The legislation faces an uphill battle in the Senate.
Deep fucking sigh. The SAVE America Act, or the voting rights overhaul that restricts mail-in voting and voter registration, requires presentation of a passport or birth certificate to register and a state ID at the polls, and now Trump wants to throw in anti-trans stuff just because, is in the Senate, and it's unpopular even with Republicans.
You know what you need to do. US citizens, call your Senators. ESPECIALLY if they're Republican. Republicans are balking and your voice is crucial to get them to stand strong.
Always remember: if voting didn't change anything, they wouldn't be trying so hard to make it illegal.
Diamonds and platinum, I find them, I flatten them, I take what I'm handed, I break what's demanded // A Gem could crack, under so much pressure.
((AKA the Steven Universe + Surface Pressure AMV, because hot damn y'all. This was SO much fun to make.)) ((spoilers through the entirety of SU/Future)) (youtube)
YES, YOU CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT DISCORD'S AGE VERIFICATION
But while cancelling Nitro and boycotting Discord CAN be a form of protest, it sadly may not be effective.
Why? Bc their hands are tied due to the recent trend in age verification bills worldwide.
All of the bad internet bills. One website.
This site helps send emails to your lawmakers to oppose certain Internet bills in the US, many of which would push age verification if passed
HOWEVER, calling your lawmakers on the phone is most effective.
If you're not in the US, you can still help by spreading the word.
The only way to prevent age verification (On Discord and ALL other social media platforms) is to prevent the bills that are forcing it. Look at the site for more info
While there have been age verification laws put in place in other countries, in the US there are currently such laws in only three states, and I believe one is not in fact while there are appeals and lawsuits going on.
Discord is obeying in advance, which is the worst thing to do when dealing with encroaching authoritarianism.
And yes, age verification laws are a form of authoritarianism, using the power of government to quash free expression under a pretext, in this case the pretext of protecting children.
They have already started walking back the impact of their new rule and how it will be implemented, and that is a direct response to how many people have let them know that it's not OK. You have to keep doing that in addition to talking to your lawmakers about why age verification schemes are inherently dangerous without actually providing the claimed benefit, and that if children need to be protected from online content, that's the job of parents.
As of February, we still need to protect Section 230 and say no to internet censorship bills like KOSA! Please call your reps with the above quick steps!
Link + script here
And while you're at it, tell them no on the SAVE act which would cause problems in voting for anyone with a name that doesn't match their birth certificate.
Remember, if you live in the USA, these are the bills to ask your senators/congress to shoot down
Tell your congress or senators to say NO to these proposed nationwide laws:
S.1748 - Kids Online Safety Act
S.1409 - Kids Online Safety Act
H.R.1623 - SCREEN Act
S.737 - SCREEN Act
S.5364 - App Store Accountability Act
H.R.791 - Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act
Block BEARD
Kids Online Protection & Anti-Grooming Act
S.278 - Kids Off Social Media Act
S.4213 - Kids Off Social Media Act
H.R.7891...
BREAKING NEWS:
Another state in the US has joined in on the censorship of the internet. This comes after red and blue states are pushing similar bills.
What "HB 4938" within Michigan does is Outlaw VPNs entirely with $500k fines for using or selling them. Require 24/7 surveillance of all internet traffic for users. Restrict porn, erotic AI, ASMR, manga, and even depictions of trans people. Add porn distributors to the sex offender registry and carry up to 25 years in prison for violations.
I know americans are busy with fighting KOSA but I urge you to please help us by spreading the word about this, I can't say this enough, if chat control passes, citizen's private messages will be scanned via artifical intelligence,and they must comply,otherwise theyre not allwoed to send pictures,videos,or links anymore.
We have a discord server made to organize against it,with emails scripts you can use when contacting your meps :
https://discord.com/invite/e7FYdYnMkS
Find your meps and tell them to vote no on this :
Search for a Member per geographical map of the European Union
Unfortunately, this is legit. Via Tech Radar, August 1, 2025. More details:
Denmark has reintroduced the disputed child sexual abuse (CSAM) scanning bill on the first day of its EU Presidency
The so-called Chat Control proposal could be adopted as early as October 14, 2025
The proposal has been failing to attract the needed majority since May 2022
Denmark kicked off its EU Presidency on July 1, 2025, and, among its first actions, lawmakers swiftly reintroduced the controversial child sexual abuse (CSAM) scanning bill to the top of the agenda.
Having been deemed by critics as Chat Control, the bill aims to introduce new obligations for all messaging services operating in Europe to scan users' chats, even if they're encrypted.
The proposal, however, has been failing to attract the needed majority since May 2022, with Poland's Presidency being the last to give up on such a plan.
Denmark is a strong supporter of Chat Control. Now, the new rules could be adopted as early as October 14, 2025, if the Danish Presidency manages to find a middle ground among the countries' members.
Crucially, according to the latest data leaked by the former MEP for the German Pirate Party, Patrick Breyer, many countries that said no to Chat Control in 2024 are now undecided, "even though the 2025 plan is even more extreme," he added.
