🚨THE KIDS ACT IS AN INTERNET SURVEILLANCE BILL🚨
Congress is rushing the KIDS Act toward a vote. This blend of KOSA, the SCREEN Act, SAFE Bots, and other bills is a single package that is a threat to privacy and free expression for ALL internet users. 🧵(1/10)
Comments (12)
Buried inside the KIDS Act are provisions that will
🪪Push online services to verify users’ ages
🏛️Require government-directed moderation policies for online speech
🔐Create new rules about private and encrypted communications (2/10)
Supporters claim this bill protects minors online, but this “protection” comes at the expense of privacy, free expression, and the ability of people of ALL ages to use the internet without revealing sensitive data. (3/10)
The new version of KOSA says it doesn’t require age verification, but it also obligates sites and apps to take reasonable steps to determine whether a user is a minor or an adult. How will they do it? By collecting more information about age before a lawsuit happens. (4/10)
The KIDS Act also pressures platforms to police lawful speech. If platforms must police speech about the “sale or use” of narcotics, can teens discuss addiction and recovery? Can a 15-year-old post that she’s worried she has a friend who is drinking too much? (6/10)
The consequences of the KIDS Act won't be limited to minors. If websites and apps are expected to reliably identify teens and restrict what they can discuss, adults will increasingly be asked to prove they are adults. The result of the KIDS Act will be a less private and censored internet. (7/10)
Tell Congress: Don’t turn the internet into an age checkpoint. Take action NOW to protect Americans’ web browsing and private messaging. https://act.eff.org/action/tell-congress-don-t-force-age-checks-online (8/10)
Tell Congress: Don’t Force Age Checks Online
Congress is preparing to vote on the KIDS Act, a sweeping internet bill that would pressure websites and apps to determine users’ ages before allowing them to read websites, send private messages, or participate in online communities.
act.eff.org@eff it doesn't apply to DM-only apps or non-user-generated-content sites
Services will have to collect licenses or passports, or they’ll rely on age estimation services, which often make mistakes when guessing the ages of people of color, people with disabilities, and trans and nonbinary people. (5/10)
Curious about what EFF thinks can help keep young people safe online while protecting the privacy of all users? Check out our Age Verification Hub at https://eff.org/age or read our Privacy First whitepaper. https://www.eff.org/wp/privacy-first-better-way-address-online-harms (9/10)
Age Verification and Age Gating: Resource Hub
Age verification (or age-gating) laws generally require online services to check, estimate, or verify all users’ ages—often through invasive tools like ID checks, biometric scans, or other dubious “age estimation” methods—before granting them access to certain online content or services. Governments in the U.S. and around the world are increasingly adopting these restrictive measures in the name of protecting children online. But in practice, these systems create dangerous new forms of surveillance, censorship, and exclusion. Technologically, the age verification process can take many forms: collection and analysis of government ID, biometric scans, algorithmic or AI-based behavioral or user monitoring, digital ID, the list goes on. But no matter the method, every system demands users hand over sensitive and immutable personal information that links their offline identity to their online activity. Once that valuable data is collected, it can easily be leaked, hacked, o
eff.orgRead the full blog where we go more in depth with the flaws of the KIDS Act: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/kids-act-would-require-age-checks-get-online. (10/10)
The KIDS Act Would Require Age Checks To Get Online
Within the next week, Congress is preparing to vote on the KIDS Act, a sprawling package of legislation that seeks to control Americans’ web browsing and private messaging. The package includes a revised version of the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, combined with a collection of other internet...
www.eff.org@eff
From what I am reading, this wouldn't be enforce for several years, and would need to go through all sorts of legal hurdles and other process type stuff.
Is that true? It isn't implemented the moment that it passes. Not to say that it isn't significant.
@eff
Minor until proven adult.
And compliant.
Outlaw until proven subject.