Imagine driving your kids through a city plastered with graphic, inappropriate billboards—images that assault their innocence at every turn.
You’d try everything to protect them: blacking out car windows, taking detours. But no matter how hard you try, you can’t shield them entirely.
Now, imagine families petitioning their city council to restrict public obscenity, simply asking for a chance to move through public spaces without fear of exposing their children to harmful imagery.
How do you think the billboard companies would respond? If they’re anything like Big Tech’s reaction to proposed legislation in Congress, they’d unleash a storm of exaggerated claims, lobbyists, and manufactured outrage.
But unlike billboards—which can’t track your kids or target them based on their vulnerabilities—Big Tech knows exactly who your children are, what content grabs their attention, and how to keep them hooked.
Although kids may spend about seven hours a week in the car, they spend up to nine hours a day online. And while most cities have rules governing billboards, Big Tech’s influence over our kids remains largely unchecked.
When parents rightfully ask for transparency and control over their children’s digital lives, Big Tech’s reaction is alarmist. It accuses concerned parents of wanting censorship, government overreach, and even poor parenting.
But why the panic? Because Big Tech knows the free pass to exploit our kids for profit is running out.
This Bill’s Critical Role
The proposed Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, is our best chance in a generation to improve online child safety. In July, the bill passed the Senate with a landslide 91-3 vote.
The momentum of the legislation is driven by the real stories of parents whose children might have been spared had KOSA’s protections been in place.
Under the bill, greater transparency requirements would allow a mother to see the extent of cyberbullying overwhelming her son. David Molak might still be here.
A father could use direct messaging restrictions to prevent predators from harassing his daughter. Grace McComas might still be here.
And harmful design features, like algorithms pushing videos that encourage self-harm or suicide, would be prohibited. Annalee Schott might still be here. These are commonsense rules that would save lives.
Big Tech’s False Claims
But Big Tech is crying wolf, throwing up smokescreens with three false claims: The Kids Online Safety Act is burdensome, illegal, and unconservative.
Let’s look at these arguments one by one.
Big Tech claims KOSA is too burdensome. It says that the bill mandates age verification and limits what users can search for online. However, the bill’s text directly refutes these accusations:
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require a covered platform to implement an age gating or age verification functionality.
Nothing in [this Act] shall be construed to require a covered platform to prevent or preclude any minor from deliberately and independently searching for, or specifically requesting, content.
If Big Tech were genuinely concerned with regulatory burdens, it would embrace a tightly constructed, national framework such as KOSA. Without this legislation, Big Tech faces a patchwork of laws from different states, creating far more complex and costly compliance challenges.
Social media companies are being asked to prevent their platforms from using design features to promote harmful behavior to children, including suicidal behavior, substance abuse, addiction, and sexual exploitation.
This is well within their ability and wouldn’t threaten their business model.
Big Tech claims KOSA violates the First Amendment. But legal precedent and societal norms long have established protections for children against certain harms.
Is it unconstitutional for your city to ban pornographic billboards? Certainly not.
The Kids Online Safety Act wouldn’t require companies to restrict appropriate content on their social media platforms, and wouldn’t impose restrictions on individual searches.
Protecting children from exploitative digital design features is lawful, necessary, and doesn’t require violating others’ First Amendment rights.
Big Tech claims KOSA isn’t conservative. Conservatives weigh the costs and benefits of public policy with a focus on protecting the family—the most important institution in society.
The Kids Online Safety Act embodies this principle. It was authored by conservative leaders, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla. The bill enjoys overwhelming support from the Senate Republican Conference, movement organizations such as Heritage Action, and 87% of Republican voters.
It’s no surprise that groups such as the ACLU are opposing the bill. But that opposition only highlights how deeply conservative the values behind the Kids Online Safety Act are.
Protecting a parent’s sovereignty over a child’s digital life isn’t just conservative—it’s a necessity.
Holding Big Tech Accountable
Don’t believe everything you read on the internet, especially when it’s coming from the internet itself.
The Kids Online Safety Act is a reasonable, carefully constructed measure to establish commonsense rules for protecting the innocence and well-being of our children.
Big Tech is crying wolf. It’s time to hold these companies accountable and fight for our kids.
