Bills that would strengthen online safety for young users have attracted bipartisan coalitions, but lawmakers are still separated over the level of regulation they would impose on social media companies, adding uncertainty to the effort’s prospects.
That divide has come to the fore as the House is expected to consider on Monday a bipartisan House package by the leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The package does not include the controversial “duty of care” provision that undergirds a key Senate bill, which led two prominent Democratic Senate backers to call on Friday for the House to delay a floor vote. The Senate bill sponsor, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., last week also criticized the House package for leaving out the provision.
Any kids’ online safety package is also likely to contend with a White House generally hesitant to regulate the tech industry, including through its ongoing push to preempt state laws on artificial intelligence.
And the push is also facing concerns on First Amendment grounds. Critics of the “duty of care” concept say it would unconstitutionally regulate speech, possibly leading online platforms to remove broad swaths of protected content.
