HR 9706
Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act
TL;DR
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) introduced this bill to require facial recognition or similar age-verification technology in certain settings to protect children, likely targeting online platforms and age-restricted product sales. It has been referred to House committees but is still in early stages with no committee vote yet.
How This Might Impact Your Business
Online platforms serving minors would likely need to deploy facial recognition or comparable age-verification tools to confirm user ages before granting access
Retailers selling age-restricted products (alcohol, tobacco, vaping, cannabis where legal) could face new requirements to verify customer age using biometric technology
Social media companies, gaming platforms, and streaming services aimed at general audiences would need to build age-gating infrastructure that meets federal standards
Vendors of facial recognition and age-estimation technology (like Yoti, Incode, Jumio) would see expanded market demand from covered businesses
Privacy compliance costs would rise as companies collecting biometric data must reconcile new federal mandates with state biometric laws like Illinois BIPA and Texas CUBI
Committee referral to both Agriculture and Energy and Commerce suggests scope covers both retail food/agriculture products and telecom/internet platforms
Bill text specifics remain limited given early committee stage, so exact thresholds, penalties, and covered entities are still undefined
What Should You Do
Ask your product and legal teams whether your platform or storefront currently interacts with minors and how age is verified today
Have your privacy counsel map any facial recognition deployment against state biometric laws (Illinois BIPA, Texas CUBI, Washington) to avoid conflicting obligations
If you sell age-restricted goods online, request demos from age-verification vendors now to understand cost and integration timelines
Assign a government affairs contact to track markup activity in House Energy and Commerce and Agriculture committees
Brief your board on potential biometric data collection expansion and the reputational risk of collecting children's facial data
Who It Affects
Sponsors
Status Timeline
committee
Referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
July 15, 2026
committee
Referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
July 15, 2026