The Kids Act has bit been voted on by Congress yet, saw a user who was talking about misinformation provided by AI users on TT.
While itâs still TBD on when Congress will vote on The Kids Act (which has various age verification bills, such as KOSA), They will be back in session on the 13th of July.
This gives us enough time to call our Senators to tell them to OPPOSE The Kids Act. Continue to Call, Fax, even email your senators on rejecting this bill. Yes, Congress does not like the House version of KOSA, so they have rejected it the previous times, please continue to email/call.
Link will take you to a Beacons (similar to Linktree) with information of KOSA, as well as a way to contact your Senators. You can also use the 5 calls app, which have scripts and other bills you can call about. There is also TT pages to users who have more in depth information about KOSA.
@omarsbigsister: Call Script & Resources For KOSA, Bad Internet Bills. Featured links: Call Script & Resources For KOSA, Bad Internet Bills.
kosa passed house, unfortunately. not the best news to hear
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)
All of the bad internet bills. One website.
Spend 5 minutes. Make 5 calls. Make your voice heard.
Just called my senator and the aide said "Yeah, you're not the first person we've heard from about this today." It is 9:45 in the morning and she already had that weary tone.
Come to think of it, it really is insane that my entire country is burning alive and literally no one in the rest of the world cares. Thousands of Indians are dying every day from the heat, it's 45+ degrees in multiple areas, the government couldn't give two fucks, we're getting severe warnings and red alerts, and not a soul outside of South Asia is speaking about it because why would you ever care about brown people
Mexico amends its constitution to cut the maximum workweek from 48 to 40 hours by 2030 and gives 13.5 million workers the legal right to ign
Mexico amends its constitution to cut the maximum workweek from 48 to 40 hours by 2030 and gives 13.5 million workers the legal right to ignore their bossâs calls, messages, and emails after their shift ends, in the most significant overhaul of Mexican labor law in a generation.
Mexico has rewritten its constitution to guarantee every worker in the country a shorter working week, a legal right to switch off from work after hours, and a guarantee that no employer can cut their pay in response, enacting in a single legislative package a set of labor rights that workers in wealthier countries have spent decades campaigning for without success.
Transphobia is about to be signed into law in the UK. We can fight this.
I am begging the UK trans community and its allies to attend the Mass Lobby at Parliament on June 25th, 11am-4pm, organised by Trans Solidarity Alliance.
Last year we broke the record for an LGBT+ mass lobby of Parliament. Will you help us break it again? Join us on 25th June 2026 to demand be
The new EHRC Code of Practice pushes trans people out of toilets, hospital wards, and community spaces. It normalises gender policing based on appearance and stereotypes. It becomes statutory guidance in the UK by the end of June.
Trans people are now legally their assigned gender at birth and must join gendered spaces accordingly, but if they are perceived as their lived gender, they can also be ejected from those spaces. The guidance says: either break the law, or donât pass too well.
A mass lobby is where you invite your MP to discuss your concerns with you in-person. Ask your MP to:
Demand full parliamentary scrutiny, debate, and use their free vote on the EHRC Code of Practice.
Support any motions rejecting the EHRC guidance. As of June 4th, Labour MP Nadia Whittome has submitted a prayer motion - Early Day Motion 240, please ask your MP to sign this.
Write to Bridget Phillipson, the Minister for Women and Equalities about our concerns
Your MP does not have to be an ally, they do not have to respond to your email for you to show up and greencard them (details below the cut.) What matters is that as many people as possible show up.
I cannot stress this enough: Showing up in person matters. It is much more effective than petitions, emails, and letters.
It is a horrible, stressful time, and I am so sorry if you're trans and live in the UK. But I was at last year's mass lobby and the line for greencarding alone stretched around the back gates. It was a record breaking mass lobby and made us impossible to ignore. Let's do even better this time. Details under the cut:
Worried about what to say?
Bring your personal worries about transphobia being signed into law, and trans friends being excluded from public spaces. You are a living person who deserves dignity. Remind your MP of that. You will also get guidance and brochures from Trans Solidarity Alliance that outlines our demands. This is mine from last year.
