House passes a kids' online safety package without KOSA's duty-of-care rule
The House passed the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act on June 29 by a 267-117 vote, The Hill reported . The package would block private messaging for children under 13 and disappearing messages for teens under 17, add safeguards for minors using AI chatbots and interactive game platforms, require age verification for pornographic sites, and push awareness of drug sales on social media.
The central fight is over what the House left out. The bipartisan deal dropped the “duty of care” provision from the original Kids Online Safety Act, which would have legally obligated platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent harms to minors. KOSA’s Senate co-authors, Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn, along with parent-advocate and watchdog groups, argue that obligation is the bill’s most important enforcement lever; without it, the measures lean on disclosure and design rules rather than liability.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where members who want the duty of care restored are likely to resist the House version — setting up a chamber-to-chamber standoff over how far platform liability should reach.