An Independent Policy Assessment
KOSA + COPPA 2.0: America’s Defining Child Online Safety Battle of 2026
The 119th Congress faces a critical test in 2026: whether it can deliver meaningful protections for children and adolescents online or merely produce another round of high-profile legislation with limited real-world impact.
On March 5, 2026, the Senate passed the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0, S. 836) by unanimous consent. The same day, the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act (H.R. 7757) by a 28-24 vote, largely along party lines. This package includes a revised version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).
What the Bills Seek to Accomplish
COPPA 2.0 would significantly expand the scope of the original 1998 law by extending stronger privacy protections to minors up to age 16 or 17, limiting targeted advertising aimed at this age group, strengthening parental consent requirements, and giving teens expanded rights to delete their personal data.
The KIDS Act, through its KOSA provisions, would impose new obligations on online platforms to assess and mitigate harms to minors — including compulsive engagement, mental health risks, and exploitation. It calls for stronger default safety settings, enhanced parental control tools, and increased transparency into how algorithms recommend content to young users.
Significant Weaknesses and Unresolved Issues
Despite the movement, serious flaws remain in the current proposals:
- Broad Federal Preemption: The House version contains expansive preemption language that would override stronger state protections. This has drawn sharp criticism from a bipartisan group of state Attorneys General who argue it would weaken, rather than strengthen, child safety nationwide.
- Weakened Duty of Care: The House KIDS Act has diluted key “duty of care” provisions that were present in earlier Senate versions. Many analysts view this as a significant retreat that reduces real accountability for platforms.
- Enforcement Reality: The bills rely heavily on reporting requirements and self-assessments by the platforms themselves, raising legitimate doubts about whether they will produce meaningful behavioral change.
- Free Speech Risks: Vague language around harm mitigation continues to create concern that platforms may over-censor lawful speech to minimize regulatory exposure.
While Senate COPPA 2.0 advanced with unusual speed, negotiations between the House and Senate versions are still underway. Senate KOSA (S. 1748) remains stalled in committee as of late April 2026.
What Effective Legislation Must Include
Truth Trench Think Tank believes any credible final bill must meet a higher standard than what is currently on the table. It should include:
- Strong, default privacy and safety settings for minors that cannot be easily bypassed through manipulative design.
- Clear, enforceable restrictions on targeted advertising and addictive algorithmic feeds directed at children and teens.
- Robust, independent transparency requirements regarding data practices and content recommendation systems.
- Preservation of state authority to enact stronger protections where needed.
- Real enforcement mechanisms with adequate resources, rather than reliance on platform self-reporting.
Protecting children from documented online harms is too important to settle for weak compromises. Congress has a responsibility to produce legislation with genuine teeth, not another exercise in political theater.
Truth Trench Think Tank will continue to monitor these developments with rigorous, independent scrutiny.
Truth Trench Think Tank — Unflinching Analysis. Clear-Eyed Truth.