#section 230

Since Thursday our politicians have been trying to rush the 'Kids Online Safety Act' (KOSA) and SCREEN acts alongside 15 other bills through committee in order to censor the internet while lying about it being for child safety. It was such laws that allowed the UK, Australia, and Europe to become the hellholes they are where youre arrested for mean posts.

Sadly, our same leaders are also trying to repeal Section 230 alongside these bills. What Section 230 does, in simple terms, is categorize stuff you make online as part of your freedom of speech.

KOSA and the other age-verification bills we've been watching have been passed out of their subcommittee in the House and are now before the full House Energy and Commerce Committee. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BE A DOOMER OR PANIC. Why? Because KOSA and these other bills were passed along party lines and with only a slim majority. THAT MEANS OUR OPPOSITION IS WORKING, not only that, but we know that no matter how much they tout these bills as being popular and bipartisan, there is a clear divide amongst them, and they DO NOT all agree with these bills. Now, it's up to us to continue our opposition by calling, emailing, and faxing, so we don't lose the momentum we've gained this week. Not only should we be consistently acting between now and next week, but we should also be reaching out to others, on and offline, to build and maintain this movement.

I believe we're at a good place, given that lawmakers disagree with and dislike these bills, and we made a lot of noise this week. WE MUST KEEP UP OUR OPPOSITION. Even if you're not hearing much news or things seem slow, call, email, or fax.

Use your energy for opposition. If you're angry, contact representatives and spread the word. If you're scared, contact representatives and spread the word. If you're panicked, contact representatives and spread the word. When I feel all those things, that's what I do to ensure I'm doing my part in helping to stop these bills. You should too.

Thanks to everyone who is making their voices heard. Let's keep making this process difficult for them BECAUSE CALLING MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE.

P.S. When you're calling also mention how you support/want to keep Section 230 as it is written. And I'll probably have more as we hear more.

Linking resources:

it isn't law yet, however. so don't freak out, yet. or at all because the best thing you can do is be calm. it still has to pass senate and that's a fact.

keep calling your reps... especially the ones who have voted specifically for the kids act + kosa. reminder that these aren't the only bad bills they're passing. i forget all of them (since they total as 19, i believe) but the screen act and appstore accountability act are especially alarming.

call, email, fax, and write to your senators! resources are right down below as usual for easy access! (badinternetbills provides you an email script and the names of senators. it's super easy, anyone can do it with just a few clicks. if you don't feel like calling you can wait until after hours and leave a voicemail. you can always write a letter, but i'd advise you do that immediately so it's seen as soon as possible!

and if you can't do any of those, it's okay. just keep spreading the word and not only on tumblr. make videos to post online and persuade family into contacting local congress as well (but be careful with who you tell, because they might just be in favor of these bills)

Which, stopping pedos sounds good, but this bill will not do that.

The EFF has more on it, but the long and short is what it will do is basically outlaw encryption as inherently suspect by way of people being potentially liable if anyone could do anything with it, and it carves out Section 230 to do so.

Which, if you don't know, means that websites are gonna massively overcorrect and ban basically anything that could set it off, and if you don't think that's a big deal, remember that the last time that happened was FOSTA-SESTA, which kicked off the censorship wave that fucked over a lot of sites including Tumblr, and also didn't do dick for its stated purpose of stopping sex trafficking.

It's currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee, so if you see any of your state's Senators in the list of members, CALL THEM ASAP, and even if they aren't, call your senators and especially your House reps and tell them you do not want this censorship law rammed into a must-pass bill without public debate.

SEE WHAT WE CAN DO WHEN WE COME TOGETHER!!!!! 🌐⭐️🫂🎉

Thank you, @flare4688 , for sharing this amazing news :) 🎉❤️!

Link to bluesky in case you need it:

https://bsky.app/profile/evangreer.bsky.social/post/3mlr37orvx22p

Our voices matter!