Money issues?
Trans Solidarity Alliance provides a travel bursary that you can sign up for via the link.
Got a refusal or no response from your MP?Â
Come anyway! You can request a same-day appointment with your MP through a process called greencarding. They will come and see you if theyâre already in Parliament. Even if they donât, theyâre made acutely aware of your cause because you showed up in person. This is my greencard from last year.
Here is the EHRC Code of Practice in full. It's a tough read, but some highlights are:
Organisations canât provide trans-inclusive, single-sex services, or they risk being sued for discrimination.
e.g. domestic violence support for women including trans women, menâs rugby group including trans men (12.68).
Trans people will have nowhere safe to pee.
If youâre a trans man, businesses can't allow you to pee in the men's, and you can also be ejected from womenâs bathrooms if youâre perceived as a man. Vice versa for trans women. EHRC suggests a âthird spaceâ bathroom, which is discriminatory and unworkable for most businesses. (13.130-133)
Sports organisations must exclude trans people from single-sex competitions (13.73).Â
A womenâs only sports competition must exclude trans women because of their biological advantage or face potential lawsuits (13.74), but a trans man who has undergone testosterone treatment can also be excluded based on fairness rules (13.81).
Trans women are stripped of the legal definition of âlesbianâ, and therefore no longer have legal protections if theyâre discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation. (2.50, 2.92).
Here is the Good Law Project's better explanation of the EHRC Code.
I have also made a PDF printout of QR codes for the government petition, email your MP tool, and mass lobby link to pass around your communities. DM me and I'll send it to you.
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!
Voting Resources for the 2026 U.S. Midterm Elections
**please note these resources can also be used for the primary elections and special elections!
GENERAL ELECTION DATE: TUESDAY NOVEMBER 3RD, 2026
This is a guide for everything you need to know about voting in the U.S. in the next major election - the 2026 midterm. I will be updating as needed - you may need to go to this actual post since I am adding things constantly and once it is reblogged by someone it doesnât update automatically in the reblogs when I add something, or you can click here for the most recent version of this post! If you have a question about voting, registration, or anything else please send me an ask or message. State specific deadlines and info listed under the cut! Even if you have a super unique situation, I will absolutely research it for you! (You can also view this as a google doc!)
**if you see something is incorrect, or has changed recently and I have not updated accordingly, please let me know!
Every seat in the House of Representatives is up for election!
What district am I in?
Who is my current rep?
What is the house of reps?
Critical House races
Find your current rep's congressional voting history and ideology
Governor races
Is my state having a governor election?
Senate races
Is there a senate race for my state?
What is the senate?
Who are my current senators?
Critical Senate races
General voting info
REGISTER TO VOTE
Already registered? Double check your registration has been accepted and validated
Copyright class actions could financially ruin AI industry, trade groups say.
AI industry groups are urging an appeals court to block what they say is the largest copyright class action ever certified. Theyâve warned that a single lawsuit raised by three authors over Anthropicâs AI training now threatens to âfinancially ruinâ the entire AI industry if up to 7 million claimants end up joining the litigation and forcing a settlement.
Authors have until March 30th, 2026 (That is just 9 days as of this reblog, which I am posting on March 21st, 2026) to file their claim against Anthropic to be reimbursed up to $3,000 per work found in the list.
Updated February 18, 2026 IMPORTANT: The Claims Deadline Is March 30 Background Bartz v. Anthropic is one of the major copyright lawsuits b
Please click the above link for all of the exact details of how to file a claim and to check for your works, and share this post as far and wide as you can before March 30th, 2026!
Ok the US Attorney General says that she will remove ICE if MN drops all our sanctuary laws, complies with ICE, hands over all our SNAP, Medicaid and voter rolls. They demand control over our voter registration so they can "ensure free and fair elections".
They want to control our elections.
I am dead serious people call your representatives. Get volunteering. Get protesting. Get LOUD.
