Gallego Introduces Bill to Put Parents in Control of Their Children’s Social Media

WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) introduced the P arental Approval for Youth Social Media Act , legislation that would require social media platforms to obtain parental consent before children under 16 can create or maintain accounts on their platforms. “Every study tells us the same thing: social media is poisoning our kids’ developing minds. When unsupervised online, they can be exposed to explicit material, recruited by drug or sex traffickers, or cyber bullied. Meanwhile, Big Tech is profiting off of that very screen time. It’s more than time we set a federal policy to protect our children,” said Senator Gallego. Social media is used by nearly 95% of teenagers and has been linked to mental health and developmental harms. Platform features like recommendation algorithms and engagement-maximizing designs may worsen those effects. The Parental Approval for Youth Social Media Act would: Prohibit children under 16 from creating or maintaining social media accounts by default. Allow a parent or legal guardian to authorize an account for their child if they choose. Require social media companies to provide parent-supervised accounts, giving parents meaningful tools to oversee and manage their child’s use of the platform. Require platforms to verify users’ ages and parental authorization before allowing minors to access social media. The bill exempts email, text messaging, educational platforms, video conferencing services, and online gaming or other services where social interaction is incidental to the primary function. Last week, Senator Gallego spoke with ABC15 about the proposed bill. Click here for more coverage from The Hill. Click here for the bill text.