KIDS Act

Purpose & Problem

Is the problem real and worth federal action?

The KIDS Act sets rules for online platforms, video game providers, and AI chatbot makers to reduce harms to minors under 17. It targets problems like exposure to harmful content, contact from strangers, and compulsive use of apps and games.

Scope & Related Provisions

Does it stay focused, or carry unrelated add-ons?

The bill covers social media platforms, adult content sites, online video games, AI chatbots, and data brokers that handle minors' information. Each of these areas receives its own set of rules, and all provisions connect to the stated goal of protecting minors online.

Who Is Affected

Who benefits, and who bears the cost?

Minors under 17 and their parents gain new safety tools and data rights. Online platforms, video game providers, AI chatbot companies, and data brokers must build new safeguards, conduct yearly audits, and register with or report to federal agencies.

Cost & Funding

Is it affordable and responsibly funded?

The bill does not state a total cost or include a CBO estimate. Data brokers must pay the FTC an annual registration fee of at least $22,500. Platforms must pay for independent yearly audits. Agencies such as the FTC and NIH must fund new studies, reports, and a five-year Kids Internet Safety Partnership.

Risks & Implementation

What could go wrong in practice?

Platforms must identify which users are minors without being required to collect new age data, which may be difficult to do reliably. Rules on default settings, audit timelines, and report deadlines begin at different dates, creating multiple compliance schedules that agencies and companies must track at once.

TITLE I--SHIELDING MINORS FROM OBSCENITY

This title requires websites where more than one-third of the content is sexually explicit material to use age-verification technology to block minors from accessing that content. Platforms must use real technical tools to check user ages, not just ask users to click a box saying they are adults. The law also limits how platforms can collect and store the data gathered during age verification, and requires a government review of how well the system is working after three years.

TITLE II--ONLINE PLATFORMS

This title requires social media and similar online platforms to give minors privacy safeguards, parental controls, and messaging tools by default. It bans platforms from advertising alcohol, drugs, tobacco, gambling, or cannabis to users they know are minors. Platforms must also conduct annual independent audits and respond to harm reports within 10 days.

TITLE III--SOCIAL GAMING PLATFORMS

Online video game companies must give parents easy-to-use tools to limit how minors communicate with other players, restrict purchases, and control screen time. These protections must be turned on by default at the most restrictive settings for any account belonging to a user under 17. Companies must also prevent other adult users from being suggested a minor's profile and must notify minors when these protections are active.

TITLE IV--ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CHATBOTS

This title requires AI chatbot providers to tell minor users that they are talking to a machine and not a real person, and to share crisis hotline information if a minor brings up suicide. Chatbots must also warn minors to take a break after three hours of continuous use and must have policies to protect minors from sexual exploitation, gambling promotion, and illegal drug or alcohol promotion. Chatbot providers cannot falsely claim to be licensed professionals when talking to minors.

TITLE V--RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND BEST PRACTICES FOR PROTECTING MINORS ONLINE

This title requires federal agencies to study how social media affects minors, including mental health effects, fentanyl access through platforms, and risks from chatbots. It also creates public education campaigns on internet safety for minors and directs the FTC to develop resources for parents and educators about safe chatbot use. Finally, it sets up a Kids Internet Safety Partnership to identify risks, publish best practices, and create a guide for online platforms serving minors.

TITLE VI--KIDS PRIVACY PROTECTIONS

This title updates the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act to extend protections to teens ages 14 to 17, not just children under 14. It bans targeted advertising to minors using their personal data and gives parents and teens the right to access, correct, and delete personal information collected by apps and websites. It also requires data brokers who sell minors' personal data to register with the Federal Trade Commission and pay an annual fee.

TITLE VII--GENERAL PROVISIONS

This title sets up how the law will be enforced, giving the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general the power to take legal action against violators. It explains that federal courts in Washington D.C. will handle any constitutional challenges to the law, and that states can pass stronger protections for minors but cannot pass rules that conflict with this law. It also lists things the law does not do, such as requiring companies to break encryption, forcing indefinite data storage, or changing existing rules about online platform liability.