House passes child online safety package in bipartisan vote

On Monday night, the House passed a sweeping bill aimed at protecting kids online in a 267-117 vote. HR 7757, or the "Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act," shortened to "KIDS Act," is a package that includes portions of 14 digital safety bills. The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.

The bill takes aim at social media and AI chatbots, with provisions including platforms being required to have technology verification measures to block minors from accessing sexual material, restrictions on disappearing messages functions, implementing default safeguard settings for minors, restrictions on conducting market or product-focused research on minors, require online gaming providers to implement by default the most protective level of safeguards, and require AI chatbots to clearly disclose that it is not a real person.

Per The Hill, this is the first time a version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) has made it out of the lower chamber. KOSA has been introduced by lawmakers four times in four years. The package includes a version of KOSA that eliminated a duty of care provision that was in KOSA, which would have required platforms to "exercise reasonable care" to prevent harms, such as suicide, eating disorders, and sexual exploitation, to minors.

While KOSA passed the Senate in 2024, House Republicans expressed concerns over censorship and freedom of speech, preventing it from hitting the House floor.

Rep. Brett Guthrie, who introduced the bill, said earlier on Monday that the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which he chairs, “worked hard to reach a workable compromise.”

“While no single bill will solve every challenge facing families online, this legislation represents a significant and long-overdue step forward in establishing meaningful safeguards,” Guthrie said. “It is an important milestone — not a finish line — in the effort to better protect children online and hold bad actors accountable.”

Democratic senators urged House lawmakers ahead of the vote to reject the KIDS Act. Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who co-sponsored KOSA, expressed concerns that some in the tech industry will exploit misunderstandings between the two differing bills that share names, per Politico. Canwell said, "We’re not going to let bad legislation with a good title just get across and think somebody’s done something."

Senator Marsha Blackburn, who has argued that KOSA’s duty of care provision is the most important part of KOSA, is reportedly in separate negotiations with the White House over a deal that would include the Senate’s version of KOSA. Two sources familiar with the discussions told The Hill that the White House told a group of tech and policy organizations earlier in June that the package could also include the House’s version of the App Store Accountability Act, as well as language on preemption of some state laws.