Table of Contents
KIDS Act H.R. 7757 Passed the House: What's Actually in the Bill
KIDS Act H.R. 7757 read clause by clause: what the House-passed text says on chatbots, defaults, age checks and preemption, and where press releases go further.
A press release can say a bill “ensures chatbots disclose to kids that they are chatbots.” The bill text says when, to whom, and how often. Those details are where a parent learns whether a law will change anything on their child’s phone. The KIDS Act, H.R. 7757, passed the House 267–117 on June 29, 2026. I read the engrossed text, the version the House actually passed, published by the Government Publishing Office. Here is what the KIDS Act H.R. 7757 says, title by title, where the official descriptions match the text, and where they stretch it. One fact frames everything: as of November 1, 2026, the Senate has not passed it, and its Senate counterparts oppose it.
Key Takeaways
- The KIDS Act defines a “minor” as under 17, so most of its protections, including the chatbot rules, do not reach 17-year-olds.
- Chatbots must disclose they are AI at a minor’s first interaction and when asked, must give crisis-line resources when a minor asks about suicide, and must have “reasonable policies” to advise a break after 3 continuous hours.
- Section 213 states the bill does not “impose a duty of care,” the central demand of the Senate’s KOSA sponsors.
- Section 704 preempts state laws only where they conflict and preserves stronger state protections and state tort and product-liability claims.
- The chatbot rules apply only when a provider “knows or should have known” a user is a minor. The bill says it does not require collecting new age information.
What the KIDS Act Is
The KIDS Act (Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act) is a House package that bundles more than a dozen child-safety and privacy bills into one. According to Tech Policy Press, its centerpieces are a version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and COPPA 2.0, with 12 other measures folded in. Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie and Ranking Member Frank Pallone negotiated the final text, and it passed under suspension of the rules, which requires a two-thirds majority, as Roll Call reported.
The engrossed text on GovInfo has seven titles. Title I covers age verification for adult-content sites. Title II is the KOSA-style platform rules plus a ban on market research on minors. Title III covers social gaming. Title IV is the “SAFE BOTs Act” for chatbots. Title V orders studies and education programs. Title VI is COPPA 2.0 and data-broker registration. Title VII handles enforcement, preemption and the effective date, which is one year after enactment unless a section says otherwise.
The Chatbot Title, Clause by Clause
Title IV, the Safeguarding Adolescents From Exploitative BOTs Act, is short. Four operative sections cover it all.
Who is covered. A “chatbot provider” is a business offering a chatbot directly to consumers. A website with a chat function “incidental to the primary purpose” of the service is not covered for that reason alone. The rules protect a “covered user,” meaning a user the provider “knows,” defined as “know or should have known,” is a minor. Section 2 defines a minor as “an individual under the age of 17 years.”
Section 403. A chatbot may not tell a covered user it is a licensed professional, unless that is true.
Section 404. The provider must disclose that the chatbot “is an artificial intelligence system and not a natural person,” and must provide “resources for contacting a suicide and crisis intervention hotline.” The timing matters. The AI disclosure comes “at the initiation of the first interaction” and whenever the minor asks whether the bot is AI. The crisis resources come when the minor “prompts the chatbot about suicide or suicidal ideation.” Disclosures must be in plain, age-appropriate language.
Section 405. The provider must keep “reasonable policies, practices, and procedures” to make sure the bot “advises a covered user of the chatbot to take a break” once a “continuous and uninterrupted interaction” has lasted 3 hours. Separate policies must address sexual exploitation and abuse, and the promotion of gambling, drugs, tobacco or alcohol restricted for minors.
What is not in Title IV is as informative. There is no ban on romantic role-play, no limit on chatbot memory, no rule against a bot claiming to have feelings, and no requirement to respond to self-harm or eating-disorder signals other than a question about suicide. Compare that with New York’s new law, which lists 12 banned features, or Oregon’s ban on simulated romance with minors. We explain how the three-hour reminder plays out on screen in what kids see under three-hour reminder laws.
