House Lawmakers Unveil Bipartisan Child Online Safety Bill

The leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee came to an agreement on kids’ safety online, introducing a bipartisan piece of legislation to protect children online after months of negotiations. 

In a June 22 announcement, Committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) “worked across the aisle for many months” and found “common ground on policies to significantly improve the digital environment for kids.”

This announcement comes after months of negotiations between parties about how regulation of online platforms should be implemented to add protections for minors. 

“Coming into this Congress, we knew that protecting children and teens online would be one of the most significant challenges this committee would have to address,” the chairman and ranking member said in a joint statement. 

“Through empowering parents, establishing safety as a default, strengthening privacy for children and teens, increasing transparency around data brokers, and holding Big Tech accountable, the KIDS Act delivers the 21st century protections parents have demanded and our kids deserve.”

According to a representative from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the final revised versions of the bill have not yet been released, but it is a modified version of one introduced and marked up by the committee in March of this year.

The legislation would form a partnership between federal agencies to identify harms and suggest solutions. The legislation also includes a focus on making more parental tools available, and the use of widely accepted or evidence-based best practices related to age verification, assurance, and estimation techniques; design features, and privacy settings.

According to the Commerce committee, the current bill includes portions of the SCREEN Act, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, the No Fentanyl on Social Media Act, the Kids Internet and Safety Partnership Act, and other previous legislation.

KOSA, which had versions in the House and Senate, aimed to hold social media companies accountable for the alleged harm to minors and young kids. 

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who co-authored the Senate version of the legislation, commented on X on the House action, which amended the prior legislation, saying, “KOSA without a duty of care isn’t KOSA—it’s a blank check to Mark Zuckerberg to exploit children.”

“The House’s toothless & tepid capitulation is dead in the Senate & a betrayal of families suffering from Big Tech’s greed.”

The Senate version’s other author, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), has championed the legislation to senators and the White House, garnering the support of 75 of 100 senators: “When Big Tech companies look at our children, they see dollar signs. That’s why these companies design products to addict children and then rake in the cash.”

Lawmakers and concerned groups have been requesting for several years that Congress sunset Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which was signed into law in 1996. The legislation currently protects online platforms from legal liability for actions performed and content generated by users of the host site. 

Bipartisan legislation introduced by Sen. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in December of last year brought forward a proposal to end the legal protection for tech giants. 

“Children are being exploited and abused because Big Tech consistently prioritizes profits over people. Enough is enough. Sunsetting Section 230 will force Big Tech to come to the table to take ownership over the harms it has wrought. And if Big Tech doesn’t, this bill will open the courtroom to victims of its platforms. Parents have been begging Congress to step in, and it’s time we do so. I’m proud to partner with Senator Graham on this effort, and we will push for it to become law,” Durbin said in a December statement.

The legislation was also cosponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who said the statement: “For nearly 30 years, Section 230 has provided Big Tech cover as they turn a blind eye to heinous crimes committed on their platforms … I’m glad to join my bipartisan colleagues in this effort to update our nation’s laws, rein in Section 230 and hold Big Tech accountable.”

This comes just a few weeks after the Federal Communications Commission released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking looking to understand how to better protect children from the negative aspects of educational technology, while supporting positive learning outcomes.

The agency is looking to “seek comment on actions to ensure the E-Rate program advances student learning outcomes and better protects the online safety of children when using E-Rate-funded networks and services, including by limiting screen time.” 

Questions being asked of the public include subjects such as how schools can more effectively protect students from harmful content and excessive screen time, how parents and educators can be empowered to make informed decisions about children’s access to technology, and how enforcement of the Children’s Internet Protection Act can be strengthened.