This means that Wikipedia has been banned in the UK, because Wikipedia refuses to require age verification from users in order to access the site. Other countries, including the US, are trying to put similar regulations in place. Basically, requiring people to identify themselves to access any content on the internet that their government considers “inappropriate for children”. This was supposed to be for pornography, but now, it’s so much more…
Governments are essentially moving to make it so that they can track our internet activity. There will be no such thing as privacy and anonymity on the Internet anymore. The world governments will be watching you, not just your own, all of them, and any site that won’t comply with the governments putting these laws into effect, will be banned in those countries.
This is a matter of privacy, of data security (how many places online do you want to be keeping your ID on file? The more that do, the more likely your data is exposed in a data breach), of censorship and of the freedom of information. The UK just banned an online ENCYCLOPEDIA. Not North Korea! Not China! The United Kingdom!!! Because they said it contained information inappropriate for minors, and it had to collect its users personal private data in order to let them see it, and they said no!
S.1748 - Kids Online Safety Act has been introduced in the United States Congress, and Australia and the EU are also looking at similar regulations.
This is just the beginning. This fight is going to be world wide. This isn’t “protecting the children”. This is censorship, and conditioning us to surrender our right to privacy!
Okay so bad news for everyone on YouTube right now
Starting the 13th, we will have an AI determine if we are children or not and if you are a child, than you are forced to send your ID, send a selfie or a credit card
This has the obvious cons of having your privacy being revoked from you and and in case there is a security breach, major identity thefts.
So what do we do in this scenario?
Well right now I have real idea as this is relativity new to me, but I do have two plans
Plan 1. Bug the shit out of them, send letters and send emails about how much of bad idea this is.
Include why the AI will mess up and target adults who watch cartoons, include privacy issues, censorship issues, anything you can think of that relates to this. I want you guys to bug the hell out of YouTube until they reverse this idea
Plan 2. Blackout.
Since the thing is coming out on the 13th.
The plan will be to completely avoid YouTube at all cost for that day, no watching, no sharing, no uploading, no nothing.
Download videos before things go down, watch Netflix. Whatever you do, don’t touch YouTube.
That’s all I can say right now, I also want you guys to let YouTubers know of this situation cause if it’s important for everyone on the website to talk about this immediately
Spread this stuff around, let people know of YouTube’s upcoming policy and how it’ll hurt everyone
Another great idea: everyone who has YouTube Premium should cancel it RIGHT NOW, and make it clear that you are doing so because of the new ID age verification policy. Still have a blackout on August 13th, and watch things on any other video content platform EXCEPT YouTube.
Remember when an Instagram model was selling her nudes to raise money to help fight Australia's wildfires? They deactivated her account over it for "violating community guidelines," and then restored it when people complained.
Remember when the internet went dark in protest over SOPA back in 2012? That act failed too, because people complained.
Remember when Google and Youtube tried to remove adblockers? All its done is make adblockers more common and more effective.
Remember when Steam and Itch.io had a bunch of games disappear because Mastercad and Visa were pressured by banks to stop allowing them? It's further exposed that practice and has brought companies like Valve, game developers and players into an ever-growing anti-censorship cause, and has encouraged many to help preserve and distribute games in the face of it.
These are not signs of a coming era, they're more of the same things we've dealt with over the years. More than anything, they're desperate clawing attempts at control from a puritanical system that knows and is terrified that it's failing.
Stomp on their fingers and push them off the edge.
They're terrified because protests work. Because more and more people are realizing that they need our money more than we need them.
The script to oppose KOSA (the Kids Online Safety Act) is now officially on https://5calls.org/. Call if you wanna kill KOSA again! It's a must if you don't want age verification in the US!
Bill S-209 is 'An Act to restrict young persons’ online access to pornographic material', titled that by the Senator who sponsored it in the Senate.
note: Government laws in Canada are more commonly introduced by the House of Commons but the Senate has the same power. MPs in the House are elected directly by citizens while Senators are appointed by Prime Ministers. Bills from the Senate start with 'S' while bills from the House of Commons start with 'C'. Both parties need to agree on the contents of a bill before it passes into law.
This bill is similar to what's happening with KOSA/SCREEN in the US, OSA in the UK, and even Mastercard/Visa where "protecting the children" is being used as an excuse to level bans of 'pornographic material' online, propose the use of AI to somehow determine people's age to restrict their access to the internet, and force people to submit government ID and/or biometric data in order to "verify their age".
Don't be mistaken, this is a censorship bill. This is not about actually protecting children, this is not about reducing dangerous working conditions within the porn industry, this is not about making the internet safer. This is nothing other than allowing governments to control what you can and can't see online.
But porn is bad! Why shouldn't it be banned?
I'm just going to let @roach-works explain since they did it way better than I can: someone got really mad at me for being pro-pornography.
