A rare bipartisan coalition is pushing Congress to act on children’s online safety before AI makes the problem harder to solve. Forty-five attorneys general from 42 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have formally urged Congress to pass S. 1748, the Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act, with its central legal obligation intact. The coalition is bipartisan, an alignment that has proven difficult to sustain on technology-policy questions.
What the Bill Actually Requires
S. 1748 would impose a duty of care on covered platforms, holding them to a reasonable-care standard for design features that could foreseeably harm minors.
The duty-of-care provision requires covered social-media and gaming platforms to exercise reasonable care in the creation and implementation of features that could foreseeably contribute to specified harms for users under 17. Those harms include eating disorders, substance-use disorders, suicidal behaviors, certain depressive and anxiety disorders, compulsive use, and severe harassment.
Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez led the effort alongside Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong. The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee ordered the bill reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute; full chamber action has not yet occurred.
The Meta Settlement Is the Coalition’s Proof of Concept
A settlement with one company shows what child-safety rules can look like in practice, and exactly why the attorneys general say that is not enough.
In August 2026, a multistate settlement required Meta to pay more than $17 billion and implement child-safety reforms on Facebook and Instagram, including age-assurance measures, pending court approval. The coalition cited the agreement as evidence of what platform accountability can achieve, then argued it cannot substitute for federal law.
“Although the safeguards in this historic settlement are significant, they should not be viewed as a conclusion but rather as evidence that further action is necessary.” Coalition of attorneys general, as reported by Hawaii News Now.
The attorneys general wrote that a settlement with one company cannot establish consistent protections for children across the entire technology industry, according to Hawaii News Now.
Three Disputes That Will Shape the Debate
Preemption, the scope of reasonable care, and age verification for all users are the fault lines where KOSA’s supporters and critics diverge.
The coalition wants KOSA to establish minimum federal safety standards while preserving state authority to enact and enforce stricter requirements. Platforms could face layered obligations that vary by jurisdiction under that approach.
Reasonable care is flexible by design, but that flexibility carries a risk. Platforms uncertain about what triggers liability may remove lawful but contested content rather than face litigation.
Age-assurance systems create a third complication. Any mechanism intended to identify users under 17 may require platforms to assess ages across their full user base, raising privacy questions that extend beyond the minors the law intends to protect.
The AI Problem Is Already Here
The coalition is asking Congress to build a framework durable enough to cover AI products that did not exist when earlier child-safety proposals were written.
The attorneys general emphasized KOSA’s durability as AI products aimed at or accessible to children continue to emerge. The argument positions the bill as long-term infrastructure rather than a narrow fix for current platform designs.
Where Things Stand
The coalition frames the Meta deal not as a finish line but as a starting point for broader federal action.
The attorneys general wrote that the settlement’s safeguards, while significant, should not be viewed as a conclusion but rather as evidence that further action is necessary, according to Hawaii News Now. S. 1748 has cleared the Senate Commerce Committee with an amendment; a full Senate vote and House action remain unresolved.
