You can watch the livestream at www.commerce.senate.gov/meetings/exe...

@cantwell.senate.gov Wishing us "Happy #PrideMonth" isn't enough. Please stand with the community and drop your support for KOSA, legislation that targets LGBTQ+ Americans. Please also oppose the SCREEN Act and other bad internet bills, at the August 5 hearing and (if necessary) on the Senate floor

CW Personal If you want to keep jacking off to our content, you have to listen to us. The entire sex network is in massive danger of being entirely eliminated.

Hypno-Scream (Comms Open)❤️🩷💜@hypnoscream.bsky.social · last mo.

Saw a post saying "I don't want NSFW accounts to talk about voting, just let me jack off" Buddy, NSFW artists and sex workers are being constantly attacked by a government of nonces trying to distract from their own crimes by pinning the blame on porn. They have the right to speak up about this.

BOMBSHELL story by Olivia Carville @bloomberg.com Internal Report Shows TikTok Kept Safety Feature From Millions A confidential document says an algorithm adjustment was kept from many users “by design,” as part of an experiment to measure engagement NO PAYWALL www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

TikTok Withheld a Safety Feature From Millions. One Died by Suicide

A confidential document says an algorithm adjustment was kept from many users “by design,” as part of an experiment to measure engagement.

bloomberg.com

Great point. And if you've got Republican Senators, remind them that Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Conservative Ladies of America all oppose these bills. @protectingkids.bsky.social has some good talking points at www.protectingkids.online/kidsonlinesa...

Kids Online Safety Act | Protecting Kids Online

KOSA sounds like a bill that forces platforms to protect children. It does not. At its core, the bill requires platforms to exercise “reasonable care” in how they design their products. That means doc...

protectingkids.online

Mike Stabile@mikestabile.bsky.social · 19h ago

Rumor is that Lee has lined up Republican support on a party line. But Republicans hate these bills when other countries do it, and hate digital IDs (which this facilitates). If you're lucky enough to have one of these representing you, give them a big old yell.

I do an explicitly trans podcast with my brother who is also trans and The Screen Act would absolutely fuck us over because according to the fascists in charge our existence is harm.

Mike Stabile@mikestabile.bsky.social · 2d ago

The SCREEN Act is not just another age-verification bill — it goes much further than anything passed at the state-level or in other countries. 1. The bill doesn't just target porn sites. It goes after *any* site that allows material "harmful" to minors. You'd have to scan your face to use Google.

Hello Senator @cantwell.senate.gov I’m a homeowner in Washington state and I am writing to strongly urge you to vote NO on KOSA and the SCREEN Act. These bills will censor access to websites deemed “ harmful to minors” which could include LGBTQ, reproductive health, and other important info.

the organizations in support of the SCREEN Act say everything you need to know about Mike Lee's latest gambit: www.404media.co/what-is-the-...

The SCREEN Act is a Christian Nationalist Nightmare

Mike Lee's SCREEN Act, which heads to Senate Commerce Committee for markup on Wednesday, would expand age verification requirements to a nearly limitless scope of websites, and is supported by the arc...

404media.co

TLDR: Google be like “things that are actually harming people right now aren’t harms. The only harms that exist are the ones that might occasionally happen and look really bad so we need the protection of a regulator who we can blame for sleeping at the wheel when those things happen, too.”

Justin Hendrix@justinhendrix.bsky.social · 2d ago

Google's policy plan offers lawmakers a map of AI harm, writes Gregory Gondwe, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama and a faculty associate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. It puts frontier threats at the center,and more familiar structural harms at the edges.

@toni.bsky.team the Senate Commerce committee vote on KOSA and the SCREEN Act is tomorrow morning. @fightforthefuture.org highlights how this would impact Bluesky users. bsky.app/profile/figh... Now would be a great time for Bluesky PBC to get involved CC: @masnick.com

Fight for the Future@fightforthefuture.org · yesterday

‼️ACTION ALERT: The Senate Commerce Committee is holding “kids safety” circus again, this time considering both KOSA (the Kids Online Safety Act) & SCREEN Act, two of the most dangerous censorship & age verification bills on the table! CALL YOUR LAWMAKERS & TELL THEM TO OPPOSE 📲 248-331-8665

Great episode of John Oliver focused on surveillance tech - and it features a shout out to Andrew Ferguson's @profferguson.bsky.social book YOUR DATA CAN BE USED AGAINST YOU www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnBP...

Police Surveillance Technology: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight

youtube.com

‼️ACTION ALERT: The Senate Commerce Committee is holding “kids safety” circus again, this time considering both KOSA (the Kids Online Safety Act) & SCREEN Act, two of the most dangerous censorship & age verification bills on the table! CALL YOUR LAWMAKERS & TELL THEM TO OPPOSE 📲 248-331-8665

US based folks who care about the internet surviving, especially the open social web, READ and then ACT TODAY The senate is marking up two existentially threatening bills tomorrow, KOSA and the SCREEN Act. Educate yourself and call your representatives TODAY.

