U.S. House passes KIDS Act, omitting high-stakes duty of care

The bill’s passage signal a shift toward federal regulation of algorithmic design, but the omission of the "duty of care" creates a significant legislative rift. For streaming providers and social platforms, the House version offers a more manageable "reasonable policies" framework compared to the Senate's proposed liability for mental health harms. However, the requirement for platform-wide age verification introduces substantial technical and privacy hurdles that could force a total redesign of user onboarding. Industry leaders must watch for a Senate compromise that could reintroduce the duty of care, potentially exposing platforms to unprecedented litigation over user engagement metrics.

The House’s bipartisanship on June 29, 2026, relies on a strategy of combining multiple narrow safety bills into H.R. 7757, including the COPPA 2.0 expansion and the SAFE BOTs Act. Per IAPP in July 2026, the updated COPPA 2.0 language would expand federal privacy protections to include teens up to age 17, moving beyond the current age-13 threshold. This change significantly alters the advertising and data retention data flow for nearly every major streaming and social media service operating in the U.S. market.

Despite the 267-117 vote, the bill’s lack of a "duty of care" provision remains a dealbreaker for key Senate leaders. Per The Record in June 2026, Senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn have pledged to block the bill, arguing that without a legal mandate to prioritize safety in platform design, the legislation is a "pale imitation" of accountability. The Senate's version of KOSA, which passed 91-3 in a previous session, remains the preferred path for advocacy groups who claim the House bill allows tech companies to maintain addictive engagement models.

Furthermore, the tech industry remains divided on the package. Per The New Republic in June 2026, while industry groups like NetChoice have signaled a preference for the House bill's lack of a censorship-prone duty of care, they remain wary of the age verification mandates. These provisions could indirectly force platforms to collect more sensitive biometric data to prove user ages, potentially creating new cybersecurity liabilities and chilling anonymous speech across the broader digital ecosystem as the Senate prepares for negotiations after the July 13 recess.