Kids Off Social Media Act 2026: What the Federal Ban on Under-13 Accounts Means for Your Family

Your twelve-year-old already has an Instagram account. She made it with a fake birthday two years ago, and you found out three months later. You changed the password, set it to private, checked her DMs. But you also know she could spin up a new one in forty-five seconds flat.

That's the exact problem Congress is trying to solve — and for the first time in two decades, the bill has bipartisan muscle behind it.

The Kids Off Social Media Act (S. 278), known as KOSMA, would make it illegal for platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube to let children under 13 hold accounts. For teens between 13 and 16, it goes further than any previous federal proposal: platforms would be banned from serving them algorithmically curated feeds. No more rabbit holes. No more "recommended for you" loops engineered to maximize time-on-app.

Here's what parents need to know about KOSMA, what it actually does (and doesn't do), and why the debate around it matters even if you think your family has things under control.

What Exactly Does the Kids Off Social Media Act Require?

KOSMA was introduced in January 2025 by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Katie Britt (R-AL). It cleared the Senate Commerce Committee in February 2025 with near-unanimous support — only Senator Ed Markey voted against it.

The bill has three pillars, and each one targets a different age bracket.

For children under 13, the rule is straightforward: platforms cannot knowingly allow them to create or maintain accounts. If a platform discovers an existing account belongs to a child under 13, it must terminate the account and delete all personal data. The child gets 90 days to download their content before deletion.

For teens under 17, platforms can still allow accounts, but they cannot deploy algorithmic recommendation systems that curate content based on behavioral data, engagement history, or inferred interests. Teens would see content in chronological order — what their friends actually post, in the order they posted it — rather than what a machine learning model predicts will keep them scrolling longest.

For schools, the bill ties compliance to E-Rate funding — the federal program that subsidizes internet access for schools and libraries. Schools receiving E-Rate dollars would need to block social media on school devices and networks using filtering technology, similar to existing Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requirements. Schools that haven't implemented a filter yet get a two-year ramp-in period, and enforcement focuses on good-faith compliance rather than policing specific site lists.

Why This Bill Is Moving Faster Than Previous Attempts

KOSMA isn't the first federal bill aimed at protecting kids online, but it has momentum that predecessors didn't. The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) spent years in committee. The original COPPA passed in 1998 and hasn't been meaningfully updated since. What's different now?

Forty state attorneys general sent a letter to Congress supporting KOSMA. A companion bill was introduced in the House by Representatives Anna Luna (R-FL) and Kim Schrier (D-WA), giving the legislation a path through both chambers.

And the numbers backing the bill are hard for any politician to ignore. According to a 2025 Ipsos survey across 30 countries, 71% of people believe children under 14 should not be able to access social media, and 74% of school-age parents feel the same. In the United States specifically, 58% of parents support a social media ban for children under 16. A Count on Mothers survey found that over 90% of mothers agree there should be a minimum age of 13 for social media.

That political tailwind matters, but there's something else driving the urgency. In 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a formal advisory warning that 13 is too young for social media and calling for immediate action. Then in 2025, a jury in a landmark trial found Meta and Google liable for harms to children caused by their platforms' addictive design features. State legislatures responded by introducing nearly 300 children's online safety bills in 2026 alone.

KOSMA is Congress catching up to what state governments, courts, and parents have been saying for years.

What KOSMA Doesn't Do — and Why That Matters

There's a nuance that parents often miss in the coverage of this bill. KOSMA does not create a parental consent mechanism. It doesn't give parents the ability to override the under-13 ban and grant permission for their child to use social media. The ban is categorical.

It also does not require government-issued ID verification. The bill places the burden on platforms to determine whether a user is under 13, but it doesn't mandate a specific age verification technology. That's deliberately left open — and it's where the most heated debate lands.

The bill doesn't apply to every app your kid uses. KOSMA defines "social media" as public-facing platforms centered on user-generated content. Email services, video conferencing tools, and platforms that primarily serve educational purposes are explicitly exempted. So if your child uses Google Classroom, Zoom for tutoring, or a school-issued email, KOSMA wouldn't touch those.

