House panel marks up kids digital safety act amid Democrat backlash

The House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up a major kids online safety bill on Thursday in a party line vote, with Democrats attacking the legislation for what they portrayed as its toothless regulations of big tech.

Committee Democrats criticized the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act for including a weak knowledge standard that they said allows tech companies to escape accountability for online safety harms by claiming they are unaware kids are using their platforms and deserve protections.

Democrats also expressed alarm about the KIDS Act’s lack of a so-called duty of care, which is a tool that compels platforms to proactively mitigate the most severe harms posed by social media.

The bill includes language that will allow some preemption of state laws regulating big tech, which Democrats said could block state attorneys generals from suing platforms and could undercut the ability of states to put strict laws on the books.

“Unfortunately, Committee Republicans have chosen to move forward with a set of partisan bills that simply do not meet the mark for kids’ safety and, if they become law, would leave kids and their parents worse off than they are today,” Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) said.

“I believe that Republicans are handing Big Tech a giant gift by walking away from the stronger preemption standards that were previously included in these bills.”

Pallone said the new preemption language will not only block states from passing stronger bills that tackle artificial intelligence and many kids online safety harms, but also could undercut “existing efforts to protect kids by holding companies like Meta and Roblox accountable in the courts.”

Meta and Roblox are currently facing multiple class action lawsuits as well as lawsuits by state attorneys general. Last month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was forced to testify about social media addiction and harm in a landmark California trial centered on accusations that Instagram’s addictive design causes teens mental health and other harms.

Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), who led the rollout of the KIDS Act, argued at the hearing that the bill will make a critical difference in protecting kids online and lamented that despite months of effort, Republicans were unable to reach a bipartisan consensus on the bill. But he said that despite the mere party line support the legislation mustered, it must move forward.

“We're taking the meaningful steps forward to empower parents and protect children and teens online,” Guthrie said. “We owe it to parents. We owe it to communities and, most importantly, we owe it to the kids who are counting on us to get this right.”

Democrats were apoplectic about the bill, which they said guts the far stronger Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and leaves kids vulnerable to a range of big tech harms, including data privacy violations. They proposed multiple amendments to strengthen it, all of which failed.

“We're jamming through a package that prioritizes the industry over accountability, that prioritizes industry over our kids,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), who became tearful as she acknowledged the many parents in the audience who had lost kids to suicides they say were caused by online harms.

A coalition of parents who have been lobbying for stronger regulations for social media platforms for years, Parents for Safe Online Spaces (ParentsSOS), released a statement thanking committee Republicans for making improvements to the KIDS Act, including by mandating that online platforms turn off recommendation algorithms for children and teens by default. 

However, the coalition expressed disappointment that the House abandoned the core tenets of KOSA, which has 75 bipartisan cosponsors in the Senate.

“Most importantly, the Senate legislation includes a duty of care, which would force online platforms to proactively mitigate the most serious harms — harms that have claimed the lives of many of our children,” ParentSOS said in a press release. “Unfortunately, the House version does not include this duty of care.”

Other bills that were marked up Thursday include Sammy’s Law and the App Store Accountability Act.

Sammy’s Law is named after Sammy Chapman, who bought a pill he did not know was laced with fentanyl on Snapchat and died as a result. The legislation ensures third party safety apps notify parents when their child is at clear risk of harm.

“There are very specific categories — suicide, depression, eating disorders, violence, sexual abuse, trafficking — that alert parents when there's a real and imminent risk of harm to their child,” said bill supporter Kim Schrier (D-WA).  “They share only the most necessary information so that the parents can understand what the danger might be.”

Some Democrats who opposed the bill raised concerns about the potential for hacks of kids’ data.

The committee also marked up the App Store Accountability Act, which requires app stores to obtain parental consent for downloads by children under age 18.

“Just as brick and mortar stores are held responsible for selling age restricted materials like tobacco and alcohol to minors, the App Store Accountability Act will hold digital app stores accountable for providing adult or age restricted materials to minors as well,” said bill sponsor Rep. John James (R-MI). 

“It's simple — kids cannot consent, and any company that exposes them to addictive or adult material should be held accountable.”

Digital freedoms and free speech advocates were sharply critical of the bills’ passage.

“The KIDS Act, Sammy's Law, and App Store Accountability Act all threaten the privacy and free expression of everyone who uses the internet,” said Kate Ruane, director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Free Expression Project. “The bills will push online services to use age assurance techniques requiring people to share sensitive information to access content, even though the Constitution guarantees that access.”

An additional kids online bill the committee had said it would consider for mark up, the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, was tabled and will be considered at a future date.