WASHINGTON—Yesterday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee released H.R. 7757, the “Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act,” a 14-bill omnibus package imposing sweeping new obligations on online platforms, social media services, video game providers, AI chatbot developers, and data brokers. NetChoice opposes this deal as drafted.
“The House Energy and Commerce deal is a real effort to improve upon the disastrous censorship regime being championed in the Senate, and it reflects some thoughtful work. Unfortunately, any legislative effort that regards legal speech as inherently harmful will suffer from the same constitutional shortcomings,” said Zach Lilly, Director of Government Affairs at NetChoice.
“It does not pass the vital First Amendment test for how the government may regulate speech.”
The package raises constitutional, legal, and practical concerns that will ultimately harm the very users it aims to protect:
- It fails to meaningfully preempt the growing patchwork of state regulations, leaving platforms exposed to divergent and politically motivated enforcement even as they work to satisfy new federal mandates.
- Several provisions seek backdoor avenues for content regulation: directing federal agencies to study and promote “best practices” for platform design and moderation that could easily harden into de facto government requirements, and contemplating mandated “age-appropriate” content labels that the government has neither the competency nor the constitutional authority to dictate.
- Other provisions interfere directly with platforms’ First Amendment right to exercise editorial control over how they organize and present information, and with minors’ own right to seek and receive information.
Just as important as the constitutional defects is the question of who decides what kind of expression is appropriate for America’s families. That authority belongs to parents and guardians, not to federal bureaucrats.
If Congress wants to make a real difference in protecting children online, it should focus on the bad actors and predators who actually harm them. Learn more about NetChoice’s Digital Safety Shield for America here.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.
Image via Unsplash.