H.R. 7757
KIDS Act
Sponsor: Brett Guthrie
1 cosponsor
Official summary
Written by the Congressional Research Service.
Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act or the KIDS Act
This bill requires specified online platforms to establish safeguards for minors. The safeguards include (1) limiting access to specified sexual material, (2) providing parental controls on social media and online video game platforms, and (3) requiring artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to disclose certain information to users who are minors.
First, publicly available online platforms on which more than one-third of the content is considered sexual material harmful to minors under the bill must adopt technology to identify minors and prevent them from accessing such material.
Next, social media platforms must (1) implement default settings for minors that limit compulsive usage features and the ability of other users to communicate with minors, and (2) provide tools for parents to manage the privacy and account settings of a minor. Social media platforms may not allow ephemeral messaging features for minors.
The bill also requires online video game platforms to provide tools that allow parents to (1) limit communication between a minor and other users of the platform, and (2) restrict purchases by a minor on the platform.
Further, providers of AI chatbots must disclose to users who are minors (1) that the chatbot is an AI system and not a human, and (2) suicide and crisis intervention hotline information.
Finally, the bill requires specified studies and reports about the effects of social media platforms on minors and provides for enforcement of the bill's requirements by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general.
Text of the bill
I Shielding Minors from Obscenity
II Online Platforms
A Kids Online Safety
B Stop Profiling Youth and Kids
III Social Gaming Platforms
IV Artificial Intelligence Chatbots
(a) In general. A chatbot provider shall clearly and conspicuously disclose to each covered user of a chatbot of such chat provider a disclosure of the following:
(1) The chatbot is an artificial intelligence system and not a natural person.
(2) Resources for contacting a suicide and crisis intervention hotline.
(b) Timing
(1) AI system disclosure. A disclosure required by subsection (a)(1) shall be made—
(A) at the initiation of the first interaction of a covered user with a chatbot; and
(B) at any point at which, during an interaction between a covered user and a chatbot, the covered user prompts the chatbot about whether the chatbot is an artificial intelligence system.
(2) Crisis resources disclosure. A disclosure required by subsection (a)(2) shall be made at any point at which, during an interaction between a covered user and a chatbot, the covered user prompts the chatbot about suicide or suicidal ideation.
(c) Use of plain language. Any disclosure required by subsection (a) shall be made in a manner that is clear and age-appropriate using plain language such that the disclosure is reasonably understandable by a minor.
V Research, Education, and Best Practices for Protecting Minors Online
A Research
1 Safe Social Media Act
2 No Fentanyl on Social Media Act
3 Assessing Safety Tools for Parents and Minors Act
4 Study on chatbots and mental health of minors
B Education
1 Promoting a Safe Internet for Minors Act
2 AI Warnings And Resources for Education (AWARE) Act
C Partnerships and Best Practices
VI Kids Privacy Protections
A COPPA 2.0
B Data Broker Disclosures
VII General Provisions