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State of Play’s TL;DR
- A bipartisan House deal on kids’ online safety could matter well beyond social media.
- The package would require AI chatbots to avoid promoting gambling to minors and would add new default safety rules for online gaming services, with the FTC positioned as the main enforcer.
House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders say they have reached a bipartisan agreement on the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act, a broad package that combines portions of more than 10 child-safety bills.
While the legislation is not aimed at gambling operators specifically, it touches two areas that matter to the US online gaming ecosystem: AI systems and gaming platforms used by minors.
Chairman Brett Guthrie and Ranking Member Frank Pallone Jr. announced the compromise on a final package that runs about 115 pages.
In a joint statement, they said:
“We worked across the aisle for many months and have now found common ground on policies to significantly improve the digital environment for kids.”
The revised bill would require default child-safety protections across online platforms, gaming services, and AI chatbots. It also adds data privacy protections for children and teens, creates a federal framework for data brokers handling minors’ personal data, and gives the Federal Trade Commission the central enforcement role.
For AI chatbots, the package includes several specific requirements:
- Providers would have to disclose that a chatbot is an AI system rather than a human user.
- Chatbots would need to provide crisis hotline information when users discuss self-harm or suicidal ideation
- Chatbots would have to prompt users to take a break after three hours of continuous interaction.
Most notably for gambling-adjacent businesses, the bill would prohibit chatbots from promoting illicit drugs, gambling, sexual exploitation, and other harmful content to minors.
Feds aim to protect minors from A1
The legislation also reaches online gaming platforms directly. Under the proposal, gaming services would face new safety standards, including default restrictions on communication between minors and other users.
The bill would also require limits on minors’ ability to make purchases, receive algorithmic recommendations, and control the visibility of personal information and contacts. Those provisions could be relevant for any platform where gaming, social features, and recommendation systems overlap.
The package signals that federal lawmakers are paying closer attention to how AI tools, recommendation systems, messaging features, and digital purchases affect younger users. It also suggests that gambling-related content shown to minors through AI systems is now part of that conversation.
The FTC’s role is another key point. The agency would be the primary enforcer, and major platforms would have to undergo annual independent third-party audits assessing protections for minors and related platform data.
The package would also create a federal regulatory framework for data brokers that handle minors’ personal data. Covered brokers would need to register annually with the FTC and disclose the categories of personal data sold, contact information, purchaser credentialing practices, and known data security incidents. The FTC would maintain a public searchable registry and could impose an annual registration fee of at least $22,500, subject to inflation adjustments.
The legislation includes a federal pre-emption provision that generally overrides conflicting state and local laws, while still allowing states to enact stronger safeguards that do not directly conflict with federal requirements.
Based on reporting by Jericho Casper for Broadband Breakfast.
