WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) is cosponsoring bipartisan legislation to help protect youth from the harmful impacts of social media. The Kids Off Social Media Act would enforce minimum age limits to use social media platforms and prevent social media companies from feeding algorithmically-targeted content to users under the age of 17.

Studies have shown a strong relationship between social media use and poor mental health, especially among children. From 2019 to 2021, overall screen use among teens and tweens (ages 8 to 12) increased by 17 percent, with tweens using screens for five hours and 33 minutes per day and teens using screens for eight hours and 39 minutes. Based on the clear and growing evidence, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory in 2023, calling for new policies to set and enforce age minimums and highlighting the importance of limiting the use of features, like algorithms, that attempt to maximize time, attention, and engagement.

“Children in Maine and across the country deserve protection from the potential harm posed by social media — especially during their most vulnerable years,” said Senator King. “The bipartisan Kids Off Social Media Act would limit the harmful impacts of social media by establishing reasonable guardrails such as age minimums for new accounts and restrictions on targeting content to children under the age of 17. Our children deserve to grow up in a safe and supportive environment — and that doesn’t define the harsh online tone proliferating on online platforms — so this bipartisan legislation will ensure this protection for generations to come.”

No age demographic is more affected by the ongoing mental health crisis in the United States than kids, especially young girls. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 57 percent of high school girls and 29 percent of high school boys felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021, with 22 percent of all high school students — and nearly a third of high school girls — reporting they had seriously considered attempting suicide in the preceding year.

Specifically, the Kids Off Social Media Act would:

1. Prohibit social media platforms from allowing children under the age of 13 to create or maintain social media accounts;
2. Prohibit social media companies from pushing targeted content using algorithms to users under the age of 17;
3. Provide the FTC and state attorneys general authority to enforce the provisions of the bill; and
4. Follow existing CIPA framework, with changes, to require schools to work in good faith to limit social media on their federally-funded networks, which many schools already do.

  
Studies have shown a strong relationship between social media use and poor mental health, especially among children. From 2019 to 2021, overall screen use among teens and tweens (ages 8 to 12) increased by 17 percent, with tweens using screens for five hours and 33 minutes per day and teens using screens for eight hours and 39 minutes. Based on the clear and growing evidence, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory in 2023, calling for new policies to set and enforce age minimums and highlighting the importance of limiting the use of features, like algorithms, that attempt to maximize time, attention, and engagement.

In addition to King, the bipartisan legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Katie Britt (R-AL), Peter Welch (D-VT), Ted Budd (R-NC), John Fetterman (D-PA), and Mark Warner (D-VA).

Senator King has been a longstanding advocate of protecting children online. He previously cosponsored the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act — two pieces of legislation that set safeguards, require transparency reports, and protect children from the non-consensual collection of personal data that could be used to exploit or manipulate them.

For more information on the Kids Off Social Media Act, click here.

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