‘What are we here for?’: Congress keeps writing kids’ online safety bills, then lets them vanish

Lawmakers are tired of teaming up on bipartisan bills to protect children online, only to have the broadly supported measures languish.

Dozens of bipartisan bills on the topic exist, and many have advanced through the relevant committees with unanimous or overwhelming support. Yet few have made it to the floor, let alone passed through both chambers and become law.

“What is going on in the Senate and the House where, no matter who’s in charge, nothing really happens?” Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, asked during a hearing last month.

Frustration was the theme of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed a desire to turn their bipartisan proposals into law.

“It is astounding to me that there are laws in the physical space that protect children. You cannot endanger a child. You can’t sell them alcohol. You can’t sell them tobacco. You cannot expose them to pornography,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee Republican. “But in the virtual space, our children are vulnerable 24/7, 365.”

Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, said the panel has approved plenty of legislation that both parties “think would change things for the better, and then it disappeared.”

“When it comes to taking them to the floor to enact them on the floor and eventually send them over to the House, we drop the ball completely,” he said. “That’s got to end.”

Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, is skeptical that anything will happen as long as big technology companies have a “hammer hold” on Congress.

“Let’s just be honest: We may as well put a sign on the floor of the Senate that says ‘Property of Big Tech’ because nothing moves across that floor, in my observation, nothing that they don’t want,” he said. “They spend money to control and to buy access and influence.”

Mr. Hawley said the only things he believes can break that influence are the voices of victims: parents who have lost their children to the harms of social media and have become advocates to prevent other children from dying.

“If we can’t do this as Congress, I mean, what are we here for?” said Sen. Katie Britt, Alabama Republican. “We are here to protect the most vulnerable. We are here to protect our greatest asset, and to me, that is the next generation.”

The committee was debating measures, both new and old, to strengthen law enforcement tools for combating online predators, but the frustration over congressional inaction was not limited to those bills.

Ms. Blackburn and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat, introduced the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, which would impose requirements on social media companies to protect children on their platforms, including default safety and privacy settings, as well as enhanced parental controls.

That bill was one of the few online safety measures that received a floor vote in the last Congress. It passed the Senate by a 91-3 vote but stalled in the House.

“We want a law,” Mr. Blumenthal said. “We don’t just want speeches.”

He said House Republicans introduced a “weakened” version of KOSA this Congress that guts a key provision, known as the duty of care. It would hold social media companies accountable if they fail to make design changes to prevent children from various harms, including sexual exploitation, suicidal behavior and severe online harassment.

“Decimating that duty of care is a disservice to all of the parents and all of the children who have become victims,” Mr. Blumenthal said.

Two days after the Senate hearing, the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee with jurisdiction over online commerce approved that version of KOSA on a party-line 13-10 vote.

Democrats on the subcommittee called the measure “watered down” and said it would not pass muster in the Senate.

“I’m so frustrated that we are ignoring common sense, bipartisan, bicameral bills that are strong enough to actually hold Big Tech accountable and actually get over the finish line becoming law,” said Rep. Kim Schrier, Washington Democrat.

Rep. Kathy Castor, Florida Democrat, who led a previous bipartisan House companion bill to the Senate version of KOSA, said omitting the duty of care “gives the Big Tech companies a pass from their infliction of mental and physical harm to children.”

She said that provision and others in the bill were crafted “after many years of hearings and education by members of Congress on how we protect kids from physical and mental harms, from suicide, from bullying.”

Republicans on the subcommittee have said the changes to the KOSA bill are designed to ensure it withstands a likely court challenge.

Lawmakers will have the opportunity to make further changes to the measure when the full committee considers it this year.

The subcommittee advanced 18 bills to protect children in the digital age, and 16 of them were advanced with bipartisan support via voice vote.

“Our approach is clear: protect kids, empower parents and ‘future proof’ our legislation as new risks and technologies emerge,” said Rep. Gus Bilirakis, Florida Republican and the subcommittee chairman.

The legislation that the panel advanced includes bills to require app stores to conduct age verification, and social media and gaming platforms to allow for third-party safety software integration that would alert parents when their children encounter harmful content.

The subcommittee also advanced measures to prohibit data brokers from collecting minors’ personal information, to prevent social media platforms from conducting market research on children younger than 13 and to implement restrictions around how chatbots interact with minors.

“We have been intentional and thoughtful in shaping these proposals to ensure strong protections for kids while maintaining legal durability and effectiveness,” said Rep. Brett Guthrie, Kentucky Republican and chairman of the full committee. “And we remain committed to working with parents, industry experts and other stakeholders to continue to strengthen this package.”

The Senate has not advanced as many online safety bills for children through committee this Congress.

Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, said he plans to hold a markup in his panel early this year.

That markup will include the Senate version of KOSA and likely his bipartisan bill called the Kids Off Social Media Act, which would ban children younger than 13 from using the platforms.

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously advanced a bill in June called the Stop CSAM Act, which seeks to combat the online sexual exploitation of children.

Mr. Durbin, citing statistics from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said the threat is rapidly accelerating. The organization received more than 23,000 tips about financially motivated “sextortion” crimes in the first half of 2025, compared with 139 for all of 2021.

“It’s getting worse, and acknowledged by all of us [is] a sense of frustration because this is actually an issue that receives bipartisan focus and a desire on our part to do more than what we’ve done so far,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono, Hawaii Democrat.

Mr. Graham said he will suggest to Senate leadership that the chamber dedicate a week or two of floor time in February to the issue of protecting children online.

He said the month marks the 30th anniversary of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects online platforms from liability for content posted by their users.

Mr. Graham and other senators have expressed support for repealing or at least significantly overhauling Section 230.

“I strongly believe that Section 230 has long outlived its use, and it is now a real vessel for evil that needs to come to an end,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island Democrat.