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"The section raising the most eyebrows is dubbed the "duty of care." According to the bill, social media companies are required to implement measures to prevent and mitigate issues like "anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and suicidal behaviors."

Although transition has been proven to improve mental health among transgender people and reduce the risk of suicide, Republicans in state legislatures across the United States this year have issued faulty arguments that being transgender “harms minors mental health” and that exposure to transgender content and people is dangerous... Recently, seven state attorneys general co-signed a letter arguing that LGBTQ+ merchandise could be classified as obscene and detrimental to minors. In Montana, a bill was nearly amended to ban “acts of transgenderism” on the internet as harmful to minors. Given this context, it's easy to foresee how they might wield the new bill to target transgender content online.

Later, the bill empowers state attorneys general to file suit to force compliance with the bill. For those who have been monitoring the actions of state attorneys general in states with anti-transgender agendas this year, the potential weaponization of such legislation against transgender people is abundantly clear...

This is not purely a matter of speculation. Anti-LGBTQ+ organizations have explicitly stated their intentions regarding the bill... [And] In perhaps the clearest example of red flags against this law, one of the biggest sponsors of the bill, Senator Marsha Blackburn, stated that the bill would be used to “protect minor children from the transgender [sic] in our culture.”

Even without targeted measures, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) could have severely detrimental consequences for LGBTQ+ online content. Social media platforms are already known for self-censoring such content. Reports from GLAAD indicate that LGBTQ+ material often faces demonetization, removal, or shadow-banning. Further complicating the issue, some content moderators work in social or cultural contexts where LGBTQ+ activities are either illegal or socially stigmatized. This situation frequently leads to insufficient training, resulting in the unwarranted suppression of legitimate LGBTQ+ content. KOSA would institutionalize such practices, increasing the likelihood of such censorship. Given the risks of legal action from state attorneys general, platforms would likely engage in preemptive self-censorship of LGBTQ+ material."