Social media and gaming platforms face increasing scrutiny and potential exposure to legal liability for harm to children. To keep kids safe online and manage mounting legal and political risk, social media and gaming platforms need comprehensive strategic, regulatory, and government‑affairs guidance to navigate an increasingly aggressive landscape of legislation and litigation.
In the European Union, platforms face rising liability under the EU’s Digital Services Act, which imposes strict duties on risk mitigation, algorithmic transparency, and child‑safety protections backed by significant fines for non‑compliance. In the United Kingdom, the Online Safety Act now mandates a strict legal duty of care, forcing platforms to shield children from harmful content or face massive global fines. The U.K. has also launched a broad evidence‑gathering initiative — “Growing Up in an Online World” — that may lead to new restrictions on teenagers’ use of social media, video games, and mobile phones. In the United States, liability risk will only increase as more courts hear and rule on design defect cases and if the Democrats regain control over the House.
On March 5, 2026, the U.S. Senate passed the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0, S.836) by unanimous consent on March 5, 2026. This bill broadens existing federal law to enhance privacy safeguards for teenagers. It prohibits targeted advertising directed at minors, imposes stricter limits on data collection, and grants children and teenagers increased control over their personal information. In 2024, the Senate passed a version of COPPA 2.0 alongside the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) by an overwhelming 91–3 vote. In March 2026, the House Energy and Commerce Committee also passed a series of kids’ online‑safety bills — including the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act (H.R. 7757), Sammy’s Law (H.R. 2657), and the App Store Accountability Act (H.R. 3149). These bills impose new safety, transparency, and parental‑control requirements on platforms used by minors, targeting risks from harmful content, design features, and opaque data practices. Sammy’s Law adds mandatory third‑party monitoring for signs of dangerous behavior, while the App Store Accountability Act forces app stores to ensure apps meet baseline child‑safety and privacy standards.
The Trump administration’s 2026 National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence prioritizes online child safety and recommends that Congress require privacy‑protective age‑assurance measures and stronger parental controls to protect minors from harmful content and data exploitation. In recent years, Congress has only managed to pass major platform‑regulation bills when the executive and legislative branches were aligned on preventing harm to kids. The Take It Down Act and the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act — the TikTok divest‑or‑ban law — were the only significant platform‑focused tech bills to clear Congress in the past decade.
For nearly 30 years, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and the First Amendment gave platforms a near‑total shield, letting platforms reframe harmful third‑party content as protected editorial judgment. Courts blocked almost every attempt to hold them liable for what users posted or did online. However, now federal courts and juries are starting to hold tech companies accountable for defective platform design rather than treating harms to minors as mere content‑moderation failures. In New Mexico, a jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million for failing to protect children from sexual exploitation and mental‑health harms. In California, a jury found Meta and Google negligent for designing addictive platforms that harmed a young user’s mental health and awarded $6 million in damages. The Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (MDL 3047), currently proceeding in the Northern District of California, consolidates hundreds of lawsuits alleging that major social media platforms were defectively designed to foster compulsive use and mental health crises in minors.
Against this backdrop, companies need expert guidance more than ever to anticipate risk, meet rising legal responsibilities. Neil Hill Global can provide the essential edge for platforms navigating escalating scrutiny, helping companies anticipate risk, fulfill rising obligations, and manage liability to protect both their users and their businesses.
