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    Analysis

    Online child safety laws: KOSA, the UK Online Safety Act, age checks

    Governments are moving from asking platforms to protect children to requiring it. The UK has enforced age checks on harmful content since 25 July 2025 and plans to ban social media for under-16s.[1][2] In the US, the House passed the KIDS Act in June 2026 without the "duty of care" that Senate sponsors of the Kids Online Safety Act call essential; a Senate committee approved its own version with the duty in August 2026.[3][4][5]

    Editor reviewedStrict sourcingUpdated AnalysisSocial welfare, Tech policy, Big Tech
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    This analysis sets out the competing positions on laws meant to protect children online, as of 11 October 2026. It uses lawmakers’, regulators’ and advocacy groups’ own statements and court records, and it does not take a side. Use the evidence-layer toggle to separate sourced facts from interpretation. This page is not legal advice. If a child is at risk, see the hotlines on child protection explained.

    The state of play

    United Kingdom. The Online Safety Act became law in October 2023.[6] Its child-safety duties have been fully enforceable since 25 July 2025. Sites with pornography or content encouraging self-harm, suicide or eating disorders must use “highly effective age assurance”.[1] In June 2026 the government said it would also ban social media companies from offering services to under-16s.[2]

    United States. The House passed the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act 267-117 on June 29, 2026. It bundles 14 proposals, including a revised KOSA.[3] The House dropped KOSA’s “duty of care”.[4] On August 5, 2026, the Senate Commerce Committee approved its own KOSA, with the duty, by unanimous voice vote.[5] Separately, the FTC’s tighter children’s privacy (COPPA) rule became fully enforceable for most provisions on April 22, 2026.[7]

    The duty-of-care fight

    The Senate KOSA would require companies to “exercise reasonable care” in design to mitigate a defined list of harms to minors.[8] Its Senate sponsors reject the House approach. Sen. Marsha Blackburn made the duty a red line, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal called the House version “basically toothless”.[9] On the House side, the Energy and Commerce Committee called the KIDS Act “a major step toward a safer online world for kids”, and Rep. Kathy Castor called it a “meaningful step”.[10] The KIDS Act takes a list-based approach. It covers safety features and parental controls, limits on targeted ads to minors, age verification for pornography sites, and rules for AI chatbots and online games.[11] Critics of the duty-of-care concept raise censorship concerns. They say it would unconstitutionally regulate speech and could lead platforms to remove protected content.[12]

    The dispute is less about goals than about legal design. A general duty lets regulators and courts judge outcomes, such as whether a platform’s design contributed to a listed harm. A list of specific mandates is easier to comply with and to defend in court, but it may miss harms nobody listed. The 2024 Senate vote of 91-3 shows broad support for the general approach in that chamber.[13] The House vote shows broad support for the narrower one.[3]

    Age checks and free speech

    In Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton (June 27, 2025), the Supreme Court upheld Texas’s age-verification law for sexually explicit websites under intermediate scrutiny.[14] It reasoned that the power to keep minors from such material includes the power to require proof of age.[15] The UK goes further: age assurance covers content encouraging self-harm, suicide or eating disorders as well as pornography.[1] The UK government said a thousand platforms confirmed age checks were in place when the duties began.[16]

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation warns that a patchwork of age-gating rules will push companies towards “restrictive age-checking practices across their entire platforms”. It also argues that ID or biometric checks could chill anonymous speech.[17]

    Paxton settles that age checks for pornography sites can survive constitutional review in the US. It does not settle whether broader age gates on social media, or a duty of care over design, would survive. Those questions would likely be tested in court if either bill becomes law. The UK, which has no equivalent of the First Amendment, faces fewer legal limits. Its main constraints are practical: enforcement against overseas sites, and the privacy of age-assurance data.

    What may happen next

    The UK government says it intends to lay the first under-16 regulations by the end of 2026, and both Houses of Parliament must approve them.[18] It plans to follow the Australian model, covering services such as Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X.[19] In the US, any bill not enacted before the 119th Congress ends would have to start again. That happened to KOSA after its 2024 Senate passage.[13] The Senate Commerce Committee has sent its KOSA to the floor, but the House passed a different version.[5][4] Whether the chambers can agree on the duty of care before the session ends is uncertain. Track developments on the policy tracker.

    Competing views

    Make platforms owe children a duty of care

    KOSA's Senate sponsors, Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal, say platforms must be legally required to take reasonable care against listed harms to minors, and call the House package without that duty toothless.[8][9][5]

    Targeted rules, no general duty

    The House package's backers chose specific requirements, such as safety features, parental tools, ad limits, age checks for pornography sites and chatbot rules, instead of a broad duty; the Energy and Commerce Committee and Rep. Kathy Castor call it a major or meaningful step.[11][10][4]

    Age limits and age checks by law

    The UK government enforces age assurance for the most harmful content and plans an Australian-style ban on social media for under-16s, citing strong parental support.[1][2][19][16]

    Privacy and free-speech risks

    Digital rights groups such as the EFF warn that age-gating mandates push platforms to check everyone's age and could chill anonymous speech, and critics of the duty of care say it would amount to censorship of protected speech.[17][12]

    Next in the crash course

    Questions readers ask

    Has the Kids Online Safety Act become law?

