US House passes kids online safety package, heads to Senate

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a repackaged version of the Kids Online Safety Act on Monday, approving the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act in a 267-117 vote. Built from portions of 14 separate digital safety bills, the package was fast-tracked under a process requiring a two-thirds majority and now heads to the Senate.

The legislation pairs two major thrusts. It requires age verification to access adult content online, and it sets new safety rules for minors on social media, including stronger default privacy settings, parental controls, and limits on design features that drive compulsive use. The package also addresses AI chatbots, children's data protections, and direct messaging.

Notably, the House version dropped KOSA's "duty of care" provision, which would have made platforms legally liable for failing to protect minors from harms like exploitation and self-harm. That omission sets up a fight in the Senate, where KOSA's authors call the provision essential and have vowed to restore it.

Critics across the political spectrum warn that age-verification mandates could push platforms to collect government IDs from all users, creating data-breach and government surveillance risks, while offering little proven protection for children. The bill advanced with strikingly little public attention.