House and Senate get action on kids’ online safety

House and Senate get action on kids’ online safety

A GOP-led package of kids’ online safety bills, including the landmark Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), advanced out of a House committee Thursday while COPPA 2.0 passed in the Senate.

In a lengthy bill markup Thursday, House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and his Republican colleagues faced repeated criticism from Democrats over the House’s changes to KOSA, a long-debated measure that looks to hold technology companies accountable for alleged harm to teenagers and children.

To some tech safety groups’ surprise, Guthrie opted to include KOSA in a new 12-bill package, dubbed the Kids Internet and Digital Act, alongside several other less controversial bills. The bill was advanced out of committee in a 28-24 vote.

GOP committee staff unveiled the package late Tuesday night, giving lawmakers, technology safety groups and parent advocates the standard 36 hours to review the package before Thursday morning’s markup.

Lawmakers spent more than four hours on Thursday debating the changes to KOSA, as well as the choice to package it with other bills that received bipartisan support earlier this week.

Guthrie kicked off the hearing stating Republicans spent nearly 40 hours negotiating with Democrats in recent months to reach a bipartisan deal. GOP committee staff said Democrats “walked away” from these negotiations late last week over disagreements on parental access tools, which would give parents more ways to monitor their kids’ online activity.

“I’m disappointed that we were not able to come to a bipartisan agreement on the bills before us today,” committee ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said in opening remarks.

Democrats were largely expected to vote against the package, given the language changes to KOSA. Those changes included the “duty of care” provision, which would have legally required platforms to “exercise reasonable care” to prevent harms to minors. Harms include eating disorders, suicide, substance use disorders and sexual exploitation.

Technology safety groups, many of which helped shape earlier versions of KOSA, have largely come out against this version of the bill, stating it is “not what KOSA was meant to be.”

“Nor would we have ever voiced support for the Kids Online Safety Act had we known what the House would do,” one letter with more than 500 parents stated Wednesday.

Read more at TheHill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we’re Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.

Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:

Trump regulator splits GOP with prediction market fight

The Trump administration is wading into a legal fight between prediction markets and state regulators seeking to enforce gambling laws within their borders, in a dispute splitting Republicans. Prediction markets, like Kalshi and Polymarket, are facing off against state regulators in numerous cases, in which they’ve been accused of allowing users to place bets even in jurisdictions where gambling is illegal. The platforms …

Trump, Bondi sued over TikTok deal

Two investors sued President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday over the administration’s approval of a deal that saw TikTok spun off into a separate American-owned entity in order to continue operating in the U.S. Zhaocheng Anthony Tan, a shareholder in Google’s parent company Alphabet, and Garrett Reid, a Meta shareholder, argue the deal violated a law requiring TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to divest …

Google cuts app store fees in legal settlement with Epic Games

Google will roll out a series of changes to its Play Store model to settle its years-long legal fight with Epic Games over its app store practices, the company announced Wednesday. Among the changes are a lowered commission fee of 20 percent on in-app purchases, along with a new program allowing users to more easily install other app stores, Google said in a blog post. In the past, Google has typically collected a commission …

News we’ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:

Pentagon notifies Anthropic it’s deemed firm supply chain risk (Bloomberg)

Meta to allow AI rivals on WhatsApp in bid to stave off EU action (Reuters)

Anthropic chief back in talks with Pentagon about AI deal (Financial Times)

Eric Trump takes swing at banks amid stablecoin spat

© Kevin Lamarque, Associated Press pool

Eric Trump took aim at the banking industry Wednesday, accusing it of “lobbying overtime to block Americans from getting higher yields on their savings” amid a protracted fight with the cryptocurrency industry over stablecoin rewards.

“Today, the banks are desperately targeting crypto/stablecoins, where platforms plan to offer 4–5%+ yields or rewards,” he wrote in a post on the social platform X.

Lobbyists “are spending millions trying to ban or restrict those yields via bills like the Clarity Act, crying ‘fairness’ and using words like ‘stability’—when it’s really about protecting their low-rate monopoly and preventing deposit flight,” he added.

He is a key player in World Liberty Financial, the crypto firm launched by then-presidential candidate Trump and his sons in late 2024.

The post came just one day after the president argued that the GENUIS Act, the stablecoin bill he signed into law last year, is “being threatened and undermined by the banks.”

Despite a series of White House meetings, the crypto and banking industries have yet to reach an agreement on the stablecoin yield issue.

The dispute stems from a provision in the GENIUS Act that barred stablecoin issuers from paying interest to customers simply for holding the dollar-backed digital tokens.

The banks have argued that this left open a loophole, which allows third parties to offer rewards to stablcoin holders. Crypto firms have argued these rewards are necessary to effectively compete in the payments market.

This has become a complication for another crypto bill, known as market structure, that seeks to clearly split oversight of the industry between two financial regulators.

Progress on the bill, which passed the House last July as the Clarity Act, has largely remained at a standstill in recent weeks. 

“The Banks should not be trying to undercut The Genius Act, or hold The Clarity Act hostage,” Trump said Tuesday.

Crypto Corner is a daily feature focused on digital currency and its outlook in Washington.

Branch out with other reads on The Hill:

Kalshi faces backlash over handling of $54M market on Khamenei’s ouster

The prediction market Kalshi is facing pushback over its handling of more than $54 million in trades on the ouster of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after he was killed in U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on the country last weekend. The platform, which has underscored that it “does not offer markets that settle on death,” is resolving the market based on the last traded price before Khamenei’s death, much to the dismay …

You’re all caught up. See you tomorrow! 

Thank you for signing up!

Subscribe to more newsletters here

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

More Technology Newsletter News

What we know about Noem’s new ‘Shield of the Americas’ role

Paxton offers conditions for potential exit from Texas Senate race 

US Postal Service takes another wrong turn

Watch video from Noem’s controversial $220M ad campaign

Judge orders Trump administration to close out goods without charging emergency ...

Noem defends living on base in Coast Guard housing 

Johnson: ‘Everybody in America better watch’ how lawmakers vote on DHS ...

Fox News poll: Majority says Trump’s handling of Iran has made US less safe

Noem replaced as DHS secretary with Oklahoma senator

Lindsey Halligan being investigated by Florida Bar

RFK Jr. puts Dunkin’ on notice; Massachusetts governor says ‘come and take ...

Noem denies blocking investigations, as inspector general says he’s been ...

How will Oklahoma replace Markwayne Mullin in Senate?

GOP’s Turner rips Pentagon No. 3 at hearing: ‘Really kind of gross’

Jeffries welcomes Noem’s ouster but warns it won’t affect DHS funding fight

DHS funding bill passes the House, with eroding Democratic support

Ted Cruz, Tim Scott asking Treasury to approve $200B tax cut without ...

House bats down Mace effort to reveal sexual misconduct allegations against ...

© The Hill