Parental Approval for Youth Social Media Act of 2026
United StatesHigh threat- Introduced
- Passed Senate
- Passed House
- Became Law
Stage 1 of 4: Introduced
Would make social-media accounts for under-16s depend on verified parental permission, pressuring platforms to classify every user by age and connect children’s accounts to verified adults.
Latest update
Reclaim The Net examined the bill’s age-classification and parental-verification requirements
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This bill is still moving, so there's still time to push back.
Take action on this issueContact LawmakersWhat it does
S.5226 would prohibit a social-media platform from allowing someone it knows or should know is under 16 to create or maintain an account without verifiable parental consent. Approved accounts would have to become parent-supervised accounts. Platforms would have to take reasonable steps to determine whether each user is a child and whether parental permission has been verified, while the FTC could define acceptable age-determination and consent methods. Information collected for compliance could be used only for that purpose and generally would have to be deleted when the user turns 16 or closes the account. The FTC and state attorneys general would enforce the requirements.
What’s at stake
A platform cannot reliably identify under-16s without assessing everyone else. The bill therefore creates a federal incentive for age estimation, identity documents, biometrics, device signals, or third-party identity services across ordinary social-media access. Verifying the parent also links a child’s account to an adult identity and creates new records capable of exposure, misuse, or later expansion. Data-use and deletion limits reduce some risks after collection while leaving the age-classification and speech barrier intact.
Our take
We oppose conditioning lawful online speech on age classification and verified parental identity. Parents can choose tools for their own families without requiring every platform to build an identity gate for every user. The FTC should not be given open-ended authority to decide which verification systems become the price of social-media participation.
Timeline
Introduced
Referred to committee
Sponsor
Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)
Committee
Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
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