Congress moves forward on kids online safety – The Verge

Tim Cook’s lobbying hangs over a key kids online safety vote

2025-12-11T17:50:24-05:00

At a congressional meeting to vote on the future of kids online safety, the most spirited debate of the day was about a bill that wasn't even on the agenda and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

18 bills that aim to regulate the internet to protect children are now headed for a vote before the full Energy and Commerce Committee, possibly as soon as next month. From there, the bills could get a vote on the floor of the House, giving the chamber a chance to set the tone on internet safety legislation after leaving the leading bill passed by the Senate to languish without a vote last year. Meanwhile, several members of the panel voiced suspicion that Big Tec …

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A leading kids safety bill has been poison pilled, supporters say

2025-12-03T11:57:35-05:00

Last year, the House of Representatives was the place where a leading kids online safety bill came to die. On Tuesday, a powerful House committee positioned itself as the place where that bill could be resurrected… along with 18 other proposals.

During a three-hour hearing, an Energy and Commerce subcommittee discussed 19 bills recently packaged together in an effort to make the internet safer for kids. They include a mix of official and draft legislation, including a reworked version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) - the Senate bill that was denied a vote in the House last year after passing 91-3 in the upper chamber - and the App Sto …

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A nationwide internet age verification plan is sweeping Congress

2025-12-01T10:42:50-05:00

For years, lawmakers at the state and federal levels have tried a variety of measures aimed at making kids safer on the internet, from kids-tailored design standards to age verification for individual websites. More recently, a new model has caught on in the states, and now it's gaining steam in Congress: putting the onus on app stores nationwide.

The new approach to age verification orders mobile app stores to verify users' ages, then send that information to apps when users download them. The idea has been around for a while, but it was just this year that the first of these laws was passed in Utah, quickly followed by versions in several …

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House overhauls KOSA in a new kids online safety package

2025-11-25T18:05:55-05:00

The House Energy and Commerce Committee released a package of 19 bills aimed at protecting kids on the internet, teeing Congress up for a chance at passing some of the most substantive internet regulations in recent history, alongside a fight over online speech rights.

The subcommittee on commerce will consider the bills during a hearing on Tuesday, including the contentious Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). KOSA has been the centerpiece of advocacy from parent survivors whose kids died after suffering from a range of online harms, including cyberbullying, sextortion, and drugs purchased through the internet. But the new version of the bill om …

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A contentious kids safety bill might be getting gutted — and nobody’s happy

2025-10-30T18:06:38-04:00

One of the biggest flashpoints for internet regulation, the Kids Online Safety Act, is poised for a revival - but possibly without the central feature that's kept people fighting over it for the past three years.

Since 2022, supporters of KOSA have backed its plan to require web platforms to protect kids from a variety of online harms, imposing what's known as a duty of care. That faction includes parents whose children have died after experiencing cyberbullying, becoming victims of sextortion, or obtaining illegal drugs online. They believe the prospect of new legal liability could make companies change their policies to prevent more trage …

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The Kids Online Safety Act’s last stand

2024-12-18T12:31:29-05:00

Two years ago, Maurine Molak visited Capitol Hill for the first time to support a proposed law she believes could have saved her son. David Molak was a lanky teen who loved basketball - "a joy of a kid," she says. Then, as she's recounted several times to legislators, he got injured while playing. He began spending more and more time on social media and video games, and according to Molak, his online life became a compulsion.

David would check his phone in the middle of the night and steal money from his parents to spend on in-game items. He became a target of cyberbullying on Instagram, which she says failed to respond even when friends re …

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X helps update Kids Online Safety Act in final push for passage in the Republican-led House

2024-12-07T14:41:42-05:00

With just weeks left to pass legislation before Congress adjourns, X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced she worked with the authors of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) to update the bill in what seems like a play to win over the Republican House leaders standing in the way of it becoming law.

The striking announcement is the latest example of how Elon Musk and his companies are taking on significant roles in influencing government output. While it's not unusual for outside stakeholders, including companies, to weigh in on pending legislation, the fact that the bill's sponsors, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), announc …

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Dozens of states ask Congress to un-doom the Kids Online Safety Act

2024-11-18T18:00:00-05:00

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A group of state attorneys general are pushing Congress to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which has stalled in the House of Representatives thanks to concerns over online censorship. An open letter published today is signed by 32 attorneys general, including those of 31 states and the District of Columbia. It urges leaders of both parties in the House and Senate to vote on the bill before the current congressional session ends early next year.

"While an increasingly online world has improved many aspects of our material well-being, prolific internet usage negatively impacts our children," reads the letter, whose signatories include …

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House committee advances Kids Online Safety Act

2024-09-18T16:55:55-04:00

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has advanced two high-profile child safety bills that could remake large parts of the internet: the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). The proposed laws passed on a voice vote despite discontent over last-minute changes to KOSA, in particular, that were aimed at quelling persistent criticism.

KOSA and COPPA 2.0 would give government agencies more regulatory power over tech companies with users under 18 years of age. The former imposes a "duty of care" on major social media companies, making them potentially liable for harm to underag …

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The teens lobbying against the Kids Online Safety Act

2024-08-01T10:00:00-04:00

Even before 86 senators voted to close debate on the bill, the Kids Online Safety Act was all but certain to pass in the Senate - KOSA had 70 cosponsors, after all. Still, more than 300 high school students met with lawmakers and their staff last Thursday, urging them to vote "no" on legislation putatively written to make the internet safer for them. By the end of the day, a cloture motion had passed, and in the following week, the bill passed out of the Senate with a staggering 91 votes in favor.

Lawmakers think that teens "don't know what's best for us," said Damarius Cantie, a rising senior from Michigan. "But I think a lot of times, we …

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