Vys is delighted to join the Digital Trust & Safety Partnership as an affiliate member. Over the last two years, DTSP has set the standard for some of the most important trust and safety best practices across the industry, and we are excited to learn from this ecosystem as well as share our expertise on trust and safety for kids and teens.
We are also excited to welcome In Tandem as a strategic partner. In Tandem supports youth qualitative research and design through interviews, group discussions, surveys, and user testing with young people in trusted settings. As we continue to advance the principles of participatory co-design, we look forward to embedding the perspectives of and feedback from young people even more deeply into our product and policy development with apps and platforms.
This issue of Quire was drafted by Amelia Farrell and Serena Shah, two of our high school summer interns in the Editorial track. Vys consultants reviewed and made minor edits to these entries. Learn more about our summer interns here.
Commerce Committee Bill To Protect Kids Online Advances To Senate
The Kids Online Safety Act, which requires minors’ accounts set by default to the strongest safety and privacy settings, implement more parental controls and modify design features that address addictive use, has officially passed the Senate Commerce Committee with a unanimous vote on August 5th 2026. It is set to advance to the full Senate, although there has been no date confirmation. One of the major points of contention between the Senate and the House versions of this bill is the “Duty of Care” provision, which holds social media companies liable for failing to prevent harm to minor users. While Chairman Ted Cruz stated that he was “confident that it will pass on the Senate floor”, others like the Center for Democracy and Technology claimed that the clause may be unconstitutional.
Ofcom Opens Legal Investigation Into Tiktok For Failing To Protect Children From Harmful Content
The UK regulator, Ofcom, has announced a formal legal investigation into TikTok for allegedly failing to comply with its duties under Section 12 of the Online Safety Act,specifically, its failure to protect children from encountering harmful content. Central to the investigation is Ofcom’s criticism of TikTok’s “age inference” approach, which attempts to identify child users through data rather than direct age verification. If found guilty, Tiktok could face fines of up to $24 million or 10% of its global revenue, with an update to the investigation expected in October.
New York Bans Algorithmic Feeds and Late-Night Notifications for Minors
Attorney General James and Governor Hochul have released the final Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act rules prohibiting social media platforms from serving algorithmically driven “addictive feeds” and halting all notifications between midnight and 6AM to users under 18 without parental consent. The rules take effect on January 2, 2027with companies facing fines of $5000 per violation. However, experts have raised concerns about enforcement: age verification can be easily bypassed, the term “addictive feeds” is vague, and the NYCLU has opposed the law on First Amendment and privacy grounds, consistent with the legal challenges that have blocked similar laws in other parts of the country.
Vietnam Proposes Amendment To Restrict Social Media Use For For Under-16s
Decree 147 is the main Vietnamese legal framework that regulates social media and online services, especially for children. The proposed amendment would ban children under 16 from posting, commenting, sharing, or reacting on any social media services, stopping just short of a complete ban as seen in the case of Australia’s policy for children under 16. The bill also requires parental registration of all child accounts, and shifts the onus on social media companies for ensuring child accounts receive age appropriate content. Deputy Culture Minister Phan Tam noted that the goal was not to ban children from social media, but instead to teach them how to use it in a healthy way, without overconsumption.
Meta Ordered To Pay Additional $567 Million In Child Safety Lawsuit
Meta, which was earlier fined $375 million in a New Mexico lawsuit that claimed that the company failed to warn users about the dangers of social media and its effect on emotional and mental well being, has now in total been ordered to pay nearly a billion dollars in total for repeatedly violating New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act. They also allege that Meta’s platforms exposed children to harmful content and sexual predators. While the company denies the claims and plans to appeal the decision, in addition to fines, Meta was ordered to implement safety features such as monthly limits on teen Instagram and Facebook usage, restricted notifications, and preventative measures so that adults cannot contact children under 18 who they do not know. According to BBC News, Meta will be required to put the money they owe into a fund to reduce future harm and address the “wide-ranging impact of the reports.”
Tiktok Adds Launches New Parental Blocking Controls And Well Being Tools For Teens
In July, TikTok rolled out several updates expanding parental oversight of teen accounts, including the ability for parents to block specific accounts for their children, greater parental control over teen privacy settings and notifications for parents when their teen uploads a public video. The update also introduced “Well-Being Missions” feature under Screen Time offering breathing exercises, affirmations and soothing sounds.
OpenAI And APA Partner To Promote Responsible AI
OpenAI and the American Psychological Association (APA) have announced a partnership to ensure that future AI development has a deeper focus on mental health and human behavior, with the goal of producing safer, more ethical AI systems while also focusing on addressing risks such as technology’s impact on the world and trust.
Illinois Shifts Age Verification To Device Level, Bans Late-Night Teen Notifications
On July 31, 2026 Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed the Children’s Social Media Safety Act, imposing a series of requirements on social media companies’ interactions with minors. Key provisions include age verification handled through the device’s operating system rather than within the app itself, banning notifications to minors between 10pm and 7am, stronger default privacy settings, and limiting digital currency transactions. Pritzker framed the law as returning control “away from big companies and back into the hands of parents”. The bill was strongly opposed by social media companies due to potential first amendment violations.
Missouri Requires Age Verification For Sites With More Than 33% Sexual Material As Content
On July 9, The Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe signed House Bill 1839 requiring age verification for websites where more than one-third of the content qualifies as sexual material harmful to minors, including social media sites that meet the threshold. Websites must redirect users through an age verification process before granting access. Like similar laws in other states, the legislation already faces First Amendment challenges.
EU Finds TikTok in Breach of DSA Over Minor Account Privacy
The European Commission has preliminarily found that TikTok may have possibly violated the EU’s Digital Services Act by allowing minors to set their accounts to public–exposing their content to strangers and increasing its reach through the “For You” page. The commission’s position is that minor accounts should be private by default on TikTok, offering stronger protection from cyberbullying, inappropriate content, and contact with strangers. If the findings are confirmed, TikTok could be required to change its default settings and face substantial fines under the DSA.
Study Suggest That Australia’s Social Media Ban May Not Be as Effective as Hoped
Research from Australia’s eSafety Commissioner found that more than 80% of children were still accessing age-restricted social media platforms despite the country’s ban for children under-16, primarily by using inaccurate birthdates or accounts created by others. The findings suggest that access restrictions alone are insufficient, and that broader online safety measures are needed for the ban to meaningfully protect young users.
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