[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 190 (Wednesday, November 15, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S5536]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      UNANIMOUS CONSENT OBJECTION

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I am announcing my intent to object to any 
unanimous consent request to proceed to S.1490, the Kids Online Safety 
Act.
  I agree with the sponsors of this bill that social media and online 
games can have a negative impact on the mental health of minors. 
However, this bill makes the mistake of empowering State attorneys 
general already enforcing bans on LGBTQ information and prosecuting 
individuals for helping others receive abortion healthcare. Armed with 
this bill, all a State attorney general would need to do is link the 
content they want to scrub from the internet with causing ``anxiety'' 
or ``depression'' and demonstrate that the platform allowed minors to 
access such content. For everyone except the largest platforms, the act 
of being served with the complaint, no matter how specious, would be 
enough incentive to take down the content in question. Sadly, some 
deep-pocketed groups that promote anti-choice and anti-LGBTQ policies 
are cheerleading the bill for this reason.
  Until the bill is amended to foreclose the ability of State attorneys 
general to wage war on important reproductive and LGBTQ content, I will 
object to any unanimous consent request in relation to this 
legislation.

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