Big Tech mounts ‘divide and conquer’ bid in Washington to kill Kids Online Safety Act: sources

Google, Meta and their Big Tech allies have stoked outrage on both sides of the aisle in a desperate scramble to derail the Kids Online Safety Act – and critics say it’s a cynical attempt to protect their profits at the expense of minors.

Critics of KOSA have portrayed the legislation – which would impose a legal “duty of care” to ensure social-media apps shield kids from sexual abuse, drug addiction and risky stunts that can cause injury or even death – as a troubling censorship bill.

In a twist that has riled KOSA proponents on Capitol Hill, advocates for Big Tech appear to be tailoring their message depending on which constituency they’re trying to influence, according to sources.

NetChoice, an influential right-of-center tech trade group, claims KOSA is unconstitutional and would result in “increased government power over families’ decision-making.” Elsewhere, opponents of the bill circulated an unsigned memo that described KOSA as a “huge threat to pro-life groups” that could allow Democrats to “shut down the pro-life movement.”

On the other hand, the left-wing Chamber of Progress has called the bill “anti-LGBTQ+” and alleged that the Heritage Foundation, which supports KOSA, will use it to advance “the extremist ‘Project 2025’ agenda.”

“They’re in everyone’s ears,” said Alix Fraser, director of the Council for Responsible Social Media. “It’s a comprehensive and really massive effort by them to try to dilute trust on the left and right. They’re really making their best efforts to divide and conquer.”

Lobbying has intensified amidst clear signs that KOSA and a companion bill called COPPA 2.0 have broad bipartisan support in Congress. The Senate passed the bills by a whopping 91-3 margin in July. A House panel advanced the child safety bills earlier this month, clearing the way for a potential floor vote.

Still, it remains unclear if the bill will pass a gridlocked House before the end of the year. Congress is in recess until after the 2024 presidential election on Nov. 5, leaving the bill’s backers in the House with a short window to hammer out a finalized version and pass it.

Both Google and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta filed more lobbying disclosures related to KOSA than any other bill in 2024, according to OpenSecrets records.

“We support the development of age-appropriate standards for teens online and appreciate KOSA’s attempt to create a consistent set of rules for the industry to follow,” Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts said in a statement. “However, we think there’s a better way to help parents oversee their teens’ online experiences: Federal legislation should require app stores to get parents’ approval whenever their teens under 16 download apps.”

Representatives for Google and NetChoice did not return requests for comment.

Meta, TikTok parent ByteDance, Snap, X and Discord – the five social media firms called to testify at a bombshell Senate hearing on online harm to minors in January – spent a whopping $30 million in 2023 alone on lobbying around KOSA and other tech-focused bills, according to disclosures compiled by Issue One.

In the first half of 2024, Meta’s lobbying spending increased 43% to a company record $13.6 million. ByteDance’s outlay jumped 65% to a record $6 million – though the uptick coincided with its efforts to stave off a TikTok divestment bill.

“Big Tech companies and their front groups are spreading lies about KOSA,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who served as a co-lead sponsor for KOSA, said in a statement to The Post. “Their goal is to maximize profits – not protect our children.”

There are signs that some lawmakers are spooked by Big Tech’s talking points. An anonymous House leadership aide recently told the Hill that the bill “could lead to censorship of conservative speech.”

The mysterious unsigned memo used to attack KOSA contained many of the same talking points that appeared in an oddly similar memo that warned lawmakers last June about the American Privacy Rights Act, another bill aimed at reining in Big Tech.

Some wording, such as a claim that the bill “could create a chilling effect on the activities of pro-life groups,” appeared in both memos verbatim.

It’s unclear who authored the memo, though multiple sources alleged a tech trade group was likely responsible.

The tech lobby has leaned on “red-meat, emotional conservative issues” in a misleading effort to scare off GOP lawmakers and their constituents from supporting KOSA, according to Kara Frederick, a former Facebook executive and director of Heritage Foundation’s Tech Policy Center.

“To me, it’s very obvious what they’re trying to do,” said Frederick. “They’re just trying to kill the bills, because they are interchanging them when the content and the substance are fundamentally different.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) initially expressed support for KOSA when it passed the Senate, but has yet to say if or when he will bring it to the floor for a vote.

During the House panel’s markup of KOSA, some Democrats slammed a decision to remove mental health harms such as anxiety and depression from the House bill’s version of duty of care, arguing the bill is much weaker than the version that passed the Senate.

The concessions were seen as an attempt to assuage concerns that mental health disorders were too vaguely defined, raising the risk of improper enforcement.

On the eve of the House panel’s hearing on KOSA, Meta announced a series of safety updates for Instagram aimed at minors – a move immediately panned by online watchdogs as an obvious attempt to placate lawmakers and avoid a meaningful crackdown.

Several other tech-funded groups oppose the bill, including the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electric Frontier Foundation and TechFreedom.

Critics have also focused on the FTC’s role in enforcing the duty of care under KOSA – arguing that it would effectively empower unelected bureaucrats to police online content.

The bill’s supporters, including Blackburn, insist it is focused on ensuring product design features such as recommendation algorithms and autoplay videos don’t bombard kids with harmful content – not moderating specific posts.

The bill does not make any changes to Section 230, the statute that shields tech firms from being held liable for the third-party posts on their platforms. It also contains language ensuring teen users can search for specific content on their own.

If KOSA passes, it would add momentum for other long-delayed bills aimed at reining in Big Tech, such as a potential repeal of Section 230 or comprehensive data privacy laws similar to those imposed in Europe.

“They are fighting this tooth and nail because they know that once the floodgates open of regulation, everything’s going to change,” Fraser said.

A TikTok source noted that a significant portion of the lobbying expenditure related to in-house policy team employees’ stock vesting as part of their regular compensation.

Last January, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the company could support KOSA with some changes.

“We have not lobbied on this legislation and any insinuation otherwise is simply false,” TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said.

Discord has also declined to take a stance. Meanwhile, Snap and X have broken ranks with the tech industry to endorse the legislation.