Minnesota House advances bill requiring social media protections against "addictive" features, parental consent for children
A bipartisan proposal to set guardrails around social media sites for children advanced in the Minnesota House on Thursday, one day after a landmark case against tech companies in which they were found liable for creating products that led to harmful behavior.
The Minnesota bill would require parental consent for someone under 15 to make an account and would limit features bill authors say are addictive: infinite scrolling, autoplay of videos and push notifications for those users.
Paid ads would also be prohibited and the strongest privacy settings need to be the default.
"I've seen one estimate that it's an $11 billion a year industry. As parents and as lawmakers, we should not be OK with that," said Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, the bill's author. "We have the power to enforce consumer protections used by Minnesotans, especially for kids."
The measure cleared a key committee with bipartisan support on Thursday, inching it closer to the House floor for a full vote. The Thursday hearing came one day after a jury in California found YouTube and Meta to both be negligent in a social media addiction case.
A 20-year-old said using those platforms from a young age got her hooked and led to mental health problems. She was awarded $6 million in damages.
Two Minnesota students testified in favor of the legislation and shared with lawmakers what it's like to grow up online today — how difficult it is to stop scrolling and how it's fractured relationships with friends.
"I play team sports and during more than one team bonding event, some of my teammates are not participating in real life and they instead choose to be on their phones, scrolling on social media, which makes me discouraged," said Ruby Eickenbrook, a high school student.
This isn't the first time a proposal like this has come before lawmakers. Social media use for kids and regulating artificial intelligence are two issues that broadly unite Republicans and Democrats at the state capitol, where both parties share power.
Last year, lawmakers passed legislation mandating warning labels on social media platforms about risks to mental health.
"Social media is leading us down a dangerous path, not one towards human connection but weaker relationships with those around us," said Gabe Nowlin, another student.
Taycier Elhindi with the National Action Network in Minneapolis said she shares the concerns of lawmakers about the harms of social media, but worried about the unintended consequences of trying to tackle the problem this way.
"Many youth in our community find essential support systems, educational resources and social justice movements through these platforms. By creating high-friction entry, we risk cutting off vulnerable youth from the very tools they use to organize and seek help," she said.
