The KIDS Act, which is sponsored by Congressman Brett Guthrie (R-KY), encompasses several child safety laws. That includes a version of the latest House Republican update to the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) without the "duty of care" provision central to the Senate's bipartisan version of the bill, which requires big tech platforms to mitigate risks to minors.
Digital infrastructure is no longer just an industry; it is strategic power. Search engines shape access to knowledge. Cloud platforms host government data. Operating systems underpin public services. When those layers are controlled abroad, so is a slice of Europe's economic and political autonomy.
Apple and Google, the two companies that collectively control how more than six billion people access the internet from their pockets, are now facing coordinated antitrust enforcement actions across North America, Europe, Asia, and beyond. The simultaneous pressure marks a structural shift in how governments worldwide approach platform power.
"The amount of time they spend online - the amount of violence, self-harm that they are exposed to online - is simply too great a risk for our children," she said, while praising tech giants as "the greatest companies that we have. They have an absurd amount of money available, but they're simply not willing to invest in the safety of our children, invest in the safety of all of us."
On Tuesday, that same judge unveiled Google's punishment, which amounts to ... not too much, all things considered. There are plenty of places to find analysis of Judge Amit Mehta's ruling, but the fastest way to process it is to see what Wall Street thinks: Google stock is up 9% on Wednesday. And if you take a few more seconds, you can see how the specter of a major antitrust case has affected Google since the US government first filed suit in October 2020.