{"id":3079,"date":"2026-06-29T23:09:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T23:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=3079"},"modified":"2026-06-29T23:09:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T23:09:38","slug":"house-passes-kids-online-safety-package-setting-up-battle-with-senate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=3079","title":{"rendered":"House passes kids online safety package, setting up battle with Senate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The House on Monday passed bipartisan legislation designed to protect kids online, setting up a clash with the Senate over key policy differences that have stymied progress for years.<\/p>\n

Read more America\u2019s misguided minimum wage meltdown<\/a><\/p>\n

The 267-117 vote marked the first time the full House waded into the kids\u2019 online safety debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe need for action has never been clearer,\u201d said Florida GOP Rep. Gus Bilirakis, one of the lead authors of the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cNearly half of American teenagers say they are online almost constantly,\u201d he said. \u201cAbout half spend four or more hours a day on screens for leisure, and 95% have a smartphone in their pocket, placing them in a digital environment that too often prioritizes engagement and profit over safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

The House package, called the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act, or KIDS Act, includes more than a dozen bills lawmakers on the Energy and Commerce Committee have worked on for years.<\/p>\n

The centerpiece of the package is the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, which requires social media companies to set minors\u2019 accounts to the strongest safety and privacy settings by default, implement more parental controls and alter design features that drive compulsive use.<\/p>\n

Other bills included in the package would block private messaging for children younger than 13 and disappearing messaging features for teens younger than 17; implement safeguards for minors interacting with AI chatbots and using interactive video game platforms; and establish age verification requirements for pornographic websites.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis legislation is the most comprehensive, impactful children\u2019s online safety package Congress has considered,\u201d said Rep. Brett Guthrie, the panel\u2019s chairman.<\/p>\n

The Kentucky Republican said the KIDS Act is \u201can important milestone, not a finish line\u201d that will give the House leverage in eventual negotiations with the Senate.<\/p>\n

The Senate has not advanced a comprehensive package yet this Congress, but it passed a version of KOSA in 2024 that has served as the north star for many lawmakers and advocacy groups involved in the fight against Big Tech.<\/p>\n

The House-passed version omits a \u201cduty-of-care\u201d provision that senators say provides the teeth for enforcing KOSA\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n

The absence of that legal standard means social media companies will not be held accountable for driving \u201caddictive, toxic content through their algorithms and other technology at children,\u201d said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, coauthor of the Senate version.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you make a toaster and it blows up in somebody\u2019s kitchen because of a defect, you\u2019re liable. If you make a car that drives into a tree because of defective brakes, you can be held responsible in court,\u201d the Connecticut Democrat said. \u201cIf you\u2019re Big Tech, you\u2019re off the hook.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Kim Schrier, Washington Democrat and a House coauthor of KOSA, said she is supporting the KIDS Act as \u201ca step forward to finally passing comprehensive legislation,\u201d but that she would like to see the legislation improved in negotiations with the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m continuing to call for duty of care and language that goes further to hold social media companies accountable for the many harms that their platforms are causing, including serious mental health issues like anxiety, depression, addiction, eating disorders, and suicidality,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The omission of the duty of care was one reason Democrats opposed the version of the KIDS Act the Energy and Commerce panel approved in March. They also objected to language Republicans added to all the bills in the package to preempt states from enacting or enforcing similar laws.<\/p>\n

Read more Is King Charles\u2019 redefinition of the monarchy a rejection of God?<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Guthrie and New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the panel\u2019s top Democrat, spent the months after the markup negotiating additional changes and announced a bipartisan deal last week.<\/p>\n

Key to winning Democrats\u2019 support was a change in the preemption language that would ensure all states adhere to the federal standards in the bill at a minimum but allow them to regulate beyond that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe KIDS Act is a floor, not a ceiling,\u201d Mr. Pallone said. \u201cThe preemption language in the KIDS Act was written with the explicit intent of ensuring that states have the authority to pass and enforce stronger state laws, including those with the duty of care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Pallone also secured the addition of a provision requiring data brokers that sell miners\u2019 data to register with the Federal Trade Commission and pay an annual fee, which he said would bring much-needed transparency to a secretive process.<\/p>\n

Parental advocates who lost their children to social-media-fueled suicides and drug overdoses are split over the KIDS Act.<\/p>\n

Leaders of a grassroots group called Parents RISE oppose the bill because it explicitly says that none of the requirements in the measure may be viewed as imposing a duty of care.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t protect our children. It protects Big Tech,\u201d Parents RISE founder Kristin Bride said. \u201cA bill like the KIDS Act is worse than having no bill at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another group called Parents for Safe Online Spaces, or ParentsSOS, is supporting the House bill, despite still wanting to see the duty of care added in any final version negotiated with the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bipartisan package contains meaningful improvements that our members have advocated for, including provisions that protect states\u2019 ability to issue stronger regulations and hold tech companies accountable for the presence of children and teens on their platforms,\u201d the group said in a statement.<\/p>\n

ParentsSOS cited the bill\u2019s provisions to limit features that drive compulsive use, ban targeted advertising to minors and prevent contact from unknown adults, as well as an improved \u201cknowledge standard that prevents tech companies from pretending they do not know preteens are on their platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The knowledge standard, the legal definition that will be used in court to hold social companies accountable to provisions in the bill, has changed through various rewrites of the bill.<\/p>\n

The version the House passed on Monday includes multiple definitions of knowledge.<\/p>\n

In the KOSA section, it means \u201cto know or should have known.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another part of the bill, it is defined as \u201cactual knowledge or to have acted in willful disregard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latter is \u201ctoo weak,\u201d said Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee that has jurisdiction over kids safety legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you lessen than that standard, you can\u2019t prove it\u201d in court, she said.<\/p>\n

The standard in the Senate version of KOSA allows for \u201cactual knowledge or knowledge fairly implied on the basis of objective circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Why an expired wiretapping law is a sticking point in Washington<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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