A bipartisan coalition of 45 state and territory attorneys general is urging congressional leaders to pass the Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), S. 1748, according to a National Association of Attorneys General press release. In a November 4 letter to Congress, the coalition argued that federal legislation is needed to establish minimum safety standards across all social media and gaming platforms used by minors.
What Happened
Led by the attorneys general of Connecticut, Hawaii, Ohio, and Tennessee, the coalition pointed to state investigations into platform design features that may harm young users, including a 2023 multistate lawsuit against Meta, according to the NAAG announcement. While the states recently announced a $17 billion settlement requiring Meta to implement youth safeguards, the coalition stated that an agreement with a single company cannot establish consistent protections for children across the technology industry.
The attorneys general specifically endorsed KOSA's "Duty of Care" provision, which sets a safety standard that extends beyond the term of the Meta settlement and adapts as technologies and design features evolve, according to the NAAG press release. As we previously reported, the coalition also noted that the Senate bill preserves the authority of individual states to pass and enforce their own youth protection laws.
The Bigger Picture
Congress remains split on how to regulate youth online safety. According to a Congressional Research Service report, the House of Representatives passed an amended version of the KIDS Act (H.R. 7757) on June 29, 2026, without a duty of care requirement. The Senate Commerce Committee advanced its stand-alone KOSA bill (S. 1748) on August 5, 2026, with the provision intact.
House leaders oppose the duty of care measure, arguing that it would expose platforms to negligence lawsuits and threaten First Amendment speech protections, according to The Record. Civil liberties advocates cited by The Record also warn that enforcing a duty of care would require platforms to collect government IDs or biometric data to verify user ages, and could push companies to restrict educational resources about healthy eating or LGBTQ+ topics to avoid legal liability.
The recent Meta agreement outlines the specific school-day and home restrictions states have pursued through enforcement. Announced in August 2026 by 51 attorneys general, the settlement is valued at up to $17 billion according to the California Attorney General's Office and up to $18 billion according to Reuters. Under the settlement terms detailed in a Virginia Attorney General FAQ and confirmed by Reuters, Meta must implement a "School mode" on Facebook and Instagram that disables push notifications for teen users from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on weekdays between August 15 and June 15.
The agreement also caps teen use at two hours per day across Facebook and Instagram, interrupts extended sessions with "productive pauses" after 15, 60, and 90 minutes, and blocks access between midnight and 6:00 a.m. unless a parent lifts the restriction, according to the Virginia Attorney General FAQ and the California Attorney General's Office. Meta must also hide like and reaction counts on teen posts by default, ban cosmetic surgery filters, provide linked parental control accounts, and offer non-personalized feeds. Most of these rules take effect within six months and remain in place for 10 years, according to Reuters and the Virginia Attorney General FAQ.