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Florida Congressman Jimmy Patronis has introduced H.R. 7045, the Promoting Responsible Online Technology and Ensuring Consumer Trust (PROTECT) Act, a bold effort to strip the special liability shield known as Section 230 from Big Tech and force platforms to answer for the real-world damage their products inflict on children. This is the kind of common-sense accountability conservatives have been demanding for years—platforms that engineer addiction should not enjoy legal immunity while families pick up the pieces.
Patronis filed the bill on January 13, 2026, and it was sent to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where lawmakers must decide whether to side with parents or with corporate interests that profit from keeping kids glued to screens. In his office statement, Patronis rightly framed the fight as one between family protections and tech executives who design features to maximize engagement, even at the expense of children’s mental health.
The urgency behind the PROTECT Act was underscored by a landmark Los Angeles jury verdict this year that found Meta and YouTube negligent in the design and operation of their platforms, deciding those companies played a substantial role in harming a young plaintiff. That decision is a legal wake-up call: when courts begin to hold these firms to account, Congress can no longer hide behind the outdated cloak of Section 230 while the human toll mounts.
On the House floor and in hearings, Patronis has not minced words, calling Big Tech a kind of “digital fentanyl” that hooks children with algorithms and manipulative design choices—a stark but accurate metaphor for how engineered addiction operates across feeds and recommendation systems. Conservatives who value family, faith, and personal responsibility should welcome efforts that treat these platforms like the product manufacturers they effectively are, not untouchable actors above the law.
Congress now faces a simple choice: protect corporate profits or protect children. The PROTECT Act is sitting in committee and must be moved with urgency if lawmakers truly mean to hold Silicon Valley accountable rather than offering empty rhetoric. If elected officials care more about the next campaign check than the next generation, they will fail; if they side with parents and commonsense reform, they will deliver real, enforceable change.
