# U.S. House committee reaches bipartisan agreement on online safety bill for children and teens **Published:** 2026-06-22T21:06:26.000Z **Source:** [Kentucky Health News](https://kyhealthnews.net/2026/06/22/u-s-house-committee-reaches-bipartisan-agreement-on-kids-online-safety-bill/) **Republished from:** [Kentucky Health News](https://kyhealthnews.net/2026/06/22/u-s-house-committee-reaches-bipartisan-agreement-on-kids-online-safety-bill/) (Authorized by publisher (with credit)) **Canonical:** https://kyhealthnews.net/2026/06/22/u-s-house-committee-reaches-bipartisan-agreement-on-kids-online-safety-bill/ By Melissa Patrick, [Kentucky Health News](https://kyhealthnews.net) · June 22, 2026  U.S. House lawmakers have reached a bipartisan deal on a legislative package to strengthen online safety and privacy protections for children and teenagers, Oma Seddiq [reports](https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/kids-online-safety-bill-deal-reached-by-house-democrats-gop) for _**Bloomberg Government**_. House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) on Monday announced the advancement of the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, as part of a package of more than a dozen safety-related bills. KOSA aims to hold social media companies accountable for the alleged harms their platforms pose to children and their mental health, Seddiq reports. “I am hopeful that this consensus legislation can soon be considered by the full House,” Guthrie told Seddiq in a statement. Seddiq reports that Republicans on the committee in March had approved the package along party lines, but the newly revised text changes KOSA to require social media companies to establish policies that would curb harms to young users. “Coming into this Congress, we knew that protecting children and teens online would be one of the most significant challenges this committee would have to address,” Guthrie and Pallone said in a joint [statement](https://energycommerce.house.gov/posts/chairman-guthrie-and-ranking-member-pallone-announce-agreement-on-bipartisan-kids-safety-package). “In the tradition of the Energy and Commerce Committee, we worked across the aisle for many months and have now found common ground on policies to significantly improve the digital environment for kids._”_ Still, differences between the House and Senate versions of KOSA remain, and will need to be resolved before the legislation can move to President Donald Trump’s desk, Seddiq reports. One of the key differences between the bills involves what is known as “duty of care.” “The Senate bill would create a legal obligation for tech companies to exercise reasonable care when designing their platforms to prevent harms to minors, otherwise known as a duty of care,” Seddiq writes. The Hill [reports](https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/house-unveils-bipartisan-kids-online-153136642.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall) that Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), co-author of the Senate version of KOSA, wrote on X Monday: “KOSA without a duty of care isn’t KOSA — it’s a blank check to Mark Zuckerberg to exploit children. The House’s toothless & tepid capitulation is dead in the Senate & a betrayal of families suffering from Big Tech’s greed.” ## Sources - [Kentucky Health News](https://kyhealthnews.net/2026/06/22/u-s-house-committee-reaches-bipartisan-agreement-on-kids-online-safety-bill/)