House committee reaches bipartisan deal on child social media safeguards
The leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee — Republican chairman Brett Guthrie and ranking Democrat Frank Pallone — announced a bipartisan agreement on federal rules for how social media platforms treat children, though they declined to release the full text.
The deal requires platforms to provide safety tools for minors and parents, but it does not include a “duty of care” obligation that would have forced companies to design their products with child safety in mind — a provision Democrats had long pushed and tech firms had resisted. Its omission narrows the bill’s reach to disclosure-and-tools rather than liability for design choices. The agreement also preserves states’ ability to enact stronger protections, leaving the door open to a patchwork of tougher state laws.
The measure still needs to clear the full House and Senate and win the president’s signature. Meta, Snap, Google, and TikTok face thousands of lawsuits alleging their platforms harm young users, the backdrop against which Congress is acting.