The panel will hold a hearing on Dec. 2 to consider the legislation, including a new version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which fell short in the House last year after clearing the Senate with widespread support.
"For too long, tech companies have failed to adequately protect children and teens from perils online," House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), chair of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, said in a statement.
"One week from today, this Committee will begin advancing a suite of online safety bills to address the challenges facing our kids in the digital age," they continued. "Parents and lawmakers both agree on the importance of enacting meaningful protections that can stand the test of time, so we look forward to this important first step."
In addition to KOSA, the package includes an update to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act that would expand protections to teens under 17 years old, as well as a bill that would require app stores to request and verify users' ages.
Other measures seek to bar children under 16 years old from holding social media accounts, limit young users' access to disappearing messaging features and restrict data collection and market-based research on children.
The new kids' safety push comes about a year after KOSA fell short in the House. Despite revising the bill with the help of Elon Musk's X, the measure was unable to overcome GOP pushback in the lower chamber.
The newly updated version of KOSA removes controversial "duty of care" language, requiring companies to "exercise reasonable care" to prevent harms to minors.
It instead mandates that they establish and enforce "reasonable policies that address" harms to minors, such as threats of physical violence, sexual exploitation and abuse and the distribution of narcotic drugs.
However, the decision to change this language and add a provision preempting state laws immediately drew pushback from a coalition of parent advocates.
"After three years of meeting with legislators to share our families' stories of loss and our legislative priorities, we are extremely disappointed that this bill doesn't contain the 'duty of care' we asked for in every meeting and that the bill preempts the state laws that so many parents have worked tirelessly to pass," said Maurine Molak, a co-founder of ParentsSOS.
Molak's son, David, took his own life after experiencing cyberbullying.
"We strongly urge Congress to work together and put KOSA back together again," she added. "The Senate version that serves all American families and communities and would prevent further children from dying."
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