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 tragedies — even as opponents raised concerns that it will lead platforms to over-censor content, including LGBTQ resources. KOSA died in the House after passing with overwhelming approval in the Senate last year — and it was reintroduced in the Senate in May, teeing up another fight.
Now, those parents are hearing — from congressional staff and civil society groups close to the process — that KOSA could return to the House of Representatives with the duty of care provision removed. The rumored changes could amount to KOSA’s core provision going out with a whimper, even as lawmakers are rumored to be planning a package of several kids safety bills soon after the government reopens from the shutdown.
Meanwhile, for some longtime opponents of KOSA, removing the duty of care could resolve a central concern they have with the bill: that it could incentivize social media companies to remove helpful and potentially lifesaving resources for kids from marginalized communities. But the overall kids safety package could make that a Pyrrhic victory, placing the gutted KOSA alongside bills with potentially similarly troubling implications for online speech.
“When it comes to tech policy, you have to think about how the companies will act, not just what the laws say”
KOSA’s duty of care wouldn’t formally require platforms to take down legal speech or prevent kids from searching out any kind of content, but it would require services to mitigate certain harms on their platforms, including health issues like eating disorders and depression. That’s long concerned civil liberties groups. Fight for the Future’s Sarah Philips says that rather than taking the risk that a potentially harmful post could slip through the cracks onto a minor’s algorithmic feed, the simplest thing for a platform to do is to remove that content. Fight for the Future was particularly concerned with how KOSA could potentially impact resources for LGBTQ youth, at a time when gender-affirming healthcare access has been increasingly politicized — though several prominent LGBTQ advocacy groups withdrew their opposition to KOSA after earlier revisions. “When it comes to tech policy, you have to think about how the companies will act, not just what the laws say,” Philips says.
Without the duty of care, KOSA would still introduce new standards, like a requirement that kids accounts default to the highest level of protection settings available, and limit features that aim to keep users on as long as possible, like infinite scroll. Philips says these other aspects of the bill are things Fight for the Future could likely get behind, though so far all of the energy around the bill has centered on the duty of care. For supporters and opponents alike, the other requirements alone represent a far more modest change than KOSA’s sponsors envisioned.
The original Senate sponsors of KOSA insist the bill needs the duty of care provision. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) says in a statement, “There is no appetite for watering the bill down,” and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) says, “Establishing a ‘duty of care’ through the Kids Online Safety Act is essential to protecting our kids and giving parents peace of mind.”
“There is no appetite for watering the bill down”
But House Republicans, who were behind the bill’s failure last year, could threaten to let KOSA fizzle again unless the duty of care is removed or significantly altered. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) did not put KOSA to a floor vote last year after overwhelming Senate approval. Both worried about potential speech issues, with Johnson calling it “very problematic” and Scalise warning it “will empower dangerous people.” The message that KOSA could enable censorship “is resonating with a large swath of people,” Philips says. “And right now, I think Democrats are particularly failing in listening to what those concerns are, especially in this political moment where we’re seeing so much censorship and so much alignment with Big Tech with this administration.”
Advocates expect KOSA will be included in a package of potentially over a dozen online safety-related bills, which will likely be introduced in the House Energy and Commerce Committee after the government reopens. It will probably be joined by the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0); Sammy’s Law, a bill that would let parents use third-party tools on social media sites to get alerted about harmful activity; and the App Store Accountability Act, which would require app stores to verify users’ ages.
Groups like Fight for the Future say some of these bills would introduce entirely new risks of digital surveillance and eroded privacy. The App Store Accountability Act, for example, could create the same privacy concerns as other age verification rules, chilling legal speech. Fight for the Future has also warned that Sammy’s Law could invite increased surveillance of children online.
Two parent advocates who spoke to The Verge say they’re open to alternatives to the duty of care, should they accomplish the same goal of protecting kids from online harms without over-burdening parents. But they’re hesitant about whether that will come to pass. They’re left steeling themselves to see a version of KOSA that looks quite different from the one they have spent countless days traveling to Washington to push forward, and hoping not to be “blindsided,” says Maurine Molak, whose son David died by suicide after experiencing cyberbullying and compulsive social media use.
So far, the bill sponsors have held KOSA’s text close to the chest. Molak says parents’ input was “very welcomed and accepted in the Senate,” but the experience has been different in the House. In statements to The Verge, KOSA’s House co-sponsors and leadership for the Energy and Commerce Committee did not directly address what would happen with the duty of care. “There is no single bill that can address all of the threats children face, and we will examine numerous proposals that seek to protect kids,” Daniel Kelly, a spokesperson for the Republican-led committee, said in a statement.
KOSA is still “a top priority” for House co-sponsor Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), his spokesperson Summer Blevins said in a statement, urging Democrats to reopen the government to focus on it. Democratic co-sponsor and Florida Rep. Kathy Castor praised the Senate’s reintroduction of the bill, which included the duty of care. “I encourage House Republican leadership to spend more time listening to families who fear a watered down KOSA from the House, and less time meeting with Big Tech executives who value profits over the best interests of kids,” Castor said in a statement.
“If we fail, and when we fail, other children die. And that’s a lot of weight to carry”
Philips sees politicians’ framing of KOSA as a comprehensive solution as a “cop out” from dealing with the core issues families are struggling with, like healthcare and childcare. “A lot of issues that should be actually being addressed by Congress are not being addressed by Congress, and are being presented as, ‘This is a Big Tech issue and we’re going to get at Big Tech,’” she says.
Either way, the stop-and-start movement around KOSA over the past few years has been challenging for parents who’ve devoted their energy and grief to pushing the bill forward. Deb Schmill, whose teen daughter Becca died from fentanyl poisoning after buying drugs via a social media platform, says she’s put her “heart and soul” into advocating for KOSA, including moving to Washington for three months. “This is not only about our children’s legacy,” she says. “It’s knowing that if we fail, and when we fail, other children die. And that’s a lot of weight to carry. And so it’s heartbreaking, it’s frustrating, it’s maddening to go through this process and see nothing come of it.”