Minnesota adopts law to limit some teens' social media use

Bill Lukitsch, The Minnesota Star Tribune on May 26, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill into law Tuesday meant to protect kids and teens from the ills of social media.

When the law takes effect next year, big platforms like Facebook and TikTok will need to figure out with high accuracy how old users in Minnesota are and whether they have verifiable parental consent for any account held by someone 15 and under. All accounts for people under 16 will lose features like endless scrolling and video auto-play said to be addictive.

Walz said the measure “makes sure technology works for our kids, not the other way around.”

“As social media becomes more advanced, we need to make sure our families don’t fall victim to the powerful companies that use kids as a testing ground to make algorithms more addictive,” Walz said in a statement.

The law, set to take effect in July 2027, aims to address rising concerns about social media use among teens, including new research linking the technology to addiction and mental health problems. In a rare show of bipartisanship, nearly all of Minnesota’s state lawmakers voted to advance the bill to Walz’s desk.

Despite wide support, the law still faces a difficult path ahead, with likely challenges from Big Tech and privacy advocates. As states across the country approve a patchwork of different policies meant to regulate the industry, many are being held up with legal challenges, as critics cite free speech rights guaranteed under the First Amendment.

Rindala Alajaji of Electronic Frontier Foundation, which opposes Minnesota’s law and others like it, said the law will harm rather than protect young people.

“By requiring social media platforms to constantly analyze user behavior and verify ages, this law creates a toxic incentive for tech companies to harvest even more private data, compiling detailed surveillance dossiers on all Minnesotans, including children,” she said, adding: “Safety comes from empowering youth with digital literacy and privacy, not from heavy-handed and paternalistic restrictions that destroy online privacy and isolate them from supportive communities.”

Three other Minnesota laws passed in recent years with respect to social media are now the subject of litigation in federal court.

Last year, the powerful lobbying group NetChoice, which represents the interests of big social media platforms, sued the state to halt a mandatory disclosure requirement detailing certain user statistics. In late April the same group filed a lawsuit to stop a separate state law requiring social media companies to show users warning labels.

Amy Bos, vice president of government affairs for NetChoice, said litigation is always a last resort for the lobbying group. But she said Minnesota’s law treads legal ground that “isn’t new.”

“So I think it’s fair to say we know where this is going to go,” she said.

Another state law banning deepfake technology in elections drew a legal challenge from billionaire Elon Musk’s X Corp., which owns the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Meantime, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is suing TikTok, saying its design is inherently addictive.

Bill sponsor Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, said she is delighted to see Walz sign it.

“I think it sends a strong message to the Big Tech companies that it’s not OK to exploit our kids anymore,“ Scott said. “We want our kids to be safer online and we want to give parents the power to make that happen.”

DFL Sen. Erin Maye Quade of Apple Valley said Minnesota’s law differs from strict age-verification methods by instead relying on “age estimation,” in which social media companies use data points such as the content a person consumes and posts to estimate the age of users. That contrasts with methods that typically require government IDs, she said.

Maye Quade, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said, “Young people deserve protection from the proven harms of excessive social media use, and they deserve to grow up without being exposed to social media’s intentionally addicting technology.”

Proponents with Annunciation Light Alliance, the nonprofit formed in response to the Annunciation mass shooting in Minneapolis last year, also celebrated the outcome.

“We evaluate every policy through the lens of prevention, intervention, and reducing harm associated with gun violence,” the group said in a statement, adding the law “reflects that approach by recognizing the role social media and online environments can play in escalation, isolation, and exposure to harmful content before a crisis occurs.”