Attorney General Ellison and bipartisan coalition oppose KIDS Act, support stronger online protections for children

House KIDS Act would preempt state laws addressing online harms to minors, including harms related to social media, gaming, obscenity, and AI; coalition expresses support for Senate version, which preserves states’ authority to enforce strong protections

Latest in long line of actions AG Ellison has taken in fight for online safety for young people

May 27, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Ellison has joined a nationwide, bipartisan coalition of 44 attorneys general in opposing the federal Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act (“KIDS Act”), H.R. 7757, arguing the bill would weaken states’ ability to protect children online while insulating Big Tech from accountability.

The coalition sent a letter to leaders in Congress warning them that the KIDS Act would broadly preempt state laws addressing online harms to minors, including social media harms, obscenity, social gaming platforms, and artificial intelligence chatbots. Attorney General Ellison emphasized that Congress should instead advance legislation that includes a meaningful duty of care requirement for online platforms, which is a legal obligation requiring one to take reasonable precautions to avoid causing foreseeable harm to others.

“The deck is stacked against young people online,” said Attorney General Ellison. “Some of the world’s most gifted designers are building apps, programs, and websites to addict young people, and those young people need our help. Unfortunately, the KIDS Act misses the mark in several extremely significant ways. I hope lawmakers in Washington can chart a better path forward, and I will continue to do everything in my power to stand up to social media companies and others in Big Tech that are trying to turn a profit by harming our children.”

The coalition expressed support for the Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), S. 1748, which includes a key Duty of Care provision requiring online platforms to act in the best interests of minors while preserving states’ authority to enforce stronger protections for children and teens.

The letter comes as attorneys general across the country continue investigations and litigation involving major social media platforms, including Meta and TikTok, over allegations that their platforms target and harm underage users.

Attorney General Ellison’s history of fighting for the online safety of young people

In August 2025, Attorney General Ellison filed a lawsuit against TikTok for deliberately ensnaring young users in cycles of excessive use through app design features that prey on young people’s neurodevelopmental vulnerabilities. The lawsuit alleges that TikTok works to addict young users to maximize their time spent on the app in order to squeeze time, attention, data, and even money out of young people, all while harming their mental health. In March 2026, Attorney General Ellison defeated TikTok’s motion to dismiss his lawsuit against the social media giant.

In October 2023, Attorney General Ellison sued Meta, the parent company of both Facebook and Instagram, alleging that the company designed app features to deliberately addict young people for profit and at the expense of their mental health and well-being. In August 2025, Attorney General Ellison and a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general wrote a letter to Instagram to express serious concerns over a new feature that allowed users’ precise locations to be shared on a map, which endangers young users. The letter urged Instagram to take immediate action to change the feature in order to better protect young people.

Additionally, in February 2024, Attorney General Ellison’s office produced the State of Minnesota’s first comprehensive “Report on Emerging Technology and Its Effects on Youth Well-Being.” The report details the harmful effects that emerging technologies, like social-media platforms and artificial intelligence, are having on young people in Minnesota and makes a series of recommendations for policymakers to create a safer and healthier online environment for children and teenagers. In August 2024, the National Conference of State Legislatures honored the report with a Notable Document Award.

In February 2025, Attorney General Ellison’s Office issued a follow-up report to the 2024 report, expanding on the prior report by delving more into the rapidly changing landscape of tools powered by artificial intelligence and how those tools are being used by and causing harm to children and teenagers.

In signing the letter, Attorney General Ellison joins the attorneys general of Connecticut, Hawaii, Ohio, and Tennessee, who led the bipartisan coalition, and the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

The letter is being sent to Congressional leadership, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.