FTC to launch nationwide internet safety campaign for teens
H.R. 6289 — Promoting a Safe Internet for Minors Act · Filed by Laurel Lee (R-FL) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced Nov 25, 2025 · Markup held
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What it does
This bill directs the Federal Trade Commission, working with schools, nonprofits, law enforcement, and tech companies, to launch a nationwide public awareness campaign within 180 days to teach minors, parents, educators, and online platforms how to use the internet safely. The FTC must report annually for 10 years on its activities. The bill defines 'online safety' to include protection from cybercrime, illegal substances, gambling, adult content, and mental health harms.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to establish a federally coordinated public awareness and education campaign on internet safety for minors, with no regulatory teeth or enforcement mechanism—purely informational and collaborative.
What the text implies
- The bill does not impose any new restrictions on tech platforms or require them to change their business models; it is purely educational and advisory, leaving actual enforcement and platform accountability to existing law.
- Annual reporting requirement creates a 10-year commitment of FTC resources and staff time, which may compete with other FTC priorities in consumer protection or antitrust enforcement.
- The definition of 'online safety' is broad and includes mental health harms, but the bill provides no funding mechanism or enforcement authority to address identified harms—it is awareness-only.
Who it affects
The bill creates a coordinated, transparent public education effort on internet safety for minors with no apparent regulatory burden or cost to ordinary citizens. It mandates accountability through annual reporting and involves broad stakeholder input (schools, nonprofits, parents, law enforcement), making it a straightforward public health measure.
Named in the bill
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act, House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Where it stands
4 cosponsors: 4 Democrats.
- Nov 25, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Nov 25, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade”
- Dec 11, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
5 lobbying clients named this bill on 8 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $7,695,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 30 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 78% of bills with at least one filing.
Laurel Lee, the sponsor, reported $910,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Google Client Services LLC — $6,920,000 on 2 filings
- News Media Alliance — $475,000 on 1 filing
- Technet — $160,000 on 2 filings
- Software & Information Industry Association (siia) — $120,000 on 2 filings
- Computer & Communications Industry Association — $20,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jul 2, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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