US House committee reaches bipartisan deal on social media rules for kids

Leaders of the US House Energy and Commerce Committee have reached a bipartisan agreement on legislation requiring social media platforms to provide safeguards and tools for children and parents, a key step in a years-long debate over how to protect children online.

Chairman Brett Guthrie and top committee Democrat Frank Pallone declined to release more specific details about the agreement announced on Monday, but said it would “hold Big Tech accountable”.

“We worked across the aisle for many months and have now found common ground on policies to significantly improve the digital environment for kids,” Guthrie and Pallone said in a joint statement.

Tech companies are under increasing scrutiny in the United States for their effect on young people, with parents and state officials pushing to ban phones from schools to limit access.

The bipartisan agreement also addresses several contentious issues in the debate over social media regulation.

The agreement does not include a “duty of care” provision, a spokesperson for committee Republicans said. Such language would require companies to design social media platforms with children’s safety in mind.

Democrats in the House of Representatives and key Senate Republicans, such as Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn, have long demanded that the “duty of care” provision be included in any children’s online safety legislation, complicating the bill’s path forward.

States would be allowed to pass social media laws that provide “greater protection” than those laid out in the agreement, a win for Democrats who want to preserve those laws.

The agreement faces several hurdles before becoming law, including winning support in the Senate and from President Donald Trump. Trump’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Speaker Mike Johnson, the top Republican in the US House, supports the agreement, according to a source familiar with his thinking.

State laws

At the national level, US lawmakers have for years declined to pass comprehensive legislation to regulate social media, prompting states to pass their own laws. At least 20 states enacted laws last year addressing social media use by children, according to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures, an organisation that tracks state bills.

Snap’s Snapchat, Meta’s Instagram, Google’s YouTube, and TikTok are the most popular digital platforms for Americans ages 13-17, according to a Pew Research Center report published in December. Meta and Google declined to comment on Monday on the bipartisan agreement. Snap and TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Reuters news agency has previously reported that Meta lobbied the US Congress for legal immunity from child-harm claims tied to social media products. Meta, TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat are facing thousands of lawsuits accusing them of designing social media platforms that are harmful to young people. If such a provision became law, it could undermine those cases.