Coalition of AGs Oppose Federal KIDS Online Safety Act

A bipartisan coalition of 42 state attorneys general on May 27 said they oppose a Republican bill aimed at protecting children online, alleging that the federal legislation would weaken states’ regulations and insulate tech companies from accountability.

The group, which also includes the attorneys general for the District of Columbia and the Northern Mariana Islands, sent a letter to Congress claiming that the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, introduced by Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) this year, would preempt existing state laws that address online harms for minors.

“The deck is stacked against young people online,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement. “Some of the world’s most gifted designers are building apps, programs, and websites to addict young people, and those young people need our help. Unfortunately, the KIDS Act misses the mark in several extremely significant ways.”

Ellison said state laws already address rules for social media harms, obscenity, social gaming platforms, and artificial intelligence chatbots.

Guthrie did not return a request for comment from The Epoch Times. He introduced the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives because he said it was time for Congress to address online safety for children.

“The KIDS Act is the most serious, comprehensive piece of legislation to address online safety to date,” Guthrie said in March. “There is no one-size-fits-all fix that can help American families navigate the challenges they face in today’s digital childhood. No single policy that can empower parents or fully remove every threat from the internet. That’s precisely why this bill takes a wide-ranging approach.”

The bill brings together multiple proposals into one package, Guthrie said.

It sets safety standards, requiring platforms to maximize protections for children and teens, including setting safeguards against obscene and restricted products, unsafe communication, and design features that result in compulsive usage.

The bill also empowers parents by requiring platforms to provide easy-to-use parental controls through a centralized interface.

The legislation also protects privacy and security by banning targeted advertising and market research on children and teens. It requires the strongest privacy settings by default and establishes strict privacy and security standards for personal information.

It also holds tech companies accountable by mandating annual third-party audits and robust enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission.

The bill has cleared the House Committee on Energy and Commerce markup phase.

The opposing coalition of attorneys general expressed support for a U.S. Senate version of the KIDS Act, called the Kids Online Safety Act, which includes a key duty of care provision requiring online platforms to act in the best interests of minors while preserving states’ authority to enforce stronger protections for children and teens.

The Kids Online Safety Act, introduced by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), is stalled in the Senate Commerce Committee awaiting a formal markup.

The attorneys general of Connecticut, Hawaii, Ohio, and Tennessee joined Ellison to lead the bipartisan coalition against the House version of the KIDS Act.