Pallone Floor Remarks in Support of the KIDS Act

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) delivered the following remarks on the House floor today in support of H.R. 7757, the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the KIDS Act – bipartisan legislation to protect kids online and rein in Big Tech. 

The internet, social media, and now artificial intelligence have profoundly changed how kids and teens connect with family and friends, learn about what’s happening around them, and participate in an ever-changing online world.

While there have been positive advancements, our kids are also suffering from Big Tech’s chokehold on their attention and their relentless pursuit to keep them connected to their platforms. Big Tech is using reckless practices to surveil our kids and teens, exploit vulnerabilities to turn a profit, and promote engagement regardless of the consequences. For too long, Big Tech has had a free pass while kids and teens face real harm online, including predatory design features, dangerous AI chatbots, and data brokers profiting off their personal information.

We simply cannot allow this to continue. It is long past time for Congress to step in and pass legislation that protects our kids and teens and reins in Big Tech. 

The bipartisan KIDS Act does just that. It is comprehensive legislation that addresses a problem everyone in Congress cares deeply about – keeping kids and teens safe online.                

The KIDS Act mandates safeguards, parental tools, and policies across video games, social media platforms – including social gaming platforms like Roblox – and chatbots. Platforms are required to limit addictive design features, restrict sharing minors’ geolocation data, turn off personalized recommendation systems that drive user engagement, and more. 

The KIDS Act also changes the business incentives driving Big Tech’s desire to keep kids on their platforms by protecting minors’ data and expanding these critical privacy protections from the current age of 12 to teens up to the age of 17. The bill also bans targeted advertising to kids and teens and ensures that websites can only collect and retain limited kids’ data that is necessary to provide a product or service. It also requires data brokers that sell minors’ data to register with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and pay an annual fee, bringing transparency to a secretive process and a crucial first step towards ending the practice of data brokers selling kids data.             

I cannot express enough gratitude to all of the parents who have shared their stories and fought for Congress to come together and take action to save other parents from ever experiencing what they went through. 

I know there are parents who would like Congress to go even further than the KIDS Act. I want to be clear – the KIDS Act is a floor, not the ceiling. The preemption language in the KIDS Act is written with the explicit intent of ensuring that states have the authority to pass and enforce stronger state laws, including those with a duty of care. It is also intended to ensure that ongoing lawsuits against social media companies, chatbot providers, and social gaming companies brought by state attorneys general and attorneys on behalf of parents and kids can continue, including those based on a duty of care and consumer protection laws. 

I am proud to lead this legislation alongside Chairman Guthrie. For many months now the Energy and Commerce Committee has been working on legislative solutions to protect our kids and teens online, and this comprehensive, bipartisan bill is the result of those ongoing negotiations. This is an example of the Energy and Commerce Committee at its best. I also am grateful for the tireless work of Representative Castor, a senior Committee member, who has been a steadfast champion of the strongest possible protection for kids online. 

I urge my colleagues to vote yes on the KIDS Act to make the internet a safer place for our kids and teens. And I reserve the balance of my time.  

###