The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation met on Wednesday, August 5, 2026. Lawmakers reviewed five bills. These bills aim to protect children online and limit how AI products treat young users.
By the end of the day, four bills had moved forward. They will now go to the full Senate for a vote. After that, lawmakers will need to work with the House to agree on a final version.
KOSA passes with full support
The main bill in the group is the Kids Online Safety Act, known as KOSA. It passed by voice vote. Committee Chairman Ted Cruz said this showed every member on the panel backed the bill, according to remarks he made during the hearing.
The bill would make online platforms use “reasonable care” when building features. This matters if those features could expose kids to harmful content. Companies would also need to give parents tools to monitor their kids online. The bill also includes a “duty of care” rule, which asks platforms like Meta, Snapchat and TikTok to act carefully when they design features that could hurt young users.
This part is important. The Senate’s version keeps that full duty of care rule. But a similar House bill removed it earlier this year. Some smaller advocacy groups are worried. They fear the weaker House language could win out when both chambers meet to agree on one final bill.
KOSA is not new. The Senate already passed it once in 2024. It won by a huge margin, 91 to 3. But it never became law. The House version lacked the same rule, and Senate sponsors criticized it, calling it a weak copy of real Big Tech accountability.
Sponsors Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal are hoping this year turns out differently. Blackburn said the moment sends Big Tech a clear message, that the days of profiting off kids are ending, and that Congress now expects companies to answer for harm their products cause.
Three AI chatbot bills move forward too
Three more bills about AI also passed that day. The first is called the Youth AI Privacy Act. Senator Ed Markey introduced it. This bill would force chatbots to tell users they are not talking to a real person. It would also stop companies from keeping a minor’s data for more than 30 days by default. Companies could not use kids’ data for ads or profiles either.
That data rule caused debate during the meeting. Cruz suggested a change. Parents could choose to skip the automatic deletion or pick a different time limit. Markey did not support that change.
The second bill is the CHATBOT Act. Cruz introduced it along with Senators Schatz, Schiff and Curtis. The bill would force AI companies to build “family accounts,” letting parents watch over and manage how their kids use chatbots, with strict default settings built in. Kids under 13 must use these accounts. Teens can choose, but the safest settings apply unless a parent changes them.
The bill also asks companies to try to stop chatbots from making obscene content. It also wants companies to respond properly if a young user shows signs of suicidal thoughts. That includes pointing users toward help and telling parents when an account is linked.
The third bill, the Children’s Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act, does something different. Instead of adding new rules right away, it orders the government to study AI toys made for kids first.
SCREEN Act falls short, but isn’t dead
One bill did not move forward. The SCREEN Act would require websites with adult content to check users’ ages. It won more votes, 15 to 13. But many members had voted by proxy that day. Not enough senators were physically in the room to meet the rule for a valid vote.
Sponsors say the bill is not finished. It did not advance, but supporters say the fight continues and the bill is not dead. Its next steps are less clear than the other four bills.
Reactions to the day split sharply. Groups like Issue One welcomed the news and asked lawmakers to make the bills even stronger. But civil rights and tech groups pushed back hard.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation argued the bills would expand age checks and data collection in ways that hurt privacy and free speech, not just for kids, but for everyone online. NetChoice raised similar concerns, saying the rules could hand government agencies too much power over what American families can access online.
These privacy concerns were at the center of the debate when the House passed its version of the legislation in June. The Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act, or KIDS Act, cleared the House in a 267-117 vote and includes age verification requirements that critics warn could force all users to submit government IDs or undergo biometric checks.
Four bills are now headed for a vote by the full Senate. But the real test comes next. Lawmakers must merge the Senate’s stricter rules with the House’s softer ones. Only then can a final bill reach the president’s desk.
