House vote sets up Senate clash over kids' online safety

The House passed the Kids Online Safety Act with strong bipartisan support in a 267-to-117 vote. But the Senate is already signaling trouble ahead. The bill aims to protect minors from harms of social media platforms, but key senators say the House version is too weak. Specifically, it lacks 'duty of care' language that would require tech companies to minimize harms from features like endless scrolling and algorithmic recommendations. The House version also includes preemption language that would prevent states from suing companies over harmful design practices. According to Axios, Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, says that preemption would have blocked landmark social media addiction cases in California. Republican senator Marsha Blackburn, a sponsor of the original bill, wants duty of care protections included. The Trump administration is pushing for this legislation to also preempt state AI laws, which complicates the negotiations.

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