A recent legislative session, marked by significant bipartisan divisions, culminated in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce advancing a suite of child safety bills to the House floor. On Thursday, lawmakers cast votes to move forward the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, Sammy’s Law, and the App Store Accountability Act, the latter of which aims to mandate age-gating within app marketplaces.
The KIDS Act, championed by Congressman Brett Guthrie (R-KY), aggregates various child safety provisions. Notably, this version represents the latest House Republican iteration of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), but crucially omits the "duty of care" clause that is central to the Senate's bipartisan counterpart. This omitted provision in the Senate's bill would compel major tech platforms to actively mitigate risks to minors.
Several Democratic representatives voiced opposition to the proposed legislation, contending that it could impede individual states from fortifying online safeguards for young people. The Kids Online Safety Act has been introduced in various forms over recent years, yet has consistently failed to secure passage.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) articulated strong reservations, labeling the KIDS Act as a "smoke screen" designed to conceal the true agenda of Big Tech lobbyists. Ocasio-Cortez stated, “What big tech lobbyists want is a national surveillance program where they can harvest the private and personal data of every American with zero actual protections for people.” She further highlighted Discord’s recent withdrawal of age verification plans, which followed intense user backlash concerning security and privacy, particularly regarding its partnership with the third-party verification platform, Persona.
“[Discord] tried to roll out this idea of a data verification or an age verification technique, but they did it in this way that was also very emblematic of what we’re against here today,” Ocasio-Cortez remarked. She added, “What’s more shocking is that Discord made the decision to move forward with this after they had been hacked, and at least 70,000 users had their data stolen.” Last year, Discord confirmed that a “small number” of government identification images were compromised during a hack targeting a third-party customer service provider, a service it has since discontinued.
Additional stipulations within the legislative package include imposing age verification mandates for app store downloads and purchases, as well as for accessing adult content online. Beyond restricting companies from designing platforms in ways that foster "compulsive usage," the KIDS Act also incorporates a requirement for AI chatbot developers to explicitly inform minors that they are interacting with an artificial intelligence system, not a human. The KIDS Act successfully cleared the Committee with a roll call vote of 28 to 24.
The Committee also endorsed the App Store Accountability Act, which passed with a 26 to 23 vote. This bill seeks to implement age verification at the app store level to prevent minors from downloading age-restricted content. Furthermore, Sammy’s Law received approval, a bill mandating that major social media platforms equip parents with third-party tools to manage their children's online interactions and account settings. The House Committee opted not to vote on the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0), following its unanimous passage by the Senate’s Commerce Committee.
The issue of app store-level age verification has ignited a contentious debate among technology giants. While companies such as Meta and Spotify advocate for these checks to alleviate pressure on their own services, major app store proprietors like Apple and Google are actively lobbying against such an approach, a conflict evident in states like Utah and Louisiana.
Morgan Wilsmann, a policy analyst at the nonprofit think tank Public Knowledge, commented in a statement, “Lawmakers continue spending time on bills that simply pass on the responsibility for child safety online entirely to parents, rather than pushing platforms to make their products safer for everyone.” Wilsmann acknowledged certain "bright spots" in the approved legislation, particularly bills that compel tech companies to enhance platform design for child safety. She concluded, “We hope Congress can push forward conversations around what actually perpetuates harms to kids online — namely, risky design features like live chat with strangers or endless scroll — rather than content young users may come across.”
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