Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA): where the bills stand and what they would do

The short answer

KOSA is not law. It is a series of bills that would set safety duties for online platforms used by minors. In the 119th Congress (2025-2026), the main Senate bill is S. 1748, introduced May 14, 2025 by Sen. Marsha Blackburn with Sen. Richard Blumenthal. The main stand-alone House bill is H.R. 6484, introduced December 5, 2025 by Rep. Gus Bilirakis.

As of October 31, 2026, congress.gov lists S. 1748 as ordered reported by the Senate Commerce Committee on August 5, 2026, with no later action listed. A separate House package, H.R. 7757 (the KIDS Act), contains a KOSA section. The House passed it on June 29, 2026, and it was referred to the Senate Commerce Committee on July 13, 2026. The Senate and House versions differ, most visibly on whether platforms owe a duty of care.

This guide is not legal advice. Whether a law would cover a particular company is a legal question.

The bills in the 119th Congress

• S. 1748, Kids Online Safety Act. Sponsor: Sen. Blackburn. Congress.gov lists 76 cosponsors as of October 31, 2026; the introduced text lists Sens. Blumenthal, Thune and Schumer as original cosponsors. It was referred to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
• H.R. 6484, Kids Online Safety Act. Sponsor: Rep. Bilirakis. It was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It does not use the term duty of care.
• H.R. 7757, the KIDS Act. Sponsor: Rep. Brett Guthrie, introduced March 3, 2026. It is a larger House package. Title II, Subtitle A (sections 211 to 221) is its Kids Online Safety section. Its other titles cover, among other things, shielding minors from obscene material, gaming platforms, AI chatbots (Title IV), research and children's privacy.

Where each bill stands as of October 31, 2026

• S. 1748: On August 5, 2026, the Senate Commerce Committee ordered it reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute, according to congress.gov. The committee's release says the vote was by voice vote and reports Chairman Ted Cruz referring to 75 cosponsors; congress.gov lists 76 as of October 31, 2026. Congress.gov lists no later action.
• H.R. 6484: On December 11, 2025, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade forwarded it to the full committee as a substitute, by a 13-10 vote. Congress.gov lists no later action.
• H.R. 7757: The House passed it on June 29, 2026, 267 to 117, under a motion to suspend the rules, as amended (Roll Call 228). It was received in the Senate and referred to the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on July 13, 2026. Blackburn and Blumenthal issued a statement on June 29 saying the House bill weakens KOSA by dropping the duty of care, and that they would keep pushing for the Senate version.
• A bill not enacted by the end of the 119th Congress (2025-2026) would have to be reintroduced in the next Congress.

History in brief, 2022 to 2024

• February 16, 2022: Sen. Blumenthal introduced S. 3663 in the 117th Congress. The Commerce Committee approved it on July 27, 2022 and it was placed on the Senate calendar on December 15, 2022. The bill status record shows no floor vote.
• May 2, 2023: Blumenthal introduced S. 1409 in the 118th Congress. The Commerce Committee approved it on July 27, 2023 and it was reported to the Senate on December 13, 2023 (Calendar No. 287).
• July 30, 2024: The Senate passed 91-3 a package that Sen. Cantwell's office called the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, combining KOSA with the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act (often called COPPA 2.0). The Senate Daily Press lists the vehicle as S. 2073, with the Senate concurring in a House amendment. Sens. Lee, Paul and Wyden voted no.
• September 18, 2024: House Energy and Commerce ordered a House KOSA bill, H.R. 7891, reported with an amendment by voice vote, according to bill status data.
• December 18, 2024: Blumenthal and Blackburn said in a joint statement that the House had refused to take up the bill. That is their account of why it stalled. The bill did not become law in the 118th Congress.

What the Senate bill would require

This section describes S. 1748 as introduced on May 14, 2025. On August 5, 2026 the Commerce Committee ordered it reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute, so the reported version may differ in detail from what follows. A Congressional Research Service summary updated August 24, 2026 describes the amended S. 1748 as still containing a duty-of-care section.

• Duty of care (section 102): covered platforms would have to use reasonable care in designing and implementing design features to prevent and mitigate listed harms to minors, where the harm is reasonably foreseeable and the feature contributes to it. The listed harms include eating disorders, substance use disorders, suicidal behaviors, certain anxiety and depressive disorders tied to compulsive use, compulsive-use patterns, physical violence or harassment, sexual exploitation, sales of drugs, tobacco, cannabis, gambling or alcohol, and financial harms from unfair or deceptive practices. The text says it does not require blocking minors from searching for content or reaching harm-prevention resources.
• Safeguards for minors the platform knows are minors (section 103): easy-to-use settings to limit who can contact them, limit who can see their personal data, limit by default design features that drive use (such as infinite scroll, autoplay, rewards and notifications), control personalized recommendations, and limit sharing of geolocation. There must be an option to limit time spent. Settings default to the most protective level the platform offers.
• Parental tools (section 103): a parent could view privacy and account settings, restrict purchases, and view and restrict time spent. For known children under 13, the tools are on by default. The text also requires a way to report harms, with a substantive response within 10 days for platforms averaging more than 10 million monthly U.S. users and 21 days for smaller ones.
• Disclosure (section 104): notice of safeguards and policies before a known minor registers or buys, parental consent for known children as under COPPA, plain terms about personalized recommendation systems, and labels on advertising to minors.
• Transparency (section 105): an annual public report based on an independent third-party audit, for platforms that averaged more than 10 million monthly U.S. users and mainly provide a community forum for user-generated content.
• Other terms: a ban on market research on known children and a parental-consent rule for known minors (section 106), a study of device-level age verification (section 107), FTC guidance (section 108) and a Kids Online Safety Council (section 110). Title I would take effect 18 months after enactment. A separate Title II, on filter bubble transparency, would require platforms to let users see content not chosen by an algorithm based on their data.

