Vote Recommendation: VOTE NO on the KIDS Act

The bill cuts the Senate’s duty of care — the legal requirement for platforms to be safe-by-default and to avoid designs that foster mental health harms, sexual exploitation, or financial exploitation of minors.

The House bill replaces enforceable rules with a vague requirement to “maintain policies.” It also removes the Senate bill’s specific obligation to address eating disorders, substance use, suicidal behavior, depression, and addiction. Companies wouldn’t be required to have a policy on these harms, let alone a legal duty to prevent them — a painful omission for families who have lost children to these exact harms.

The bill raises the bar for what counts as “harm” before safeguards kick in, and drops the Senate bill’s explicit requirement for a chronological feed option.

The House bill strips out video games, messaging apps, and video streaming services as covered platforms. It adds a tangle of social media exemptions that potentially allow platforms like Roblox — long scrutinized for sexual and financial exploitation — to argue they’re not covered at all.

Instead of a duty of care or real liability for harmful AI companions, the bill only requires chatbot providers to maintain “reasonable policies” on a narrow set of issues. On addiction specifically, the only intervention is a prompt suggesting a break after three uninterrupted hours of use — weaker than voluntary limits some social media companies have already adopted.