HF 4138

1st Engrossment - 94th Legislature (2025 - 2026)

Posted on 03/23/2026 06:48 p.m.

A bill for an act
relating to civil law; establishing requirements for social media platforms related
to accounts for minors; establishing enforcement mechanisms for regulations on
child social media accounts; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes,
chapter 325M.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

new text begin [325M.40] STOP HARMS FROM ADDICTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA.
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new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Definitions. new text end

new text begin (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have
the meanings given.
new text end

new text begin (b) "Account holder" means a resident of the state who has an account or a profile with
a covered social media platform with a unique identifier, during any period in which that
covered social media platform knows or should reasonably know the account holder is
physically located in the state.
new text end

new text begin (c) "Addictive interface features" means:
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new text begin (1) infinite scrolling meaning either continuously loading content, content that loads as
the account holder scrolls down the page without the need to open a separate page, seamless
content, or the use of pages with no visible or apparent end or page breaks;
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new text begin (2) display of a profile-based feed;
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new text begin (3) push notifications, whether audible, visual, or tactile, designed to call the attention
of the account holder to newly posted content, user responses to content posted by the
account holder, or other specific activities or events related to the account holder's account,
but not including notifications for the purposes of alerting the account holder to incoming
calls, text messages, email messages, or similar messages sent by human contact and
delivered by means of any application;
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new text begin (4) autoplay video or video that begins to play without the account holder first clicking
on the video or on a play button for that video;
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new text begin (5) display of personal metrics that indicate the number of times other users have clicked
a button or taken other action to indicate their reaction to content posted by the account
holder or have shared or reposted content posted by the account holder; or
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new text begin (6) display of awards, badges, tiers, or any form of recognition of the account holder
based on hours spent by the account holder on the social media platform, numbers of
followers, numbers of postings, frequency or regularity of postings, or any other metric of
usage or performance on the social media platform.
new text end

new text begin (d) "Child" means an individual who is age 15 or younger and residing in Minnesota.
new text end

new text begin (e) "Covered social media platform" means a social media platform which earned at
least $1,000,000,000 in advertising revenues worldwide in one or more of the preceding
three years.
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new text begin (f) "Minor" means an individual who is under the age of 18.
new text end

new text begin (g) "Notice" to a parent has the meaning established in the Children's Online Privacy
Protection Act, United States Code, title 15, section 6501, and implementing regulations at
Code of Federal Regulations, title 16, section 312.4.
new text end

new text begin (h) "Paid commercial advertising" is advertising for which the social media platform
receives compensation of any sort in return for displaying the advertising and that seeks to
encourage the account holder to purchase a product or service or otherwise engage in a
commercial transaction or to follow a link to a website that encourages the account holder
to engage in a commercial transaction.
new text end

new text begin (i) "Parent" means any parent under state law or any legal guardian or legal custodian
of a child who is a resident of the state.
new text end

new text begin (j) "Personal information" means information about an account holder collected online
that comprises personal information within the meaning of the Children's Online Privacy
Protection Act, United States Code, title 15, section 6501(8), and the implementing
regulations at Code of Federal Regulations, title 16, section 312.2. Personal information
also includes any record of or derived from online activity or history, search history, or
online communications of an account holder with respect to any application, website, or
social media platform; any photograph or biometric information that is used or could
reasonably be used to identify the account holder, including but not limited to fingerprints,
voiceprints, iris or retina imagery scans, facial templates, or gait imagery or metrics; and
any geolocation information associated with an account holder or with a device of an account
holder. Personal information does not include an express search term, request, or selection
submitted by the account holder during the current session on the covered social media
platform; an identifier used solely for the purpose of directing personal communications to
or from the account holder; information that comprises account holder-selected or
parent-selected settings relating to privacy, accessibility, or blocking of age-inappropriate
content; or technical information concerning the account holder's device.
new text end

new text begin (k) "Profile-based feed" means a feed in which the material presented has been selected
or prioritized by the social media platform for display to an account holder based in whole
or in part on personal information of that account holder, except that inclusion in a feed of
content created by a third party that is displayed to the account holder because the account
holder has taken an affirmative step to select the third-party's content for inclusion in the
feed displayed to the account holder, such as by following, friending, or engaging in similar
actions in relation to the third party and not otherwise selected or prioritized for display to
the account holder based on personal information, shall not render the feed a profile-based
feed. Additionally, exclusion by a covered social media platform of certain content from
the feed of an account holder based on information about or any estimate of the age of an
account holder solely for the purpose of excluding content that is (1) obscene as to children
aged 15 or younger, or (2) by policy of the covered social media platform is not suitable
for presentation to children of that age shall not render that feed a profile-based feed.
new text end