Also, banning 'pornographic material' is not only extremely broad, it is also an extremely slippery slope, because what always comes next is extending that ban to LGBTQ+ content, sexual or not. Censorship bills need to be stopped early, before it gets to that point.
What can I do to help?
There's a change.org petition floating around but if you're Canadian, you're better off directing your energy to call or write to your Member of Parliament to express your concern.
Find your MP.
Email template made by @sunn-kist.
Remember:
personalize your message (form and template emails can get filtered)
calling your MP is still the most effective
written letters are more effective than emails but I'd recommend both
I know we are all used to hear bad news from the USA or UK when it comes to trans rights but this time Germany wants to play in the same league.
Our idiots at home ministry came up with the fucking idea to start a register for all transgender and nonbinary people which would mean every person working at some public position could always at any given time see your assigned gender at birth, your deadname, your address and who knows what else.
We had been there in the past. Hitler Germany called it the "Travestite Law" back then. Our politicians didn't learn.
We all know this is unacceptable.
Please, if you are German, sign it. If you are not, spread it wide and far.
This had been stopped once a few years ago. It needs to be stopped again.
Hallo, ich bin Penelope Alva Frank, Transfrau, queerfeministische Aktivistin und Gründerin der queerfeministischen Bewegung Queermany.
Ich w
Guys, it got so much freaking worse. KOSA is bad, but SCREEN is even worse, somehow.
Text for S.737 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): SCREEN Act
"Sen. Mike Lee has introduced the SCREEN ACT, a bill that applies the "harmful to minors" standard used to ban LGBTQ+ books and resources in schools and libraries and apply it nationally to the internet.
Any site that has any amount of material "harmful to minors" would be forced to employ surveillance tech (biometric scans, ID uploads, background checks) to prevent minors from accessing "pornography."
You will not be surprised to learn that this is backed by the Heritage Foundation.
Unlike some of the state age-verification laws, many of which are being challenged in court, SC will be enforced by the FTC, which has the ability to levy fines, raid business and freeze bank accounts. Yes, meaning that even non-for-profits like Ao3 will suffer.
This is something for all US users to keep on their radar. Call your reps, call your senators, and spread the word to protect our archive!"
- When talking with Republicans play up the fact that this would force Elon to implement age verification systems on X (yes do call it X during the call). Elon's been threatening to primary Republicans who stand in his way so there's fear of him. Also play up concerns about "Liberals" doxxing people or Chinese hackers.
- When talking with Democrats, play up the connections to Project 2025 and suggest voters will not be happy to see Democrats siding with it.
Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia - Phone: (202) 224-6472
Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming - Phone: (202) 224-3424
Democrats:
Maria Cantwell, Washington (Ranking Member) - Phone: (202) 224-3441
Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota - Phone: (202) 224-3244
Brian Schatz, Hawaii - Phone: (202) 224-3934
Ed Markey, Massachusetts - Phone: (202) 224-2742
Gary Peters, Michigan - Phone: (202) 224-6221
Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin - Phone: (202) 224-5653
Tammy Duckworth, Illinois - Phone: (202) 224-2854
Jacky Rosen, Nevada - Phone: (202) 224-6244
Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico - Phone: (202) 224-6621
John Hickenlooper, Colorado - Phone: (202) 224-5941
John Fetterman, Pennsylvania - Phone: (202) 224-4254
Andy Kim, New Jersey - Phone: (202) 224-4744
Lisa Blunt Rochester, Delaware - Phone: (202) 224-2441
SCRIPT
Hi, my name is [], and I am one of Senator []’s constituents. I live in [city, zip code - leave your full address if leaving a voicemail].
I am calling in regards to a bill that was recently introduced in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transport: the SCREEN act.
I am asking Senator [] to either take no action or vote against this bill because of its implications for freedom of speech. [insert one of the other concerns listed above]. Thank you for your time and for listening to my concerns.
imagine having to dox yourself because you made the mistake of watching a 4 hour mighty morphin power rangers retrospective and the ai decided you were 14 and not 42 like the actual demographic for those videos. sad
like this obviously sucks if you're an adult who enjoys watching animation or doll youtube videos but also i don't think youtube should be tracking 16 year olds because they're afraid of them hearing the word "fuck".
notice how all this censorship crap is happening at once? :)
ever since that right wing religious extremist organization Collective Shout targeted and manipulated payment processors (that are already run by right wing nutjobs) to go after steam and itchio, all this shit is starting to happen at the same time
it may be a tactical "overwhelm bomb" to make people feel powerless, and yeah it may not be that, but it's kinda strange that it's happening all at once
regardless, people need to start calling the shit out of mastercard and visa's phone lines even more
yall in the US need to start calling your representatives about KOSA especially
and people in the EU need to start calling whatever equivalent of a representative they have about all this bullshit as well
companies are now going to start trying to capitalize on invading privacy that has literally been protected for so goddamn long all because of these evil fuckwads that honestly need to get a nail put through their skulls
fucking make a fuss about it. complain the fuck out of shit and flood their goddamn call lines
