Michigan lawmakers are considering a new bill that would require social media platforms to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for anyone under 18 years old.
House Bill 4388 would apply to any platform with at least 5 million users.
Under the plan, teens could only create an account if a parent or guardian approves it. Once approved, the teen’s profile would be considered a “minor account” and have added restrictions.
Parents who give consent would gain access to their child’s posts and private messages. They could also set nighttime curfews that would limit when minors could use their accounts unless the feature is manually disabled.
Supporters of the bill say the measure would give parents more oversight as concerns grow about youth mental health and the influence of social media.
One of the bill's sponsors likened agreeing to a social media company's terms of use to signing a contract, arguing that parents, not their young children, should hold that responsibility.
Michigan schools have said they're struggling to handle students' social media use.
But digital rights groups argue the new proposal would create new privacy and security risks.
Molly Buckley, an activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the bill would force users to give up essential protections.
“People will have to sacrifice that anonymity in order to access the internet, and that means that personal private data is able to be collected and retained and stored and breached, maybe used by bad actors linking your identity to the sites that you visit online,” Buckley said.
Buckley also warned the legislation could suppress young people’s ability to express themselves online.
“It's going to cause problems for our privacy, for our security for our young people's expressive rights and their ability to sort of develop their identities and their voices online and participate in our public conversations,” she said.
The proposal is in the House Regulatory Reform Committee and has not yet advanced to a full vote in either the House or the Senate.
A similar attempt to pass a parental consent social media bill failed in 2024.
