Statement: Meta Latest Big Tech Company to Back KOSA, exposing hypocrisy of “accountability” bill

Yesterday, Meta dropped its opposition to KOSA after reports that it is being packaged by the White House with AI preemption and the App Store Accountability Act, two bills that Meta has lobbied for. Meta now joins Microsoft, Apple, X, Snap, and Pinterest in supporting KOSA, while much of civil society and the city of Boston opposes.

Evan Greer, Director of Fight for the Future, issued the following statement:

“With the news that Meta has dropped opposition to KOSA, more Big Tech companies now support KOSA than oppose it. Silicon Valley giants want legislation like KOSA because it lets them continue to harvest our data while leaving their predatory business model untouched. Even better, it benefits the largest companies while hurting competitors, and lets companies pass the buck to the government when it comes to suppressing large swaths of marginalized people’s speech. Now, when Big Tech social media companies censor LGBTQ+ suicide hotlines for teenagers, they can claim they’re ‘just following the law.’ Meta has already tried to do this with its unsuccessful Oversight Board, and now it can hand over regulation of speech to the government instead.

Meta is the same company that released the slur update, which changed their moderation practices to expressly allow users to dehumanize LGBTQ+ people, in order to buddy up to the Trump administration. Now, it is dropping its opposition to KOSA to work with Senator Marsha Blackburn and Donald Trump and get what they really want: AI preemption. Blackburn is the most hateful member of the Senate, who sees KOSA as a way to protect kids from “the transgender.” The Trump administration has led a well-documented campaign against minorities and marginalized people, with the FTC tasking itself with targeting transgender rights. If KOSA passes, that same FTC will be able to control what you see online. We never expected Big Tech to fight for us, and the low price of their support should give good faith supporters of KOSA pause.

Now that most of Big Tech supports KOSA, every member of Congress who has sponsored KOSA because they think it will reign in Big Tech should be asked by reporters if they still think it’s worth handing Trump the keys to remake the Internet in his image. Will Senator Richard Blumenthal stand next to Mark Zuckerberg at the signing ceremony with Donald Trump?”