Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) framed the package as a response to parental concerns about children’s exposure to social media and AI systems. “Almost all parents today struggle with permitting their children to use and benefit from new technology,” Cruz said. “The bills before us are meant to give parents more control and assurance that their vulnerable children won’t be exposed to the worst possible elements of social media and AI chatbots.”
Kids Online Safety Act Moves Forward Again
The current version of KOSA builds on legislation that previously passed the Senate 91-3 in the prior Congress. It would impose a duty of care on covered platforms, requiring them to take reasonable steps to prevent or mitigate harms to minors. The bill also directs social media companies to limit certain addictive design features and to apply protective default settings for underage users.
Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) emphasized the accountability angle. “KOSA imposes a duty of care requirement on social media platforms, so that these companies have to take reasonable care to make sure they’re not creating harm, and implementing products that harm kids,” she said. “We need more responsibility from social media companies and KOSA gives parents the tools that help make them accountable when they prioritize engagement over keeping our kids safe.”
During the markup, Sen. Daniel Sullivan (R-Alaska) considered an amendment that would have incorporated the Advancing Digital Support for Mental Health Services Act, requiring platforms to report the volume of public-service advertisements to the Federal Trade Commission. Sullivan ultimately withdrew the amendment so the committee could advance a “clean” version of KOSA.
Advocacy groups remain sharply divided. Fairplay Executive Director Josh Golin called the duty-of-care requirement “the most important new law to protect children online in nearly 30 years.” The Electronic Frontier Foundation and NetChoice oppose the bill. The EFF argues that the duty of care effectively pushes platforms toward age-verification systems that would require users to hand over sensitive personal data simply to access lawful online content and services, creating new privacy risks rather than reducing them.
Youth AI Privacy Act and the Memory Retention Debate
The Youth AI Privacy Act advanced after a party-line 15-13 vote on an amendment offered by Chairman Cruz. The original bill would have capped how long an AI chatbot could retain memory of interactions with a child at 30 days and required automatic deletion by default. Cruz’s amendment removed those hard limits, arguing that a fixed maximum is too rigid and that parents should be able to choose a longer retention period or opt out of automatic deletion when longer memory makes the tool more useful.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the bill’s sponsor, opposed the amendment but accepted a compromise approach. He indicated willingness to allow limited extensions beyond 30 days and agreed to drop a provision that would have required the Federal Trade Commission to conduct formal rulemaking under the statute. Markey maintained that extended, highly personalized interactions can deepen a child’s emotional attachment to a chatbot and weaken other safeguards, which is why retention limits remain important.
CHATBOT Act and AI Toy Safety Study
Two additional AI-focused measures also cleared the committee by voice vote.
The CHATBOT Act would require providers of AI chatbots to support family accounts and to obtain verifiable parental consent before minors can use the services. The Children’s Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act directs the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a study on the impacts of embedding artificial intelligence in toys designed for children.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) described the overall package as a clear signal to technology companies. “Congress is moving forward to make certain that they have to accept responsibility for the foreseeable harms that their products cause,” she said. “We have arrived at a time where we are going to pass this legislation. We are going to get it signed into law, and we will do it in spite of all the money that they have spent opposing this legislation.”
What Comes Next
All four bills now head to the full Senate for further consideration. KOSA has previously demonstrated strong bipartisan support in the chamber, though it has not yet been enacted. The three AI-specific measures address newer concerns around chatbot memory, parental controls, and the integration of AI into physical toys aimed at children.
The committee action reflects continued bipartisan interest in strengthening protections for minors online while extending oversight into generative and interactive AI systems. Stakeholders on both sides of the debate are expected to intensify lobbying as the bills move toward potential floor consideration.
Organizations that develop or operate platforms, AI chatbots, or AI-enabled children’s products should monitor the legislative text closely, as the final versions could impose new design, consent, retention, and transparency obligations with direct compliance consequences.