Who would be covered and how it would be enforced

In S. 1748 as introduced, a covered platform is an online platform, online video game, messaging application or video streaming service that connects to the internet and is used, or reasonably likely to be used, by a minor. A minor is a person under 17 and a child is under 13. The text defines an online platform as a public-facing site or app that mainly provides a community forum for user-generated content, and says a site is not one just because of an incidental chat or comment feature.

The text excludes several kinds of provider, including broadband and email services, nonprofits, schools, libraries, certain news and sports sites, business-to-business software, VPNs and .gov sites. Platforms are bound by the safeguards for users they know are minors, meaning actual knowledge or knowledge fairly implied from objective circumstances. The text says it does not require age verification or age gating.

The FTC would enforce Title I as a violation of an FTC rule on unfair or deceptive practices. State attorneys general could sue on behalf of residents over the safeguards, disclosure and transparency sections, with notice to the FTC. The text says a duty-of-care violation cannot be the basis of a state attorney general's action under state law. State laws would be preempted only where they conflict, and states could give minors greater protection.

The House bills differ. H.R. 6484 and the KOSA section of H.R. 7757 have no duty of care. H.R. 7757 says its harm-mitigation section is not to be read as imposing one, and instead requires reasonable policies and procedures addressing listed harms. It defines a covered platform as a public service with a searchable, followable username, a main purpose of sharing user-generated content, engagement-promoting design features and use of personal data to advertise or recommend. It requires annual independent audits. A Congressional Research Service summary updated August 24, 2026 says the House bill preempts conflicting state laws but not state contract, tort or product liability laws.

Would KOSA reach AI chatbots?

The text we read does not mention chatbots. The word does not appear in S. 1748 as introduced, in H.R. 6484, or in the KOSA section of H.R. 7757 (sections 211 to 221). In S. 1748, the term artificial intelligence appears once, in the definition of an algorithmic ranking system in Title II. A Congressional Research Service summary of KOSA, updated August 24, 2026, also does not mention chatbots.

Whether a chatbot service would be a covered platform depends on whether it fits the definitions above, such as an online platform with a community forum for user-generated content or a messaging application. The text does not say, and that is a legal question. This comparison uses S. 1748 as introduced and does not address whether the committee substitute changed those definitions.

Chatbots are handled in separate bills. On the same day the Commerce Committee advanced KOSA, it also advanced S. 4199 (the Youth AI Privacy Act) and S. 4407 (the CHATBOT Act), each by voice vote. The House-passed H.R. 7757 puts its chatbot rules in a different part, Title IV, apart from its KOSA section.

How KOSA relates to the chatbot bills we track

None of these bills is law. Each is a separate bill from KOSA, though some travel in the same package.

• GUARD Act (S. 3062, sponsor Sen. Josh Hawley; House companion H.R. 8623, Reps. Blake Moore and Valerie Foushee): the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced S. 3062 22-0 on April 30, 2026. It was reported on May 11, 2026 and placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar (Calendar No. 406). Sen. Hawley's release says it would bar AI companions for minors, require chatbots to disclose they are not human or a professional, and add criminal penalties. H.R. 8623 was introduced April 30, 2026 and referred to House Judiciary and Energy and Commerce.
• KIDS Act (H.R. 7757): the one House package that carries both a KOSA section (Title II) and chatbot rules (Title IV, titled the SAFE BOTs Act). It has passed the House and is in the Senate Commerce Committee.
• Youth AI Privacy Act (S. 4199, Sen. Edward Markey): ordered reported by the Commerce Committee on August 5, 2026, by voice vote. As approved, it would require chatbot deployers who know a user is under 18 to disclose that the user is talking to AI and would limit use of the minor's personal data.
• CHATBOT Act (S. 4407, Sen. Cruz with Sens. Schatz, Schiff and Curtis): ordered reported by the Commerce Committee on August 5, 2026, by voice vote. As approved, it would require family accounts for children and verifiable parental consent for teens using AI chatbots.
• H.R. 10719 (Rep. George Whitesides, with Reps. Kennedy, Matsui and Miller-Meeks): introduced October 1, 2026 and referred to House Energy and Commerce and Science, Space, and Technology. A one-page summary from the sponsor says it would have chatbots likely to be used by minors start in a mode that does not claim to be human or have feelings, with only a parent able to change it.

Our records for each of these bills set out its provisions and current status.

What supporters and critics say

People disagree about KOSA. These are the organizations' own positions, not our findings.

Supporters: Sens. Blackburn and Blumenthal said in an August 5, 2026 release that a coalition of more than 240 organizations has endorsed KOSA. Fairplay said the same day that it considers the Senate version more protective than other children's online safety bills under consideration, and urged leaders to pass the strongest version this year. OpenAI's vice president of global affairs, Chris Lehane, said in a statement the senators released on May 13, 2026 that OpenAI supports KOSA.

Critics: The ACLU said in a June 29, 2026 letter on the KIDS Act that it opposes the KOSA provisions, arguing they would undermine First Amendment rights and privacy and could push platforms toward age verification and removal of content on topics such as mental health. On July 30, 2024 it made similar arguments about the Senate bill. The Electronic Frontier Foundation said in an August 2026 post that it opposes KOSA and argued the duty of care could lead platforms to remove lawful speech and adopt age checks. NetChoice said on August 5, 2026 that the duty of care is vague and could lead to over-removal of lawful content.