Attorney General Jennifer Davenport and a bipartisan coalition of 43 other attorneys general announced on May 26 that they are opposing the federal Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act, also known as the KIDS Act (H.R. 7757). The group said the bill would weaken states’ ability to protect children online while shielding technology companies from accountability.
In a letter to Congressional leaders, the coalition said the KIDS Act would broadly prevent states from addressing various online harms to minors, including issues related to social media, online obscenity, social gaming platforms, and artificial intelligence chatbots.
“It’s as simple as this: Technology companies shouldn’t be insulated from accountability when they put our kids in harm’s way and earn billions of dollars off of their data in the process. As a parent, I won’t allow that—and neither should Congress,” Attorney General Davenport said. “I am standing together with a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general in opposing any effort by Congress to take away states’ rights to hold Big Tech accountable when they harm our kids.”
The attorneys general said provisions in the House version of the bill would undermine child safety by preventing most age gating or age verification requirements for online platforms. They also raised concerns about allowing market- and product-focused research on minors and creating an enforcement loophole for artificial intelligence chat functions.
The coalition urged Congress to advance legislation with meaningful duty-of-care requirements for online platforms instead. In February, Attorney General Davenport supported the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), S. 1748, which does not impede state efforts to protect children online or limit accountability for technology companies.
Davenport joined attorneys general from 43 states and territories in signing onto this opposition effort.
