The House overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan package Monday aimed at strengthening online protections for children, advancing legislation that would establish nationwide standards for digital safety while setting up a showdown with the Senate over the bill’s final form.
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The legislation, known as the KIDS Act, passed 267-117 under a fast-track procedure requiring a two-thirds majority.
Lawmakers face a shrinking window before the August recess to enact online child safety legislation. Despite bipartisan support in the House, significant differences between House and Senate proposals have cast doubt on the bill’s prospects.
The House package would establish baseline federal standards for protecting children online while allowing states to adopt stricter safeguards. It also omits language that would preempt state artificial intelligence laws, an issue expected to remain a point of contention in the Senate.
The compromise measure, backed by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., replaced an earlier version that advanced through committee along party lines.
Supporters described the bill as meaningful progress after years of congressional gridlock over online child safety.
The House package includes restrictions on disappearing messages for minors, requires artificial intelligence chatbots to disclose they are not human and mandates age-verification technology for users seeking access to pornographic material.
The legislation also omits the “duty of care” provision contained in a separate Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act. That provision would require online platforms to design their products with children’s safety as a primary consideration. Its exclusion drew criticism from child safety advocates and a bipartisan group of senators, including Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who is working with the White House on a separate child online safety proposal.
Several Senate Democrats also urged House lawmakers to reject the bill.
Commerce Committee ranking member Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., warned against advancing what she viewed as inadequate legislation.
“We’re not going to let bad legislation with a good title just get across and think somebody’s done something,” Cantwell said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., voted against the measure after citing concerns raised by New York Attorney General Letitia James and a bipartisan coalition of 44 other state attorneys general, who argued the legislation could weaken states’ authority to enforce stronger protections for children.
Privacy advocates also criticized portions of the legislation, arguing its age-verification requirements could require users to surrender additional personal information.
“All users, including kids, deserve strong privacy protections, not mandates to hand over more and more personal details whenever they go online,” Kate Ruane, director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Free Expression Project, said in a statement.
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