    No. An earlier version passed the Senate 91-3 in 2024 but the House never took it up. In 2026 the House passed the KIDS Act, which includes a revised KOSA without the duty of care, and the Senate Commerce Committee approved its own KOSA with the duty in August 2026.[13][3][4][5]

    What is the "duty of care" in KOSA?

    The Senate bill would require companies to exercise reasonable care in designing platforms to mitigate a defined list of harms to minors, including certain mental health disorders, substance use disorders and physical and sexual abuse.[8]

    Are age-verification laws constitutional in the US?

    For pornography websites, the Supreme Court upheld a Texas age-verification law in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton in June 2025, applying intermediate scrutiny. That ruling concerned sexual content that is obscene for minors, not social media in general.[14][15]

    Is the UK banning social media for under-16s?

    The government said in June 2026 that it will ban social media companies from offering services to under-16s, and that it intends to lay the first regulations before Parliament by the end of 2026. Both Houses must approve them.[2][18]

    What changed in the US children's privacy rule?

    The FTC's amended COPPA Rule took effect in June 2025, with most compliance due by April 22, 2026. It requires separate parental consent before children's data is disclosed to third parties such as ad networks.[7]

    Sources

    · 19 claims from 9 publishers

    Each numbered claim is a statement we checked against the sources listed with it. Tap a number in the text to see its sources in place.

    1. [1]

      From 25 July 2025 the Online Safety Act's child protections became fully enforceable, requiring sites with pornography or content encouraging self-harm, suicide or eating disorders to use "highly effective age assurance" such as facial age estimation, photo-ID matching or credit card checks. confirmedas of 2025-07-24

    2. [2]

      In a June 2026 progress statement, the UK government said it would ban social media companies from offering their services to under-16s, citing a consultation in which about 9 in 10 parents favoured a ban. confirmedas of 2026-08-19

    3. [3]

      On June 29, 2026, the US House passed the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act 267-117, a package of 14 proposals including a revised Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). confirmedas of 2026-06-29

    4. [4]

      The House package dropped KOSA's "duty of care" provision, which would have required platforms to take reasonable care to prevent listed harms to minors. confirmedas of 2026-06-29

    5. [5]

      On August 5, 2026, the Senate Commerce Committee approved KOSA, which includes a duty of care, by unanimous voice vote, sending it to the Senate floor; the bill had 76 Senate cosponsors. confirmedas of 2026-08-05

    6. [6]

      The UK Online Safety Act became law on 26 October 2023, with Ofcom as the regulator implementing it. confirmedas of 2026-10-11

    7. [7]

      The FTC's amended Children's Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) Rule took effect on June 23, 2025, with most compliance required by April 22, 2026; it requires separate verifiable parental consent before sharing children's data with third parties such as ad networks. confirmedas of 2025-04-22

    8. [8]

      The Senate KOSA would require companies to "exercise reasonable care" in platform design to mitigate a defined list of harms to minors, including certain mental health disorders, substance use disorders and physical and sexual abuse. confirmedas of 2026-08-05

    9. [9]

      KOSA's Senate sponsors, Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal, rejected the House approach without a duty of care; Blackburn made the duty a red line and Blumenthal called the House version "basically toothless". confirmedas of 2026-08-05

    10. [10]

      House supporters, including the Energy and Commerce Committee and Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), called the KIDS Act a major or meaningful step for children's safety online. confirmedas of 2026-06-30

    11. [11]

      The KIDS Act would require new safety features and parental controls, restrict use of minors' data for targeted advertising, require age verification for pornography websites and set rules for AI chatbots and online games. confirmedas of 2026-06-29

    12. [12]

      Critics of the duty of care say it raises censorship concerns and would unconstitutionally regulate speech, possibly leading platforms to remove large amounts of protected content. confirmedas of 2026-06-30

    13. [13]

      An earlier version of KOSA passed the Senate 91-3 in 2024, but the House never took it up and the bill had to start again in the new Congress. confirmedas of 2026-08-05

    14. [14]

      On June 27, 2025, in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the Supreme Court upheld under intermediate scrutiny a Texas law requiring certain sexually explicit websites to verify that visitors are 18 or older. confirmedas of 2025-06-27

    15. [15]

      The Court reasoned that states' power to keep minors from speech that is obscene for them includes the power to require proof of age. confirmedas of 2025-06-27

    16. [16]

      When the child safety duties took effect, the UK government said a thousand platforms had confirmed to Ofcom that they had age checks in place. confirmedas of 2025-07-24

    17. [17]

      The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, warned that the KIDS Act's varied age-gating schemes would lead many companies to adopt restrictive age checks across their entire platforms, and critics including the EFF argue that ID or biometric checks could chill anonymous speech. confirmedas of 2026-06-29

    18. [18]

      The UK government said it intends to lay the first regulations on age restrictions for social media services before Parliament by the end of 2026, and they must be approved by both Houses. reportedas of 2026-08-19· forecast

    19. [19]

      The UK government said it would aim to use the same model as Australia, covering platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X. confirmedas of 2026-08-19

    Revision history (1)
    1. Page created.

    Created Oct 11, 2026. Last reviewed by an editor on Oct 11, 2026. Next scheduled review: Jan 3, 2027.

    Cite this page

    "Online child safety laws: KOSA, the UK Online Safety Act, age checks." ContentLora, updated Oct 11, 2026. https://contentlora.com/analysis/online-child-safety-laws-debate

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