Senate Commerce Committee Advances Age Gates and AI Child Safety Bills
August 6, 2026
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee is advancing a package of restrictive internet legislation—including Mike Lee's SCREEN Act, KOSA, and the CHATBOT Act—that mandates sweeping age verification and uniform design rules across online platforms. This legislative push hardwires state-backed surveillance and parental control architectures into the network layer, even as the European Union enacts standardized AI labeling and transparency rules to govern digital interaction.
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BRIEF
The SCREEN Act is a Christian Nationalist Nightmare
Mike Lee's SCREEN Act, which heads to Senate Commerce Committee for markup on Wednesday, would expand age verification requirements to a nearly limitless scope of websites, and is supported by the architects of Project 2025.
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BRIEF
The SCREEN Act Threatens Privacy Far Beyond Adult Websites
The Senate Commerce Committee is set to consider S. 737, the SCREEN Act, a sweeping age-verification bill that would require online services to verify users’ ages before they can access any sexually explicit content. If this bill passes, it will force millions of adult internet users to give up thei…
- media and technology
- AI governance
- structural power
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BRIEF
The Youth AI Privacy Act’s Privacy Paradox
The Senate Commerce Committee is poised to consider the Youth AI Privacy Act, a bill that would require AI companies to create kids-only privacy rules and implement so-called “safe design features,” which would—like three other bills under consideration this week—require more data collection and mak…
- AI governance
- structural power
- media and technology
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BRIEF
The SCREEN Act Threatens Privacy Far Beyond Adult Websites
The Senate Commerce Committee is set to consider S. 737, the SCREEN Act, a sweeping age-verification bill that would require online services to verify users’ ages before they can access any sexually explicit content. If this bill passes, it will force millions of adult internet users to give up thei…
- AI governance
- structural power
- media and technology
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BRIEF
Tomorrow’s U.S. Senate Vote: Four Internet Bills, One Wrong Direction
The Senate Commerce Committee will vote this week on several censorious and privacy invasive bills: KOSA, the SCREEN Act, Youth AI Privacy Act, and CHATBOT Act. While we appreciate that the Committee is taking the time to look at these bills separately, it’s still impossible to ignore the message Co…
- AI governance
- structural power
- media and technology
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BRIEF
The CHATBOT Act Forces One Parenting Model On Every Family
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing education, and the way people search for information. Parents, teenagers, teachers, and schools are struggling with tough questions about when AI should, and should not, be used. It makes sense for Congress to hold hearings and examine how AI should be use…
- AI governance
- structural power
- media and technology
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BRIEF
Europe’s AI labeling and transparency rules are now in effect
The EU made some AI labels that companies can use instead of designing their own. | Image: The European Commission / The Verge The European Union has ushered in some additional rules that aim to make it easier for people to identify chatbots and AI deepfakes online. The new transparency obligations…