The Platform Rules (Title II): Safeguards, Not a Duty of Care
Section 213 requires covered platforms to keep reasonable policies addressing four harms to minors: severe threats of physical violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, drugs, tobacco, cannabis, gambling or alcohol, and financial harm from deceptive practices. Then it adds a sentence that defines the whole debate. Nothing in it “may be construed to… impose a duty of care on a provider of a covered platform.”
That is a deliberate break from the Senate. Senate KOSA sponsors Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal said the House’s decision “to strip out the duty of care will only maintain the status quo,” according to The Record. House negotiators, as summarized by Tech Policy Press and others, cited concerns that a broad duty would push platforms to censor protected speech.
Section 214 is where most day-to-day changes would show up. For users a platform knows are minors, it must offer safeguards to limit who can message them, keep their profiles from being recommended to adults, hide online status, “limit design features that encourage compulsive usage,” restrict geolocation sharing, and opt out of personalized recommendations. The default for each must be “the most protective level of control.” Parents get tools to view settings, restrict purchases, see and limit time, and get a notice when a stranger first tries to message their child. For children under 13, parents can also manage settings and disable direct messaging.
Age Checks, Privacy and Preemption
Age verification. Title I requires sites with sexual material harmful to minors to use “technology verification measures,” and says a user’s own claim of adulthood is not enough. Section 220 says the KOSA subtitle does not require age gating or verification, and Section 703 says nothing in the Act requires “the affirmative collection of any personal information with respect to age that is not already collected in the normal course of business.” Critics are not reassured. The Electronic Frontier Foundation argued, as Roll Call reported, that liability would still push services to collect more information about age.
COPPA 2.0. Title VI raises the protected “child” age to under 14 and adds a “teen” category, ages 14 through 17, and restricts “individual-specific advertising” to them. Pallone’s office describes this as expanding protections “from the current age of 12 to teens up to the age of 17.”
Preemption. Section 704 preempts state law “only to the extent that such law… conflicts with a provision of this Act,” and states that nothing in it stops a state from enacting a law “that provides greater protection to minors,” or preempts state contract, tort or product-liability law. That supports Pallone’s description of the bill as “a floor, not the ceiling.” Critics quoted by Axios, as summarized by Tech Policy Press, still worry it could make design lawsuits harder.
Enforcement. The FTC enforces violations as unfair or deceptive practices, and state attorneys general can sue in federal court. The bill does not create a private right for families to sue. Any constitutional challenge goes exclusively to the federal district court in Washington, D.C.
KIDS Act H.R. 7757 Claims Checked Against the Text
| Claim (source) | What the House-passed text says | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| ”Ensures chatbots disclose to kids that they are chatbots, not humans” (Pallone release) | Disclosure at first interaction and when asked, for users the provider knows or should know are under 17 | Accurate, with timing and age limits |
| Chatbots “must provide suicide prevention resources if there is any prompt related to suicide” (Pallone release) | Crisis resources when a minor “prompts the chatbot about suicide or suicidal ideation” | Accurate; self-harm and eating disorders not covered by this clause |
| Bill protects “teens up to the age of 17” (Pallone release) | COPPA 2.0 teens are 14 to 17; KOSA and chatbot titles define minors as under 17 | Partly; 17-year-olds miss the chatbot and platform rules |
| ”A floor, not the ceiling” for states (Pallone) | Sec. 704 preserves stronger state laws and tort claims | Accurate as written |
| Requires platforms to “limit addictive design features” (Pallone release) | Platforms must offer a safeguard to limit compulsive-use features, defaulted on for known minors | Roughly accurate; it is a control, not a ban |
| No age verification required (supporters) | True for KOSA subtitle; Title I requires it for adult-content sites | Accurate for most platforms |
| ”Pale imitation” of KOSA (Blackburn and Blumenthal) | Sec. 213 rules out a duty of care | A policy judgment; the missing duty of care is real |
What This Means for Your Family Right Now
Nothing changes on your child’s phone yet
The bill has not passed the Senate, and if it became law, most of it would take effect one year after enactment. Every bill of the 119th Congress expires in early January 2027 if not enacted. Our explainer on why Congress still hasn’t passed a kids’ AI safety law covers the path ahead.