new text begin (l) "Social media platform" means an Internet website or application that is open to the
public; allows a user to create an account; enables an account holder to communicate with
other users for the primary purpose of posting and viewing information, comments, messages,
images, or videos. Social media platform does not include:
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new text begin (1) a broadband Internet access service as defined by the Federal Communications
Commission;
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new text begin (2) an online service, website, or application where the exclusive function is the support
of communications, including email, video conference capabilities, or direct messaging
consisting of text, photographs, pictures, images, or videos only between the sender and
recipients specifically identified by the sender, without displaying or posting publicly or to
other users not specifically identified as the recipients by the sender; or
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new text begin (3) an online service, application, or website with content consisting primarily of
information or content that is not user generated.
new text end

new text begin (m) "Targeted paid commercial advertising" means paid commercial advertising that
has been selected or prioritized for display to an account holder based in whole or in part
on account activity or personal information of the account holder by or with the participation
of the covered social media platform, except that advertising selected for display to an
account holder shall not constitute targeted paid commercial advertising if that selection
process considers information about or an estimate of the age of the account holder solely
for the purpose of excluding advertisements which by law or policy of the covered social
media platform are not suitable for presentation to a child of that age.
new text end

new text begin (n) "Verifiable parental consent" has the meaning established in the Children's Online
Privacy Protection Act, United States Code, title 15, section 6501(9), and the implementing
regulations at Code of Federal Regulations, title 16, section 312.5, with the added requirement
that the covered social media platform has retained documentation sufficient to reasonably
establish that it has obtained verifiable parental consent within the meaning of those
provisions.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Age estimation. new text end

new text begin (a) When an account holder has been on the covered social
media platform for 25 hours or more within a six-month period, the covered social media
platform has 14 days to use reasonable means and reasonable efforts, taking into consideration
available technology and the data in the possession of the covered social media platform,
to estimate the age of the account holder. If the covered social media platform is able to
conclude with 80 percent confidence that the account holder is over 15 years of age, the
covered social media platform may treat the account holder to be other than a child for
purposes of this section. Otherwise, the covered social media platform must treat the account
holder as a child for purposes of this section.
new text end

new text begin (b) When an account holder has been on the covered social media platform for 50 hours
or more within a six-month period, the covered social media platform has 14 days to use
reasonable means and reasonable efforts to revise its estimate of the age of the account
holder. If the covered social media platform is able to conclude with 90 percent confidence
that the account holder is over 15 years of age, the covered social media platform may treat
the account holder to be other than a child for purposes of this section. Otherwise, the
covered social media platform must treat the account holder as a child for purposes of this
section. A covered social media platform shall update its estimate of the age of each account
holder after every additional 100 hours spent by the account holder on the platform, or as
often as the covered social media platform applies any form of data analytics or artificial
intelligence to update its estimate of any other demographic characteristics of the account
holder for any reason, whichever period is shorter.
new text end

new text begin (c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to create any duty on the part of a covered
social media platform to request, collect, or retain any information from or about any account
holder. The age estimate required by this section shall be derived based on information
collected and retained by the covered social media platform in the ordinary course of
operation of the social media platform, and a covered social media platform shall have no
obligation under this section to estimate the age of an account holder who has had an account
with the covered social media platform continuously for at least seven years or to take any
action with respect to the account.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Creation and maintenance of child account. new text end

new text begin A covered social media platform
shall require applicants for an account to provide their birth dates as part of the account
application process and shall not provide any default birth date in any form or query used
to obtain that information. A covered social media platform may not create an account for
a user identified as a child pursuant to this provision or maintain an account for a user to
be treated as a child pursuant to subdivision 2, or change the terms and conditions of an
account for a child without first obtaining verifiable parental consent. Information collected
for the purpose of obtaining verifiable parental consent shall not be used for any purpose
other than obtaining verifiable parental consent and shall be deleted immediately after an
attempt to obtain verifiable parental consent, and shall not be sold, transferred, or disclosed,
except to the extent necessary to comply with any other applicable state or federal law or
regulation. A covered social media platform shall provide clear, simple, and easy-to-locate
information related to the creation or maintenance of an account for a child, including the
terms and services agreement.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Privacy and parental limitations for child account. new text end

new text begin An account for a child
shall have all privacy settings set by default at the most private levels. A covered social
media platform may not change the privacy settings of an account of a child without first
obtaining verifiable parental consent for the change so long as the account holder remains
a child. In the course of obtaining verifiable parental consent for the establishment or
continuation of an account for a child, a covered social media platform shall prominently
provide and explain an option for the parent to make the consent conditional on receipt by
the parent of a separate password that enables the parent to:
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new text begin (1) monitor the amount of time the child spends using the covered social media platform;
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new text begin (2) set daily and weekly time limits on use of the covered social media platform; and
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new text begin (3) set limits on times of day when the covered social media platform can be accessed
by the child.
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new text begin Subd. 5. new text end

