Taylor Lorenz’s Power User
Taylor Lorenz’s Power User

Congress Just Declared War on the Internet: The Patriot Act For Online Spaces Is Here

June 26, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee this week, a package of bills known as the Kids Act moved forward that Adam Thierer, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, calls "the Patriot Act for the internet." Thierer, who has been working on internet regulation since 1991, describes the legislation as a "hodgepodge" of online safety measures that would require age verification for all internet users, not just children, and impose broad restrictions on content, design features like infinite scroll, and even messaging apps and video games. The driving force, he argues, is a familiar moral panic about youth and new technology, now supercharged by bipartisan political pressure to "hold big tech accountable" — a phrase lawmakers use as a universal excuse for sweeping regulation.

The Silver Bullet Fallacy and Unintended Consequences

Thierer identifies the core problem as lawmakers' "elusive search for a silver bullet solution." When he speaks with congressional staff, they ask for a simple fix to online safety concerns. His response is blunt: "Well, there's not a simple fix. This is hard. And there's gonna be massive unintended consequences if we go with these silver bullet solutions they're proposing today."

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (02:00) **What Is the Kids Act?** - Adam Tierer describes the bill as a "hodgepodge" of online-safety measures that would impose age verification, content restrictions, and design limitations (e.g., infinite scroll) across the entire internet.
  • 2 (03:44) **Motivations Behind the Laws** - A mix of moral panic over youth using new technology and a bipartisan desire to "hold big tech accountable," even if lawmakers don't understand what that means.
  • 3 (05:31) **Unintended Consequences of Age Verification** - Mandatory ID checks would force all users (including adults) to submit facial scans or other personal data, creating massive privacy and security risks.
  • 4 (08:15) **Scope of the Kids Act: Beyond Social Media** - The bill targets messaging apps, gaming platforms, and even VPNs, not just traditional social media.
  • 5 (13:31) **Information Control vs. Child Safety** - The push for regulation is really about controlling news and information ecosystems, using child safety as a cover.
  • 6 (16:27) **Current Status: A Race to the Bottom** - Both the House and Senate are competing to pass the most repressive rules, with no champions for the First Amendment in Congress.
  • 7 (20:42) **The State-Level Patchwork Problem** - Hundreds of conflicting state laws are passing, creating a regulatory nightmare even if federal efforts stall.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

The Kids Act Could End Internet Freedom As We Know It. 

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A massive new package of legislation, dubbed the "Kids Act," is moving through Congress with unprecedented speed. The package is a broad-based censorship and surveillance scheme that will affect every single American.

In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I sit down with Adam Thierer, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), to break down the terrifying reality of what’s happening in Washington D.C. right now. Adam, who has been fighting for internet freedom since the 1990s, explains how these laws demand mass age verification (which applies to adults too), regulate design features like infinite scroll, and even target messaging apps and VPNs.

 

We also dive into the 1,800 AI bills popping up across states, Bernie Sanders' misguided plans for AI, and why the government is moving to create an identity layer for the entire internet. We also discuss the toxic brew of "moral panic," fake anti-big tech sentiment, and censorship that is driving this legislation forward.

Topics covered:

  • What the Kids Act is and how it passed committee

  • Mass age verification and the internet ID layer

  • The end of online anonymity

  • Why messaging apps and video games are targets

  • State laws controlling the national internet

  • State AI preemption and Bernie Sanders' AI plans

  • The history of internet censorship from 1996 to today

#AI #Tech #TechNews #InternetFreedom #KidsAct #Censorship #TechPolicy #OnlinePrivacy #AILaws #VPNBan #FreeSpeech #MassSurveillance #FirstAmendment #BigTech #BernieSanders #KOSA #DataPrivacy


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