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Us house committee agrees on social media rules for children
Leaders of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee have reached a bipartisan agreement on a bill that would require social media platforms to provide safety measures and tools for children and parents.
Leaders of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee have taken a significant step in the years-long debate over protecting children online, reaching a bipartisan agreement on a bill that would require social media platforms to provide safety measures and tools for children and parents.
Details of the agreement
Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie and the committee's top Democrat, Frank Pallone, declined to share more specific details of the agreement announced Monday but said it would hold "Big Tech accountable."
In a joint statement, Guthrie and Pallone said, "We have worked for months on a bipartisan basis on policies that will significantly improve the digital environment for children, and we have now found common ground."
Scope and contentious points of the agreement
The bipartisan agreement also addresses several contentious issues in the social media regulation debate. A spokesperson for committee Republicans said the agreement does not include a "duty of care" provision that would require companies to design their social media platforms with children's safety in mind.
House Democrats and key Senate Republicans such as Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn have long demanded such a provision in any child online safety law, complicating the bill's progress.
The agreement would allow states to pass social media laws that provide "greater protections" than those set out in the agreement, which is seen as a win for Democrats.
Obstacles to the law
The agreement faces several hurdles before becoming law, including securing support from the Senate and President Donald Trump. Trump's spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The top House Republican, Speaker Mike Johnson, has reportedly supported the agreement.
State laws and the status of tech companies
In the U.S., federal lawmakers have for years declined to pass comprehensive laws regulating social media, pushing states to enact their own. According to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 20 states passed laws addressing children's social media use last year.
According to a December Pew Research Center report, the most popular digital platforms for Americans aged 13-17 are Snap's Snapchat, Meta's Instagram, Google's YouTube, and TikTok. Meta and Google declined to comment Monday on the bipartisan agreement. Snap and TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters news agency previously reported that Meta lobbied the U.S. Congress for legal immunity from claims of child harm linked to its social media products. Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat face thousands of lawsuits accusing them of designing harmful social media platforms for young people. If such a provision becomes law, it could undermine those cases.
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