On 5 August 2026, the US Senate Commerce Committee moved on two bills that could reshape how adult content platforms operate — but only one of them actually went anywhere. The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) cleared committee on a unanimous voice vote, carrying a “duty of care” provision with real teeth. The SCREEN Act, the bill built specifically around mandatory identity-based age verification, collapsed on a quorum technicality the same day. For OnlyFans, Fansly and every other platform in this space, the practical story isn’t the bill that failed — it’s the one that didn’t.
What actually happened on 5 August
KOSA (S. 1748), sponsored by Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal, advanced out of committee with 76 co-sponsors already attached. It’s not new — the Senate passed an earlier version 91–3 back in 2024 before it stalled in the House — but this time the “duty of care” language survived committee intact.
The SCREEN Act (S. 737) — the bill we covered when it first cleared a party-line 15–13 vote — saw that result voided the same day because too few committee members were present to satisfy quorum rules. That’s a procedural setback, not a defeat: the bill can simply come back. More importantly, its House companion already passed in a different vehicle — the KIDS Act — by 267–117 last month, which keeps SCREEN’s age-verification provisions alive heading into reconciliation talks.
Why “duty of care” matters more than another age-check mandate
KOSA’s duty-of-care clause requires platforms to “exercise reasonable care” to prevent a defined list of harms, including sexual exploitation. The detail that should get creators’ attention is that this isn’t a compliance-report exercise — it creates civil liability. Families who argue a platform’s design contributed to harm would be able to sue directly, rather than relying on a regulator to bring enforcement action first.
That’s a meaningfully different exposure model to what platforms have dealt with under prior age-verification rules, which is why some legal commentators are treating the committee vote as the more consequential of the two, even though SCREEN Act headlines get more attention because it’s the bill explicitly aimed at adult content.
Where this leaves the SCREEN Act
SCREEN would go further than most existing state-level laws: it bans simple “click if you’re 18” self-attestation, requires ID or facial-recognition-based verification, and extends to VPN users specifically — anyone using a VPN would need to verify their location or identity unless they can confirm they’re genuinely outside the US. Creators who rely on VPNs for account or income privacy should treat this as a live risk to plan around, not a dead proposal, given the House has already banked its provisions inside the KIDS Act.
It’s also worth noting the bill’s scope: because it applies to any platform hosting even a single piece of qualifying content, its reach extends well beyond dedicated adult sites to general platforms like Discord, Reddit and Bluesky — all of which would face the same identity-verification requirement if any user-uploaded content triggers it.
What this means for creators right now
- Nothing changes immediately. Neither bill has passed the full Senate, let alone been reconciled with the House or signed into law.
- Watch the reconciliation window. The Senate recesses at the end of this week and returns in September with only a few weeks before the 30 September fiscal deadline — a tight timeline that could push age-verification provisions into a broader deal, for better or worse.
- Assume ID-based verification is coming in some form. Between SCREEN’s provisions surviving in the House’s KIDS Act and the general direction of state-level laws already in force (see our international crackdowns tracker), platforms and creators alike should plan for stricter identity checks rather than hoping the issue quietly disappears.
- Data-handling risk is real. Three separate age-verification vendor breaches between 2024 and 2026 — including one exposing biometric data for over a year — are a legitimate reason to want any verification system built with independent audits and minimal data retention, not a reason to avoid compliant verification altogether.
This article is a summary of pending US legislation for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. If a specific bill’s outcome would materially affect your business — for example, your platform’s compliance obligations or your own verification setup — speak to a qualified attorney before making decisions based on it.
