Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA): Problems and Pitfalls

American voters are famous for our focus on domestic, not international affairs. However, conservatives and libertarians in the US should be paying close attention to events across the pond—and not just because President Trump recently wrapped up a visit to Scotland so we’ve seen plenty of British and Scottish flags flying on our TV screens of late.

While debate in the US rages about whether and how to further regulate Big Tech, with a huge number of our Members of Congress continuing to push the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), the United Kingdom just put our version of the law into effect. The problems and pitfalls have been voluminous, and range from the comical to the very serious.

Let’s start with the amusing, because who doesn’t need a laugh right now.

Initially, news broke that Wikipedia was contemplating throttling traffic because of the Online Safety Act’s diktats. If you’re thinking “what could possibly be harmful about Wikipedia,” you’re not alone. Unfortunately, because the law mandates that platforms block minors from accessing legal content that could be “harmful,” or—in the case of bigger platforms or sites—face fines of the higher of up to £18 million or 10% of their annual turnover, the “free encyclopedia” is in the firing line. That’s because, well, it contains articles like “Bulimia nervosa,” “Suicide methods,” and “Oxford child sex abuse ring.” Educational? Sure. Harmful? Apparently. 

Spotify also became inaccessible to British users who didn’t want to verify their age, as did pizza delivery.