Congress has spent years investigating the harmful effects of social media and artificial intelligence on children. It has held hearings, questioned technology executives and issued reports documenting rising rates of cyberbullying, exploitation, addiction, mental health challenges and online radicalization. Yet meaningful action has remained elusive.
The U.S. House of Representatives’ bipartisan passage of the KIDS Act on June 29 is a welcome sign that lawmakers may finally be prepared to do more than talk.
Jewish organizations, including the Jewish Federations of North America, have rightly highlighted one reason the legislation matters: Since the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, Jewish children have faced an unprecedented wave of online antisemitism. Hate spreads instantly through social media, often amplified by algorithms that reward outrage over accuracy.
But the importance of this legislation extends far beyond the Jewish community.
Every parent today faces a challenge unimaginable a generation ago. Children carry devices that provide unlimited access to information, entertainment and education — but also to predators, extremist propaganda, sophisticated scams, AI-generated deception and relentless commercial manipulation. Parents are not merely competing with peer pressure; they are competing with trillion-dollar technology companies whose business models depend upon capturing and holding children’s attention.
The KIDS Act will not solve these problems overnight. Nor does it attempt to regulate ideas or police political speech. Instead, it seeks to provide better educational resources, improve parental tools, evaluate existing online safety protections, encourage transparency regarding emerging AI technologies and develop evidence-based recommendations for reducing risks to minors.
Those are measured, practical steps that deserve bipartisan support.
Critics argue the legislation does not go far enough. Others worry that future regulation of online platforms could threaten privacy or inadvertently chill protected speech. Those concerns deserve careful consideration as the Senate develops its own version of the legislation. Laws affecting technology should be narrowly drawn and respectful of constitutional liberties.
But those objections are arguments for improving the bill — not abandoning it.
For too long, Washington has allowed the perfect to become the enemy of the good. While Congress debated theoretical concerns, technology evolved at breathtaking speed. Artificial intelligence became widely available. Social media platforms grew more sophisticated. Children became more vulnerable.
The reality is that technology companies have invested enormous resources in understanding how to shape user behavior. It is neither unreasonable nor anti-business to expect those same companies to devote meaningful attention to protecting the youngest users of their products.
The Senate should strengthen the legislation where necessary and reconcile its differences with the House. But it should not allow another Congress to end with another stack of studies and another round of hearings while children continue to bear the consequences of inaction.
This should not be a partisan issue. It is not a Jewish issue. It is not even fundamentally a technology issue. It is a parental issue, a public safety issue and a matter of basic civic responsibility. Congress has finally taken an important first step. It should finish the job.