new text begin Prohibition on addictive interface; presentation of paid commercial
advertising. new text end

new text begin (a) A social media platform may not present addictive interface features in the
display or feed of any child account.
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new text begin (b) A social media platform may not present targeted paid commercial advertising in
the display or feed of any child account.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 6. new text end

new text begin Termination of child accounts. new text end

new text begin (a) A covered social media platform has a
continuing obligation to terminate an account should it conclude or obtain information from
which it is reasonable to conclude pursuant to its obligations under this section that the
account holder is a child unless verifiable parental consent has been obtained for the account.
A covered social media platform shall terminate an account of a child within no more than
seven days after receipt of a request for termination from the account holder.
new text end

new text begin (b) A covered social media platform shall terminate the account of a child within no
more than 14 days after receipt of a request for termination from a parent of the child. Upon
receipt of the parent's request, the covered social media platform shall verify that the
requesting party is a parent of the account holder by whatever means of verification the
covered social media platform uses for purposes of ascertaining the validity of verifiable
parental consent. A covered social media platform shall provide clear, simple, and
easy-to-locate means for the parent of any child to request termination of any account of a
child.
new text end

new text begin (c) If a covered social media platform makes a determination that it must terminate an
account because the account holder has been classified as a child and verifiable parental
consent has not been obtained, the covered social media platform shall notify the account
holder of its intent to terminate the account within seven days of making that determination
and shall provide the reason for its determination. The covered social media platform shall
provide 30 days from the date of the notice for the account holder to dispute the age
classification and complete an age verification process or to provide verifiable parental
consent. If an account holder disputes his or her classification as a child, a covered social
media platform may rely on any commercially reasonable age verification process to resolve
the dispute. A covered social media platform shall make a reasonable determination of the
dispute within 30 days of the completion of the age verification. In the event a covered
social media platform concludes after considering a dispute and the result of any age
verification that the covered social media platform is obligated to terminate an account, it
shall terminate that account within seven days of making that determination.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 7. new text end

new text begin Exclusions. new text end

new text begin Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit in any way what
content parents may show to their children. Nothing in this section shall be construed to
limit in any way beyond any limits imposed by other law the results an online search engine
may return in response to a query by a child.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 8. new text end

new text begin Enforcement; remedies. new text end

new text begin (a) Contracts formed in violation of this section are
invalid and unenforceable. No part of this section may be waived in a contract or terms of
service agreement.
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new text begin (b) A child or parent shall have a private right of action for a violation of this section.
The court may award declaratory or injunctive relief, general and special damages, court
costs and fees, reasonable attorney fees, and any other appropriate relief as a result of any
violation of this section.
new text end

new text begin (c) If a covered social media platform permits a child to open or continue an account on
the platform in the absence of parental consent sufficient for the formation of a binding
contract with a minor under ordinary principles of contract law under the laws of this state,
any purported contract pertaining to the account is invalid and unenforceable as contrary
to public policy, including but not limited to any arbitration provision, limitation of liability,
or limitation of remedies, without regard to whether the social media platform had actual
or constructive knowledge that the account holder was a child.
new text end

new text begin (d) If a covered social media platform's violation was reckless or knowing, a child or
parent who prevails on a claim based on any violation of this section shall be entitled to
recover $10,000 in statutory damages in addition to actual damages established at trial.
new text end

new text begin (e) If a covered social media platform's violation was part of a consistent pattern of
reckless or knowing conduct, punitive damages may be awarded.
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new text begin (f) A covered social media platform shall not be liable for any violation of this section
if it has used reasonable means and reasonable efforts, taking into consideration available
technology and the data in possession of the covered social media platform, to comply with
the requirements of this section.
new text end

new text begin (g) A civil action for damages for a violation of this section must be brought within three
years of the date the plaintiff knew, or reasonably should have known, of the alleged
violation. However, this limitation period for the action shall be tolled until the child account
holder reaches the age of 18.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 9. new text end

new text begin Deceptive trade practices. new text end

new text begin Any knowing or reckless violation of this section
shall constitute a deceptive trade practice and a violation of section 325D.44. The attorney
general shall have enforcement authority under section 8.31. If the attorney general has
reasonable cause to believe that any covered social media platform has engaged in or is
engaging in any knowing or reckless violation of this section, the attorney general may
investigate and pursue remedies consistent with section 325D.44.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective November 1, 2026, and applies to accounts
created before, on, or after that date.
new text end