Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA): A bipartisan backdoor to digital ID
Following Meta CEO Mark Zuckerburg’s recent testimony in what is being called a “landmark” trial focused on how social media is affecting children, Republican Senator (and devout Trumpist) Marsha Blackburn chastised social media companies in an opinion piece where she touted the need for the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a bill that will ultimately be the backdoor to the longtime bipartisan goal of mandatory digital ID for every American.
According to Blackburn, KOSA — a bill first introduced in 2022 and co-sponsored by Democrat Richard Blumenthal — is necessary because only government can be trusted to “protect” children from internet harm (via USA Today):
By now, it ought to be crystal clear that Big Tech cannot be trusted to regulate itself. It cannot even be trusted to tell the truth about the way its products harm young users. Parents are rightfully outraged. In a survey released Feb. 17 by the Tech Oversight Project, 86 percent of Americans said they want tech companies to be held accountable for their role in the social media addiction crisis.
There is also overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress to rein in Big Tech. I introduced the Kids Online Safety Act, which passed the Senate 91-3 last Congress but stalled in the House after leadership there would not allow a vote. KOSA would place a “duty of care” on tech companies to ensure minors have strong protections by default. Just this week, Vice President JD Vance drew attention to the need to pass KOSA, calling my bill a “great piece of legislation about child safety online.”
To my fellow legislators, I have one simple question: Will you side with moguls like Mark Zuckerberg? Or will you side with the 86 percent of Americans who are demanding we stand up to Big Tech for preying on our children? (Emphasis mine)
Just a side note here, but wouldn’t it be great if Blackburn challenged her “fellow legislators” to stand up to Donald Trump for protecting the Epstein files, documents that are full evidence showing the rich and powerful “preying on our children”? Asking for a friend.
Conveniently left out of Blackburn’s self-edifying praise of KOSA is the fact that there is no way for social media to ensure age verification, and the only way to solve that problem is through something like . . . oh, I don’t know . . . digital ID maybe? At least that is what Zuckerburg seemed to imply (via The Free Thought Project):
The trial is framed as a child safety case. What it is actually doing, especially through Zuckerberg’s own testimony, is laying the political and legal groundwork for mandatory identity verification across the internet. And Zuckerberg, rather than pushing back on that outcome, offered the court his preferred implementation plan.
Multiple times during his testimony, Zuckerberg argued that age verification should be handled not by individual apps but at the operating system level, by Apple and Google. He told jurors that operating system providers “were better positioned to implement age verification tools, since they control the software that runs most smartphones.”
“Doing it at the level of the phone is just a lot cleaner than having every single app out there have to do this separately,” he said. He added that it “would be pretty easy for them” to implement. (Emphasis mine)
Your identity would be exposed to Apple and Google at a whole new level. Every app on your phone. Every website accessed. Every communication sent through an app on your phone. And in case you haven’t noticed, Big Tech hasn’t been all that keen on protecting your privacy; they’re quick to hand over data to the government on a whim — just ask DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
Donald Trump is using the border security issue as an excuse to launch a mandatory digital ID system, and his AI Stargate Project” — a government/private sector partnership between Donald Trump and Big Tech bro Larry Ellison — is being used to make it happen.
Ellison’s involvement isn’t a coincidence; he played a key role in the UK’s roll out of a mandatory AI-based digital ID last year. Thanks to his status as a big-money donor to Tony Blair’s Global Institute of Change, Ellison and Oracle are positioned to profit from the millions of adults who will be forced to sign up for digital ID while making millions in the process. According to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, mandatory digital ID will provide safer borders and national security. Conveniently left out of the PMs list of benefits is the fact that digital ID will, eventually, give government control of pretty much every aspect of daily life (via Times Now News):
The digital ID will include residency status, name, date of birth, nationality, and a photograph. Employers and landlords will be required to verify the ID before hiring or renting to someone, replacing paper-based checks like National Insurance numbers.
Ministers say the digital ID will eventually simplify access to services such as driving licenses, childcare, welfare, and tax records, while making government processes more efficient and reducing fraud. (Emphasis mine)
Blair had a bit of experience in digital ID agenda, having made earlier attempts during the so-called pandemic to use them to ensure people were complying with COVID mandates. And about a year ago the former prime minister declared that people would be willing to surrender their liberty in favor of a digital ID system run by AI.
Trump’s partnership with Ellison in the “Stargate Project” will result in the same kind of government controlled digital ID created in the UK while also putting millions of dollars more in Ellison’s pockets.
The KOSA Act won’t only mean the implementation of mandatory digital ID, it will eventually lead to the elimination of free speech and other God-given, constitutionally protected rights, as we see in the example provided in another country: Australia (via CATO.org):
Whenever discussing age verification, it is essential to recognize that this doesn’t just mean that children will need to prove their identity. Everyone will need to prove their identity because platforms don’t know if a user is 6, 16, or 61. And while the law demands that platforms provide multiple ways to authenticate the age of a user, the reality is that it may be very difficult to distinguish between a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old without essentially requiring ID checks for all or many users. The point is that this age assurance regime will require users of all ages to provide platforms, some of which previously allowed anonymous or pseudonymous accounts and speech, with some significant degree of personal information and documentation.
But requiring such information immediately puts anonymous speech at risk. (Emphasis mine
Blackburn’s partnership with Blumenthal in the name of seizing control of the internet and keeping children “safe” isn’t unique. In fact, Lindsey Graham (a man with a long history of favoring government-controlled speech) created a similar partnership with Blumenthal in 2022 when they co-sponsored and re-introduced the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (EARN IT) Act, a bill that allegedly would have protected children from online sexual predators but would have, in reality, furthered government’s insatiable desire to control the internet and free speech.
Marsha Blackburn believes the KOSA Act is necessary for the “safety” of children, but the reality is that her legislation will become the backdoor to digital ID and an AI-controlled government surveillance state.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative and the author of The New Axis of Evil: Exposing the Bipartisan War on Liberty. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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