Supporting H.R. the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (Kids) Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 7757, the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, the first step towards delivering long-overdue privacy protections for children and teens online.

Social media companies use mass data collection and algorithms to drive adults, teens, and children towards harmful content, misinformation, and targeted ads that line the profits of Big Tech companies. H.R. 7757, the KIDS Act, would safeguard minors from these harmful practices.

The KIDS Act is a package of 14 online safety bills, including revised provisions from the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act, that would require social media companies to protect the personal data of our children and teens and prevent the promotion of harmful content like eating disorders and suicide. Specifically, the KIDS Act will mandate safeguards, parental tools, and policies to keep kids safe when using social media, video games, chatbots, and more. These safeguards will limit addictive design features, restrict sharing the geolocation of minors, limit adult users from communicating with minors, restrict personalized recommendation systems, and more.

I have had real concerns with provisions in the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) that could harm members of my community. The version of KOSA that was included in the KIDS Act includes a major change that removes the ``duty of care'' provision. This provision could have been weaponized by President Trump's politically motivated Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which has already made it its mission to attack gender-affirming care every chance it gets. Removing that provision from the final bill will safeguard against politically motivated censorship online.

Additionally, I have heard from constituents expressing their concerns with online age verification that could be required by the KIDS Act. I agree with those I have heard from; if age verification is required across all online platforms, it could create additional privacy concerns for our children and teens. However, the only age verification requirement that is mandated by the KIDS Act is for pornographic websites. For these websites, the bill does not require government identification to verify age. The bill also contains provisions to ensure data collected or used for age verification on pornographic websites complies with strict data minimization and security measures.

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