Kids Online Safety Act

Key Points

• Internet platforms likely used by minors would have a new “duty of care” to avoid features that contribute to harms like compulsive use, severe harassment, sexual exploitation, or illegal-drug and gambling activity.
• For users the platform knows are under 17, platforms must offer easy safety controls: limit messages from others, lock down public access to a minor’s personal data, reduce “addictive” features by default, and let minors opt out of personalized recommendations.
• Parents would get built-in tools (on by default for kids under 13) to view or change settings, restrict purchases, and see and limit total time spent. Platforms also must add a simple way to report harms and respond within set timelines.
• Large platforms would have to publish yearly, third-party-audited reports about how many minors use them, how long minors spend there, how reports are handled, and how recommendations and data use affect minors—while sharing data in a de-identified, aggregated way.
• Platforms that use algorithm-based feeds would have to let users switch to an “unpersonalized” option and explain what the feed is optimizing; they also can’t charge more or restrict service for choosing the unpersonalized feed.