A leading United States public policy research organization is warning that proposed legislation intended to protect children online could ultimately weaken free speech, undermine privacy, reduce innovation and, in some cases, make children less safe.

The warning comes from the Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute, one of the United States’ best-known public policy think tanks, in a policy analysis examining the proposed Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act and the App Store Accountability Act currently before the U.S. Congress.

The report, authored by Cato Institute scholars David Inserra, Jennifer Huddleston and Christopher Gardner, argues that while policymakers may have good intentions, “good intentions are not enough to make good policy.”