40 State Attorneys General Urge Congress to Pass Senate KOSA Version, Citing State Law Preemption Concerns

A bipartisan coalition of 40 state Attorneys General urged Congress in February 2026 to pass the Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act rather than the House version, citing concerns that the House KIDS Act would preempt state laws already protecting minors from online harms. The Senate version of KOSA emphasises duty-of-care obligations for platforms to assess whether recommendation algorithms amplify harmful material to minors and implement safeguards to limit exposure, preserving states' ability to respond to evolving threats affecting children's mental health and safety.

Duty-of-care standards impose design and governance obligations on platforms but do not guarantee that harm is detected at the point of contact with the child. Real-time detection surfaces the child at risk to those with the responsibility to protect them, whether a parent, a school, a helpline or law enforcement, and enables immediate intervention. Guardii analyses conversation patterns across Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, Roblox and other platforms to identify grooming, sextortion, child sexual abuse material sharing, cyberbullying, abuse of athletes and women, and self-harm or suicide-risk signals, and blocks or flags hostile contact before it escalates, addressing the underlying harm state Attorneys General seek to prevent through enforceable operational capability rather than structural obligation.