Social Media: Parental Consent for Kids Under 16
A senate committee must act next: committee consideration.
While protecting kids online is a popular goal, tech companies and civil liberties groups often fight these laws in court over privacy and free speech concerns.
Scores run from -100 (strongly harmful) to +100 (strongly beneficial) for each group, combining impact, certainty, scope, and duration ratings of 1-5. How impact scoring works
LGBTQ youth who lack supportive parents could be cut off from online communities and information they rely on, since a parent must approve and can monitor messages, contacts, and activity on a supervised account. Requiring parental oversight can be especially risky for kids whose families are not accepting of their identity.
“the ability to view the child's activity and use of the social media platform”
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in Senate
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
Senator Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) introduced the Parental Approval for Youth Social Media Act, which would ban users under 16 from creating accounts without parental consent. The bill requires platforms to verify ages and provide supervision tools while mandating the deletion of verification data.
A new Senate bill would require social platforms to take 'reasonable steps' to verify users' ages and obtain parental consent before allowing anyone under 16 to create an account. The act also mandates platforms give parents tools to oversee usage, including setting time limits and blocking DMs.
No votes or related bills recorded for this bill yet.
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
Parental Approval for Youth Social Media Act of 2026
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