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The Senate Commerce Committee is preparing to mark up a package of technology policy bills focused on child safety, online privacy, age verification and artificial intelligence, with the Kids Online Safety Act (S.1748) serving as the centerpiece. The bill would require covered platforms to use reasonable care in designing features for users under 17, add parental controls, limit certain research involving children under 13, and give the Federal Trade Commission enforcement authority. The package also includes the Youth AI Privacy Act, Chatbot Act, and Children’s Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act, which would impose new safeguards and parental oversight requirements for AI systems used by minors.
The debate has also intensified around the SCREEN Act (S.737), which would require age verification for online services and social media hosting sexually explicit material. Critics say the measure could force adults to submit identity-linked credentials, expand collection and retention of sensitive personal data, and increase breach and surveillance risks. Opponents also warn that the bill’s reliance on IP-based location checks and scrutiny of traffic from known VPN addresses could undermine lawful anonymous browsing and discourage use of privacy tools such as VPNs and proxy services.
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Nearly 100 parent, youth, and tech-focused organizations sent a June letter to congressional leaders opposing the bill. The letter argued stronger legal and ethical design standards were needed and criticized changes made in the House version.
Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal introduced the Kids Online Safety Act (S.1748) in the 119th Congress. The bill proposes duties of care for platforms serving minors, parental controls, limits on certain research involving children under 13, and FTC enforcement.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation planned a markup of five bills covering online privacy, child safety, age verification, and AI. CyberScoop identified KOSA as the highest-profile measure and said the package also included the SCREEN Act and three AI-related bills.
The Senate Commerce Committee was set to consider S. 737, the SCREEN Act. The bill would require age verification for access to sexually explicit content and has drawn criticism over privacy, identity-data collection, and VPN-related provisions.
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UK regulators **Ofcom** and the **Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)** issued warnings to major social media and video platforms (including **Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube**) demanding “urgent steps” to implement more robust **age assurance** controls to prevent access by children under 13. Regulators signaled potential enforcement if platforms continue relying primarily on easily bypassed self-declared ages, arguing this enables unlawful collection and use of children’s data and exposes under-13s to services not designed for them; Ofcom requested companies report back on their plans by the end of April. In the US, the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced the **Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act** on a party-line vote amid Democratic objections that the bill could reduce platform accountability for harms to minors. Criticisms focused on provisions that could **preempt certain state laws**, a **knowledge requirement** that opponents argue may let companies claim ignorance of minors’ presence, and the lack of a proactive **“duty of care”** requirement; proposed amendments to strengthen protections were not adopted.
Jun 29, 2026
U.S. lawmakers introduced and advanced multiple **artificial intelligence policy bills** spanning education, public awareness, and safety requirements. Proposed measures include the *Expanding AI Voices Act* to codify the National Science Foundation’s *ExpandAI* program and broaden AI education and workforce development access (including for minority-serving institutions, rural universities, and first-generation students), and the *Artificial Intelligence Public Awareness and Education Campaign Act* directing the Department of Commerce to run a public campaign on AI risks/benefits, individual rights, identifying AI-generated content, and AI’s prevalence in daily life. Separate legislation was also described that would require **age verification and protections for minors** using AI chatbots. In parallel, the House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced the **AI Overwatch Act**, which would shift greater authority over exports of high-performance, data center-class AI processors to Congress, expanding oversight beyond the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security. The proposal would codify performance thresholds that still allow certain lower-tier accelerators (e.g., Nvidia **H20** and AMD **MI308**) to ship to non-blacklisted entities in adversary nations without a license, while subjecting higher-performance parts (e.g., Nvidia **H200** and AMD **MI325X**) to export controls plus **congressional review/veto**; it would also terminate existing licenses and impose a temporary blanket denial pending submission of a new national security strategy.
Jul 12, 2026
Policymakers in multiple jurisdictions are advancing **child online safety** rules that would restrict minors’ access to social media, “addictive” product features, and certain content (including pornography), increasing pressure on platforms to implement **age assurance/age verification** to determine users’ ages before allowing access. The Lawfare analysis highlights that while protecting children online is a widely shared goal, enforcing age-based restrictions at scale effectively requires collecting and validating age signals for *all* users—raising significant implementation, privacy, and governance challenges as governments consider measures such as the **Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)**, the **Kids Off Social Media Act**, and the **App Store Accountability Act**.
Jun 30, 2026