They released a letter full of straight up lies. Spread the truth. MAKE NOISE.
read this and remember it. read this and remember that she is going to use the profits of her fucking ego-stroking reboot to decimate trans rights. read this and remember that every time you pay into her IP, you are emboldening her to hurt us more.
our lives matter more than your fucking nostalgia.
trans lives matter more than your fucking nostalgia.
It's also important to note that PBS-funded programs are trying their best to stay afloat despite this! If this news angers you and you have the financial ability to donate, PLEASE throw some money at your local public broadcasting station! If you don't have a local PBS, consider Oregon Public Broadcasting, which has been in continuous operation for over 100 years (first radio, then TV).
people are clowning on this guy on reddit but uhhh let's pause for a minute and ask...so what happens if someone has a skin condition? what if part of their face has been burned? what if they're missing their eyes? and so what if they just have a fuckton of tattoos? recognition algorithms are aligned with the most ""average"" / ""normal"" features which means any deviation gets denied access to shit we didnt need age verification for 1 year ago. i dont care if it's a choice versus not, dont care if it's accessing porn or wikipedia, this needs to stop
Pay attention to the particulars of Mastercard's responses, because this a textbook example of how to create plausible deniability.
"Mastercard has not barred any legal transaction" is, technically, a true statement â because Mastercard is not the one processing the transactions in the first place. Mastercard does not deal directly with any merchant, and in fact typically refuses to communicate with merchants at all; there's always a payment processing service sitting in between Mastercard and the merchant, whether that's Stripe or Paypal or any of dozens of other service providers.
Consequently, there are two layers of service agreements in place: the agreement between Mastercard and the payment processing service, and the agreement between the payment processing service and the merchant. That second layer of service agreements, between the payment processing service and the merchant, is where all of these content restrictions are being imposed. Mastercard can thus truthfully claim that they aren't barring legal transactions.
Now, if you've been paying attention, you've probably already spotted the issue: if the content restrictions are being imposed upon the merchants by individual payment processing services and not by Mastercard, why do all of those payment processing services seem to have exactly the same content restrictions?
That's where the critical sleight of hand comes in: while Mastercard's own terms of service do not require payment processing services to bar transactions of particular types, their ToS does require payment processors to bar transactions which could be damaging to the Mastercard brand. What constitutes damage to the Mastercard brand is not defined; it means whatever Mastercard wants it to mean. The payment processing services are thus in a position where they can be held in breach of Mastercard's terms of service for basically any reason, which gives them a strong incentive not to test any boundaries.
And that's why Mastercard can truthfully say they have never barred any legal transaction: they're never the ones doing the blocking. The layer of payment processing services that sits between Mastercard and the merchants are enforcing those content restrictions, based on a series of unwritten handshake agreements between the payment processors and Mastercard regarding what does and does not constitute acceptable content â and because the particulars of those handshake agreements aren't in writing, Mastercard can assert that their terms of service do not compel payment processing services to bar any legal transaction and technically be telling the truth.
(This is also why payment processors like CCBill that specialise in adult services can exist, incidentally. Since it's all off the books, specialist adult-services payment processors can have their own special arrangements with companies like Mastercard while still technically being under the same terms of service as everyone else.)
Valve just issued a public rebuttal to the press calling Mastercard out directly on their lies: Valve says payment processors specifically cited a Mastercard rule about damaging the brand
"Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so," a Valve representative said. "Mastercard communicated with payment processors and their acquiring banks. Payment processors communicated this with Valve, and we replied by outlining Steamâs policy since 2018 of attempting to distribute games that are legal for distribution.
"Payment processors rejected this, and specifically cited Mastercardâs Rule 5.12.7 and risk to the Mastercard brand."
Not really, no; it was never about protecting the brand, and it's naĂŻve to believe that it was. Mastercard's terms of service for payment processors invoke brand protection because whether or not a given transaction is damaging to the brand is subjective. Having a "no damaging the brand" policy furnishes a pretext for Mastercard to claim that any transaction they please has violated their terms of service with the payment processor in question, and it's essentially impossible for the offending payment processor to prove otherwise.
Well, now, isn't that just wonderful sight @vapidcalico - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
