The Senate Commerce Committee approves the Kids Off Social Media Act to ban under-13s from social media, clearing the way for consideration by the full Senate
It also sits alongside the Senate's earlier Kids Online Safety Act effort, which focused on protections and tools for younger users rather than a categorical age-based restriction.
First-order effects
The bill can now be considered by the full Senate, raising the stakes for its sponsors and for the Senate Commerce Committee's child-online-safety agenda.
Social-media companies face a clearer federal-policy signal around excluding under-13 users, although the committee action itself does not create a new legal obligation.
Second-order effects
A full-Senate push would sharpen the distinction between age-based access restrictions and the safety-by-design approach in KOSA, forcing platforms and advocates to argue over which model should govern minors' accounts.
The measure adds federal momentum to a policy area already pursued through state child-protection rules, increasing pressure for approaches that can operate across jurisdictions.
Third-order effects
If age-threshold bills continue to advance, online child-safety policy may shift from requiring additional protections for minors toward making access eligibility itself a core regulatory control.
That shift would make age assurance and parental-consent mechanisms a more consequential compliance issue, while leaving unresolved how lawmakers balance enforceability, privacy, and access.
The trend: Child online-safety policy is increasingly testing access-control rules, not only platform duties to make youth experiences safer.
Under the leadership of @SenTedCruz, Senate Commerce Committee just advanced the Kids Off Social Media Act! This commonsense bill would protect children and put parents back in the driver's seat. Excited by this step forward. https://www.britt.senate.gov/ ...
While claiming to protect minors, this bill risks their privacy, safety, & First Amendment rights- all the while limiting student access to educational online platforms, and isolating students who rely on school-provided internet access & devices to connect and communicate.
@SenatorLujan makes valid points. Once the government starts making decisions that should be in the hands of parents, where does it end. No matter how concerned you are with social media, governmental parenting, or weaponizing broadband funds are not the answer [image]
If Congress is serious about taking care of kids and combating the youth mental health crises, then all members would be up in arms about potential cuts or elimination of the Department of Education, and having an anti-vaxxer in charge of Health and Human Services. The next gene…
If passed, KOSMA would in-effect require all Americans—regardless of age—to submit sensitive, personal documentation to access online services. This is a serious threat to cybersecurity...Children are additionally the number one targets of identity thieves. Under KOSMA, online …
Senate Commerce committee is having a hearing on the KOSMA act right now. The sad truth is it's directly a violation of free speech, which kids also have, and since it requires kids to prove their age, requires share personal identifying information with every social app, a reci…
#KOSMA Kids Off Social Media Act (Senator Cruz and Schatz) getting a markup today. Cruz continues to argue that algorithmic social media feeds should be eliminated for users under 16 years old....missing the part where child-appropriate feeds are made possible by...algorithms 🤨