Notice the age cutoff
If your child is 17, the KIDS Act’s chatbot and platform protections would not apply to them as written. State laws often use under 18.
Use the text as a settings checklist
Section 214’s list is practical even without a law: limit who can message your child, hide their online status, turn off location sharing, opt out of personalized recommendations, and set a time limit. Most major apps already offer some of these.
Read state laws alongside federal ones
Because Section 704 preserves stronger state protections, your state’s rules may end up mattering more. Compare with state child privacy laws and KOSA.
What not to do
Don’t treat a press release as a summary of the law. Read the operative verbs: “shall,” “may not,” and “reasonable policies” carry very different weight.
What to Watch For Over the Next 3 Months
- Week 4: Whether the Senate takes up the KIDS Act, its own KOSA, or a combined package in the lame-duck session, and whether AI preemption language is attached.
- Month 2 red flags: Any conference text that changes Section 704 to preempt state chatbot or AI laws, or narrows the “knows or should have known” standard back to actual knowledge.
- Month 3 self-check: If nothing passes by early January 2027, the bill expires. Check what your state’s chatbot law requires from January 1, 2027.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the KIDS Act a law?
No. It passed the House on June 29, 2026, by 267–117, but the Senate has not voted on it, and the Senate’s KOSA sponsors oppose it. A bill becomes law only after both chambers pass identical text and the President signs. If that does not happen before the 119th Congress ends in early January 2027, it expires.
Does the KIDS Act ban AI companions for kids?
No. Its chatbot title requires disclosures, crisis resources when a minor asks about suicide, break advice after three hours, and policies on sexual exploitation, gambling and drugs. It does not ban companion apps or romantic role-play. The separate Senate GUARD Act would ban AI companions for minors.
Would the KIDS Act require my child to show ID?
Mostly no. It requires age verification for sites with sexual material harmful to minors. The KOSA portion says it does not require age gating, and the bill says it does not require collecting new age data. Critics argue liability may push platforms toward stronger age checks anyway.
Can parents sue under the KIDS Act?
The text gives enforcement to the FTC and state attorneys general and does not create a private right of action. It does preserve state contract, tort and product-liability law, so lawsuits under state law would not be blocked by this bill.
Why does it stop at 16?
The bill defines a minor as under 17, matching earlier versions of KOSA. COPPA 2.0’s teen category runs to 17. The public summaries do not explain the choice, but it means 17-year-olds fall outside the chatbot and platform rules.
About the author
Ricky Flores is the founder of HiWave Makers and an electrical engineer with 15+ years of experience building consumer technology at Apple, Samsung, and Texas Instruments. He writes about how kids learn to build, think, and create in a tech-saturated world. Read more at hiwavemakers.com.
Sources
- U.S. House of Representatives. (2026). “H.R. 7757, Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act (Engrossed in House).” GovInfo, U.S. Government Publishing Office. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hr7757eh/html/BILLS-119hr7757eh.htm
- Office of Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (2026, June 29). “Pallone Celebrates House Passage of Bipartisan KIDS Act to Protect Kids Online.” pallone.house.gov. https://pallone.house.gov/media/press-releases/pallone-celebrates-house-passage-bipartisan-kids-act-protect-kids-online
- Tech Policy Press. (2026). “Bipartisan Smorgasbord of Children’s Online Safety Legislation Passes the House.” Tech Policy Press. https://techpolicy.press/bipartisan-smorgasbord-of-childrens-online-safety-legislation-passes-the-house
- Roll Call. (2026, June 29). “Kids bill faces uncertainty after House passage.” Roll Call. https://rollcall.com/2026/06/29/kids-bill-faces-uncertainty-after-house-passage/
- The Record. (2026, June 30). “House passes kids’ online safety bill, but Senate approval unlikely.” The Record by Recorded Future News. https://therecord.media/house-passes-kids-online-safety-bill-senate-unlikely
- CT Mirror. (2026, August 5). “Senate panel approves Blumenthal’s Kids Online Safety Act.” CT Mirror. https://ctmirror.org/2026/08/05/senate-panel-approves-kosa/
