en.Wedoany.com Reported - On June 29, local time, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act with 267 votes in favor and 117 against. The bill requires online platforms to provide methods for children to limit addictive features and establish policy mechanisms to protect children from severe online harms such as sexual exploitation. Supported by bipartisan lawmakers, the bill marks a significant legislative move by the U.S. House in recent years to advance children's online safety, bringing platform default safety settings, child privacy protection, parental tools, and big tech accountability back to the forefront of regulation.
This bill is not a single provision patch but a comprehensive package addressing multiple children's online safety issues. The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee had previously reached a compromise on child safety default settings, child and teen privacy, data broker transparency, parental protection tools, and platform responsibility.
The core focus of the bill is to impose clearer design responsibilities on platforms when children use internet services. Platforms must provide ways for children or families to limit features that easily induce prolonged use and establish policies to reduce the risk of minors encountering sexual exploitation, harmful content, and other serious injuries. Democratic Representative Lori Trahan emphasized during the bill's promotion that many families have already suffered self-harm and death due to online safety issues, and big tech companies cannot focus solely on stock prices and user engagement time. Platforms must embed child safety into default settings rather than leaving parents to navigate complex options for protection.
The U.S. Senate previously passed a related version of the Kids Online Safety Act in 2024 with 91 votes in favor and 3 against. The Senate version proposes stronger "duty of care" requirements, mandating that social media companies adhere to higher standards when dealing with young users.
The version passed by the U.S. House may still face coordination pressure with the Senate's proposal. Some senators support stricter platform accountability, and Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn is also communicating with the White House to push for a larger legislative package containing children's online safety provisions. If the two chambers ultimately reach a unified text, U.S. online platforms, social media, gaming services, app stores, and digital products targeting minors will face new compliance requirements, including safety default settings, addictive feature restrictions, child data protection, and harm prevention mechanisms. The bill's progress also indicates that U.S. children's online safety regulation is moving from hearings and industry criticism into a more concrete phase of reshaping platform rules.
