Senate Committee Advances Bills to Hold Meta and Google Liable for Harm to Minors

Regulation

โดย Bloomberg·

Summary · why it matters

The Senate Commerce Committee unanimously advanced a package of bills aimed at improving children's safety online, setting up a clash with the House over whether to hold Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google legally liable for harms to minors on their social media platforms. The legislation would also require artificial intelligence companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic PBC to create new safeguards for children, including privacy protections and family accounts for managing access to AI chatbots. A key point of contention is the Senate's inclusion of a duty of care provision that would hold tech companies legally accountable for promoting harmful content to minors, a measure the House version passed in June does not include. Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn declared that the era of Big Tech profiting off children is over, while lobbyists and digital rights activists have raised concerns about free speech and privacy-invasive age verification. The House and Senate plan to begin negotiating compromise language after the August recess.