H.R. 7757

KIDS Act

Sponsor: Brett Guthrie

1 cosponsor
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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

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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

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

Sec. 525. Short title Since introduced

This subtitle may be cited as the Kids Internet Safety Partnership Act.

VI Kids Privacy Protections

A COPPA 2.0

B Data Broker Disclosures

VII General Provisions