The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, chaired by Congressman Gus Bilirakis of Florida's 12th District, held a markup session in Washington, D.C. to consider several bills focused on children's internet and digital safety.
Eighteen measures were advanced during the session, with most forwarded to the full committee by voice vote. The legislation aims to give parents more effective tools to protect their children online. "Today we advanced 18 measures to empower parents with stronger, smarter tools to help them keep their kids safe online," said Chairman Bilirakis. "Protecting children in the digital age is not optional—it is a moral imperative and today was an important step forward in achieving this goal."
Key bills discussed include the Safe Social Media Act (H.R. 6290), No Fentanyl on Social Media Act (H.R. 6259), Promoting a Safe Internet for Minors Act (H.R. 6289), and Kids Internet Safety Partnership Act (H.R. 6437). Other measures cover topics such as artificial intelligence warnings for education, assessment of parental safety tools, protection against malicious interactions in network games, transparency regarding algorithmic choices, safeguarding adolescents from exploitative bots, and data privacy for minors.
One bill that drew particular attention was H.R. 6489, the Safeguarding Adolescents From Exploitative (SAFE) Bots Act. Congresswoman Erin Houchin of Indiana explained its intent: "Kids aren’t just scrolling feeds. They’re forming real emotional attachments to AI chatbots that can mimic authority, appear trustworthy, and respond at all hours. [...] Parents are, quite simply, outmatched, and the status quo is not acceptable. The SAFE Bots Act creates clear baseline guardrails. It prohibits AI from impersonating licensed professionals—no chatbots should act like a doctor or a therapist to a child. It requires age-appropriate disclosure so minors know they are talking to AI, not a human, and that the chatbots cannot provide licensed professional advice."
Congressman John James of Michigan addressed H.R. 3149—the App Store Accountability Act—stating: "App stores should follow the same commonsense rules we expect from every small business. If a corner store can’t knowingly sell adult or addictive products to minors, then neither should the world’s largest digital storefronts."
Chairman Bilirakis also spoke about H.R. 6484—the Kids Online Safety Act: "KOSA protects kids across America by mandating default safeguards and easy-to-use parental controls to empower families. [...] KOSA will broadly protect kids and teens, while the other bills before us address particular harms or take specific approaches to help ensure no existing threat is left unaddressed. In many ways, those bills make KOSA even stronger by working alongside them. [...] It is the foundation and the safety net with concrete safeguards to keep kids and teens safe."
Several of these bills received bipartisan support during roll call votes.
