Kids Online Safety Act: where it stands

The Kids Online Safety Act is not law. The House passed a version on 29 June 2026, and a Senate committee approved a different one on 5 August 2026.^{1, 2}

Checked 4 November 2026 against the sources.

The two bills

The House put its KOSA inside a larger package, the KIDS Act. The Senate bill is KOSA on its own, under the same name. This page describes bills. It is not legal advice.

As of 4 November 2026. The Senate committee's substitute text is not yet published, so the Senate column describes S. 1748 as introduced.
	Senate: S. 1748	House: H.R. 7757, the KIDS Act
Latest step	Ordered reported, with a substitute text, by the Commerce Committee on 5 August 2026. No floor vote yet.¹	Passed the House 267 to 117 on 29 June 2026. Referred to the Senate Commerce Committee on 13 July 2026.²
Sponsor	Sen. Marsha Blackburn, with 76 cosponsors¹	Rep. Brett Guthrie²
Duty of care	Yes. Platforms must take reasonable care in design to prevent harms such as eating disorders, compulsive use and sexual exploitation.⁴	No. Platforms need policies on four harms, and the text says it does not impose a duty of care.³
Age checks on social media	Not required. It orders a study of age checks at the device or operating system level.⁴	Not required by its KOSA part.³
Age checks on porn sites	Not covered.⁴	Required, by the SCREEN Act in Title I, one year after enactment.³
Minor means	Under 17⁴	Under 17 in the KOSA part; the SCREEN Act uses the federal definition, under 18³
Enforced by	The FTC and state attorneys general⁴	The FTC and state attorneys general³

Does KOSA require age verification?

KOSA itself says no, in both chambers. The House package adds a separate title that does, for porn sites.

KOSA: no age gate

Both bills say nothing in them requires a platform to add age gating or age verification.^{3, 4} The Senate bill adds that a platform need not collect age data it does not already collect.⁴

The SCREEN Act: age checks on porn sites

Title I of the House package covers public sites where more than a third of the material is sexual material harmful to minors. They must use a technology verification measure to keep minors out, and ticking a box to say you are an adult is not enough. It does not require a government ID, and limits keeping check data to what is strictly necessary.³ How age checks work

How it got here

30 Jul 2024The Senate passes the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, S. 2073, 91 to 3. The last recorded action is a message to the House the next day.⁵
14 May 2025S. 1748 is introduced in the Senate.¹
11 Dec 2025A House subcommittee forwards the House KOSA bill, H.R. 6484, by 13 to 10.⁶
3 Mar 2026The KIDS Act, H.R. 7757, is introduced, with KOSA as Subtitle A of Title II.^{2, 3}
29 Jun 2026The House passes the KIDS Act under suspension of the rules, 267 to 117.²
5 Aug 2026The Senate Commerce Committee orders S. 1748 reported favorably, with a substitute text.¹

Questions people ask

Did the Kids Online Safety Act pass?

Not into law, as of 4 November 2026. The House passed its version in the KIDS Act on 29 June 2026; the Senate has not voted on either bill.^{1, 2}

Would KOSA override state age verification laws?

Only where a state law conflicts with it. Both bills let states pass laws that protect minors more.^{3, 4} State social media laws

When would it take effect?

The Senate bill, 18 months after enactment for most of it. The KIDS Act, one year after enactment for most of it.^{3, 4}

Is there a federal app store age law?

No. That is a separate bill, the App Store Accountability Act, H.R. 3149 in the House and S. 1586 in the Senate. Neither has gone past committee.^{7, 8} App store age laws

Sources 8

S. 1748, Kids Online Safety Act, all actions, Congress.gov. Read 4 November 2026 through the Congress.gov API and the Government Publishing Office's bill status data.
H.R. 7757, KIDS Act, all actions, Congress.gov. Read 4 November 2026 through the Congress.gov API and the Government Publishing Office's bill status data.
H.R. 7757, engrossed in the House, 29 June 2026, US Government Publishing Office. Read 4 November 2026.
S. 1748, as introduced in the Senate, 14 May 2025, US Government Publishing Office. Read 4 November 2026.
S. 2073 (118th Congress), bill status, US Government Publishing Office (Congress bill status data). Read 4 November 2026.
H.R. 6484, Kids Online Safety Act, bill status, US Government Publishing Office (Congress bill status data). Read 4 November 2026.
H.R. 3149, App Store Accountability Act, all actions, Congress.gov. Read 4 November 2026 through the Congress.gov API.
S. 1586, App Store Accountability Act, all actions, Congress.gov. Read 4 November 2026 through the Congress.gov API.

Every fact here comes from the bill texts and the congressional record of actions, checked again and dated. How we check