Protecting Kids on Social Media Act

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. federal laws
• Most recent activity: Defunct
• Most recent activity date: 2025-01-03

Risk subdomain coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the risk subdomain are explicitly described.

• Overreliance and unsafe use
• Loss of human agency and autonomy

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• Compromise of privacy
• Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document primarily addresses risks in the Human-Computer Interaction domain (5.1, 5.2) with good coverage, focusing on protecting minors from overreliance and loss of agency on social media. It has minimal coverage of Privacy & Security (2.1) through age verification requirements, and Malicious Actors (4.3) through fraud prevention in the pilot program. The document does not substantially address AI-specific risks but rather focuses on social media platform governance for child protection.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Information

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Professional & Technical Services

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

The document primarily governs the Information sector, specifically social media platforms and digital services. It also has minimal coverage of Professional and Technical Services through the identity verification technology providers that may participate in the pilot program.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding federal statute introduced in the U.S. Senate with mandatory obligations on social media platforms, explicit enforcement mechanisms through the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general, and civil penalties for violations.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: United States Congress; Senator Brian Schatz; Senator Tom Cotton; Senator Chris Murphy; Senator Katie Britt; Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
• Summary: The bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Schatz and co-sponsors, and referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation for consideration.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Deployer
• Entities: Social media platforms operating in the United States
• Summary: The Act explicitly targets social media platforms that offer services to users in the United States and allow users to create accounts to publish or distribute content. The definition encompasses online applications and websites meeting specific criteria.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Federal Trade Commission (FTC); State Attorneys General
• Summary: The Act designates the Federal Trade Commission as the primary enforcement body, with explicit authority to enforce violations as unfair or deceptive practices. State attorneys general are also granted enforcement authority to bring civil actions on behalf of state residents.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Federal Trade Commission; State Attorneys General; Inspector General
• Summary: The FTC and state attorneys general have monitoring authority through their enforcement powers, including investigatory powers. The Inspector General is specifically mentioned for oversight of the Pilot Program implementation.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Deploy

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document does not substantially address AI system lifecycle stages. While it regulates algorithmic recommendation systems on social media platforms, it focuses on restricting their use for minors rather than governing their development, deployment, or monitoring. The document is primarily concerned with age verification and parental consent mechanisms rather than AI system governance.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

No technical scope terms identified.

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly mentions algorithmic recommendation systems but does not reference AI models, AI systems, or any specific AI categories such as frontier AI, general purpose AI, foundation models, or generative AI. It does not mention compute thresholds or open-weight models. The focus is on social media platform functionality rather than AI technical specifications.