And critically, KOSMA does not give parents surveillance tools. There is no provision for monitoring your teen's social media activity through the bill. It regulates what platforms can do — not what parents can see.

The Pushback: Privacy Concerns, Free Speech, and Enforcement

Not everyone thinks KOSMA is the right approach. A coalition of civil liberties organizations — including the ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Democracy & Technology, and Fight for the Future — signed an open letter opposing the bill. Their core argument: a blanket ban on minors' accounts violates First Amendment protections on speech and information access, regardless of age.

The EFF has been particularly vocal, calling California's similar state-level ban "paternalistic and privacy-destroying." The ACLU's position is that overbroad online safety language risks censoring useful information about topics like sex education and suicide prevention that teenagers genuinely need.

Then there's the enforcement question. In March 2026, 371 privacy and security experts signed an open letter raising concerns about how platforms can verify age securely without creating new data collection risks. If Instagram has to confirm that a user is 13, what data does it need to collect to do that — and what happens when that data is breached?

These are real concerns, and parents should weigh them seriously. Banning kids from public platforms could push them toward unmoderated spaces like Discord servers, encrypted messaging apps, and dark web forums where predators operate with less oversight.

That said, the counterargument from KOSMA's sponsors is also grounded in evidence. The bill doesn't restrict speech — it restricts platform access for a specific age group, the same way we restrict alcohol and tobacco sales. And the algorithmic feed ban for teens under 17 doesn't remove their content — it removes the machine that decides what they see.

What Parents Should Do Right Now — Whether KOSMA Passes or Not

Waiting for Congress to protect your kids is a losing strategy. Here's what you can do today.

Start with the conversation. If your child is under 13 and already has social media accounts, KOSMA's framework gives you language: "The government is working on making this illegal for your age group because the research shows it's harmful." That's not you being strict — that's the U.S. Senate agreeing with you.

If your child is between 13 and 16, talk specifically about algorithmic feeds. Show them how to switch Instagram and TikTok to chronological mode manually. Walk them through it. Let them see the difference between what a friend actually posted and what the algorithm wants them to watch for three hours.

Audit what's on school devices. KOSMA's school filtering requirement won't take effect immediately even if the bill passes. Ask your school's IT administrator whether social media is currently blocked on school-issued devices and on the school network. If not, bring it up at the next board meeting — you'll likely find other parents who've been waiting for someone to ask.

Build digital literacy at home. Laws change. Platforms evolve. Algorithms get redesigned. The one thing that doesn't become obsolete is a kid who can recognize when technology is manipulating their attention and make a conscious choice about it. That's what Digipalz's curriculum is built to teach — through gamified, age-appropriate missions that give kids practice navigating real online scenarios before they encounter them in the wild.

Where KOSMA Stands Now and What Comes Next

As of May 2026, KOSMA has cleared the Senate Commerce Committee and has a companion bill in the House. The Congressional Budget Office has scored it, and no major procedural obstacles have surfaced. But "advanced out of committee" is not the same as "passed into law." The bill still needs a full Senate floor vote, a House vote, and the President's signature.

Meanwhile, states aren't waiting. Nearly 300 state-level children's online safety bills have been introduced this year. Idaho, Oregon, and Washington already enacted laws regulating AI chatbot access for minors. North Carolina's Senate is moving its own social media ban for young children. The pressure is building from every direction.

Whether KOSMA passes this session or not, it has already shifted the conversation. The question in Washington is no longer "should we protect kids online?" It's "how fast and how far."

For parents, the question is simpler. You don't need a federal law to turn off your child's algorithmic feed tonight. You don't need Congress to have the screen time conversation at dinner. And you don't need to wait for anyone's permission to teach your kid what manipulative design looks like and how to spot it.

The law is catching up. Your family doesn't have to wait.

Digipalz is a digital safety education platform teaching children to navigate online threats through gamified, curriculum-aligned missions. Our blog publishes evidence-based guides for parents and educators.