"The S is for surveillance": fighting KOSA and bad internet bills in the ATmosphere and the fediverses

Part 2 of The Time Is Right: shifting from theory to practice.

thenexusofprivacy.net

wait you can just *email* representatives with something prewritten if you have crippling social anxiety instead of calling? how the fuck did nobody tell me all these years? the information dissemination on modern social media is fucking useless

Fantastically good book! By the prescient Natasha Dow Schüll. Published in 2012!

Luke Herrine@lookheron.bsky.social · 2d ago

This book is an unbelievable feat of social research and theory. press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

LEGISLATIVE ALERT 🚨 The Senate Commerce Committee will vote on the SCREEN Act on August 5. This bill requires age verification for all websites deemed “harmful to minors”. Contact your legislators NOW, demand they vote NO on the SCREEN Act. www.defendonlineprivacy.com/screen/ @fsc.bsky.social

Defend Online Privacy: Stop the SCREEN Act!

The Senate Commerce Committee will vote on the SCREEN Act on August 5. ACT NOW to stop it!

defendonlineprivacy.com

Yikes ... @protectingkids.bsky.social suggests that it's possible the App Store Accountability Act could get included in the KOSA version that passes out of markup. That would be bad! Call your Senators now! leaflet.pub/019fbe85-d24...

Protecting Kids Online@protectingkids.bsky.social · 2d ago

🟠It's also possible that the App Store Accountability Act could get included in the KOSA version that passes out of markup. ➡️Parents should decide what their kids can access, not government mandates. You are the firewall. Stay informed → protectingkids.online

The Senate Commerce Committee has a markup on KOSA this Wednesday, August 5. After you've phoned your Senators (https://www.badinternetbills.com/ makes it easy), contact them on Bluesky!

Tell Senators with Bluesky accounts what you think about KOSA and other bad internet bills

Contacting to legislators social networks is a useful complement to contacting them through official channels.

fighting-bad-interenet-bills.leaflet.pub

"The S is for surveillance": fighting KOSA and bad internet bills in the ATmosphere and the fediverses The first post in this series was at a fairly high level. Now, let's shift from theory to practice. Thanks to @anthonymoser.com for the framing help! thenexusofprivacy.net/the-s-in-kos...

"The S is for surveillance": fighting KOSA and bad internet bills in the ATmosphere and the fediverses

Part 2 of The Time Is Right: shifting from theory to practice.

thenexusofprivacy.net

If you're curious about how the right is going to try to frame the horrific fires in Spokane Washington, it looks like they plan to blame them on homeless people, local (DEM) city leadership, and state (DEM) mismanagement of forests. So, many of the same frames as the LA fires.

The Senate Commerce Committee has a markup on KOSA this Wednesday, August 5. After you've phoned your Senators (https://www.badinternetbills.com/ makes it easy), contact them on Bluesky!

Tell Senators with Bluesky accounts what you think about KOSA and other bad internet bills

Contacting to legislators social networks is a useful complement to contacting them through official channels.

fighting-bad-interenet-bills.leaflet.pub

The S in KOSA is for surveillance

Anthony Moser@anthonymoser.com · 3d ago

By all means. I would add that we know it's a surveillance bill bc it's supported by surveillance companies. OpenAI makes software that encourages kids to harm themselves, X runs a CSAM generator. They are not motivated by kids safety, they just want more data on everyone

Most Australian teens still on #SocialMedia three months after under-16 ban began, study finds https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/most-australian-teens-still-social-media-three-months-after-under-16-ban-began-2026-07-31/ #Australia #SocialMediaBan #AgeVerification #privacy

With the Senate Commerce Committee has a markup of KOSA, the SCREEN Act, and the CHATBOT Act on Wednesday. @fightforthefuture.org's https://www.badinternetbills.com/ is the easiest way to contact your Senator, but there are lots of other options too!

Tips for contacting Congress about bad internet bills

Phone, web forms, meetings ... there are lots of options!

fighting-bad-interenet-bills.leaflet.pub

@amyklobuchar.com @smith.senate.gov This bill will do nothing to protect kids, and in fact will only harm people (especially kids) Privacy, not more surveillance #KOSASucks

Fight for the Future@fightforthefuture.org · 6d ago

‼️ALERT: KOSA is moving next week to the Senate Commerce Committee for markup! Call your reps today, again tomorrow, and all weekend leaving messages opposing this dangerous censorship bill. www.badinternetbills.com

The new CHATBOT Act doesn’t just require parental permission for teens to use AI. It requires AI companies to build monitoring systems that store and analyze entire conversations, creating new privacy risks for entire families. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

The CHATBOT Act Forces One Parenting Model On Every Family

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing education, and the way people search for information. Parents, teenagers, teachers, and schools are struggling with tough questions about when AI should,

eff.org

NOYBeu has filed a complaint against online dictionary dict.cc. When visiting dict.cc, users are nudged into consenting to online tracking by a staggering 1,741 (!) “partners” with a single click <that ain’t consent. & no, don’t blame EU law for that shitty practice noyb.eu/en/1741-info...