Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA, S. 1748)

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is a US Senate bill, designated S. 1748 in the 119th Congress, that would require online platforms used by minors to exercise a duty of care in the design of features that increase minors' online activity, and would give them obligations on data protection, parental tools, harm reporting, and algorithmic personalization. It is sponsored by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) as co-author, was introduced on May 14, 2025, and was referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (Source: congress.gov). The committee ordered it reported favorably, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute, on August 5, 2026 (Source: congress.gov).

Status and legislative history

KOSA was first introduced in 2022 and has been reintroduced in successive Congresses. The version that came closest to enactment passed the Senate in July 2024 by a vote of 91-3; the House never took it up (Source: ctmirror.org). Accounts of that margin differ across the record: an August 5, 2026 report gives it as 91-3, while an August 6, 2026 report gives 93-1, the latter reaching the record through a paywalled lede (Source: insideaipolicy.com). The discrepancy is unresolved. The bill was reintroduced for the fourth time on May 14, 2025 by its original sponsor Blackburn (Source: natlawreview.com). It has also been marked up and reported out of the Senate Commerce Committee more than once in prior Congresses (Source: ctmirror.org).

Committee chairman Ted Cruz announced on July 29, 2026 that the committee would convene a full-committee executive session on August 5, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. to consider S. 1748 among other measures (Source: commerce.senate.gov). At that session the committee advanced the bill by voice vote as amended by the Blackburn substitute, as modified, alongside three other children's online-safety measures: S. 4199, the Youth AI Privacy Act; S. 4407, the CHATBOT Act; and S. 5171, the Children's Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act of 2026 (Source: commerce.senate.gov). A fifth measure, S. 737 (the SCREEN Act), drew 15 yeas to 13 nays but did not advance because the committee did not reach a quorum (Source: politico.com).

Blackburn told colleagues at the session that KOSA carried 75 Senate co-sponsors (Source: broadbandbreakfast.com). Cruz said in closing, "We've now passed KOSA again unanimously out of this committee" (Source: insideaipolicy.com). The committee postponed consideration of a broader AI legislative framework at the same markup, and stated it would take that up after the August recess (Source: ctmirror.org).

Scope and definitions

The bill applies to covered platforms, defined as online platforms, video games, messaging applications, or video streaming services used or likely to be used by individuals under the age of 17, with specified exceptions (Source: congress.gov). Cruz described the covered set in his markup remarks as "online platforms used by minors, including social media, online video games, messaging apps, and video streamers" (Source: commerce.senate.gov).

Key provisions

The bill's central obligation is a duty of care: covered platforms must exercise reasonable care in the design and use of features that increase minors' online activity, in order to prevent and mitigate harm to minors, with mental health disorders and severe harassment given as examples (Source: congress.gov). Blumenthal's office describes the enumerated dangers as including the promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, and sexual exploitation, and advertisements for certain illegal products such as tobacco and alcohol (Source: blumenthal.senate.gov).

Beyond the duty of care, the bill requires covered platforms to provide safeguards to minors — protections for minors' data, tools for parents including access to minors' privacy settings, and a mechanism for account holders and visitors to report harm to minors on the platform (Source: congress.gov).

The bill prohibits covered platforms from conducting market or product research on children under 13, and permits such research on those under 17 only with parental consent (Source: congress.gov).

A separate title addresses algorithmic personalization. Online platforms must meet certain requirements before using algorithms that select, order, or prioritize information based on user-specific data not provided for that purpose: they must give users notice of the use of such algorithms, and must permit users to switch to an algorithm that does not rely on that user-specific data (Source: congress.gov).

Enforcement

The bill provides for enforcement through the Federal Trade Commission and the states (Source: congress.gov).

Relationship to the House package

The House passed its own children's online-safety package, the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act (H.R. 7757), on June 29, 2026 by a 267-117 vote; that package consolidates a KOSA title with COPPA 2.0 and the SAFE Bots Act. Reporting on the August 5, 2026 markup states that the House version stripped the duty of care, the provision the Senate committee voted to retain, setting the two chambers' texts against each other (Source: techtimes.com). Blumenthal and Blackburn called the House-passed version "dead on arrival," and Blackburn said at the markup: "The Senate cannot and will not accept the version that the House passed earlier" and "It is toothless, and it is a very pale imitation of the Senate version, and therefore it is a pale imitation of big tech accountability" (Sources: ctmirror.org; politico.com). Blackburn also said during the markup, "We're sending a message to Big Tech that the era of Big Tech profiting off of our children is over" (Source: politico.com).

Reactions

Politico characterized the unanimous committee vote as offering "few signs that Congress has reached consensus on the debate about how to protect young people on the internet" (Source: politico.com).

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include Google, Meta, and Amazon, wrote to the committee on August 4, 2026 opposing KOSA along with the Youth AI Privacy Act and the CHATBOT Act, describing them as "prescriptive federal mandates" built on standards it called vague and inconsistent, and arguing that they raise constitutional concerns, threaten to restrict lawful speech, and create compliance burdens for digital services (Source: broadbandbreakfast.com).

The Center for Democracy and Technology wrote to Cruz and ranking member Maria Cantwell ahead of the hearing, arguing for a data-minimization approach: "Legislative proposals that would enact meaningful data minimization restrictions and other data privacy protections either for everyone or, at a minimum, beginning with enhancing protections for children would help to address some of the root causes animating the concerns for kids' safety online" (Source: ctmirror.org).

Parent advocates whose children were harmed or died in connection with social-media use attended the markup and had pressed Cruz to hold a committee vote; senators on the committee acknowledged their work during the hour-long session (Source: ctmirror.org).

Open questions

• Whether S. 1748 reaches a Senate floor vote in the 119th Congress, and whether the duty of care survives a conference with the House-passed H.R. 7757, is not determined on the present record.
• The text of the Blackburn substitute as modified was posted by the committee as a separate document; its changes to the introduced text have not been independently summarized in the sources reviewed here.

Relationships

• related: Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act (KIDS Act, H.R. 7757) (competing House vehicle containing a KOSA title), Youth AI Privacy Act (S. 4199), CHATBOT Act (Cruz–Schatz–Curtis–Schiff, April 2026), Children's Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act of 2026 (S. 5171), People-First Chatbot Act, TAKE IT DOWN Act
• instance-of: AI and Children
• depends-on: Algorithmic Speech Doctrine (the duty of care and the personalization-algorithm title are the provisions First Amendment challenges have targeted)
• regulated-by: Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
• contradicts: CCIA — Computer & Communications Industry Association (opposed), Chamber of Progress (aligned trade-association opposition to platform design mandates)
• related: Marsha Blackburn, Ted Cruz, Maria Cantwell, Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), Reverse Federalism, State-Level AI Regulation

Provenance note: Built from the Congress.gov bill record and CRS summary, the Senate Commerce Committee's own markup announcement and results release, and contemporaneous reporting on the August 5, 2026 executive session. Citations should upgrade to wiki links if the bill text or the Blackburn substitute is ingested as a foundational sources/ page.