Democrat Rob Sand calls for social media age limit in kids’ tech safety plan

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand said he supports banning social media for children under age 16, setting age verification and parental consent requirements on certain apps and providing more safeguards for minors online, according to a kids’ online safety policy platform released Monday.

The plan, shared first with Iowa Capital Dispatch, is focused on restricting and providing more parental oversight for social media and other online platforms as a way to ensure children stay safe online, Sand said Friday in an interview — as well as make sure Iowa youth are socializing and developing life skills offline.

Sand, who currently serves as state auditor, said the influence of technology in children’s lives has been a major concern as he raises his two sons, age 9 and 12. He said the policies reflect both his considerations as a parent, as well as research and reports showing the negative impacts of social media use on children’s mental health.

Banning social media for children under age 16 is a way to ensure children are building “healthy habits” in the real world, he said.

“The bottom line to me on a lot of this stuff, is that real life matters, and we want our kids to learn that real life matters,” Sand said. “You know, we play a lot of board games as a family, we’ll have reading nights, we hunt, we fish. We do activities that involve interacting with each other and finding ways to have fun, that have existed for hundreds of years, that actually build relationships and build confidence and build grit. … A lot of this, to me, is just pointing us towards things that can be good for us, when social media, at the end of the day, is conclusively — even from the social media company’s own studies — bad for children.”

While the proposal focuses on traditional social media platforms, Sand said he wants to “address all platforms” that are linked with potentially dangerous or negative impacts on children, including gaming platforms like Roblox or video platforms like YouTube.

Sand said he would model policy for Iowa on Utah’s “App Store Accountability” Act, signed into law in 2025. The measure requires app stores run by companies like Apple and Google to verify users’ ages before allowing them to download applications. It requires minors have parental consent in order to download apps requiring a terms of service agreement. The law also requires parental consent for app and in-app purchases from minors’ accounts.

The Utah law is being challenged in federal court by Computer & Communications Industry Association, which says in the lawsuit the measure is “a violation of the First Amendment” because it would impact access to apps outside of social media, like email and e-books.

Age verification steps also present questions about data collection. During this year’s Iowa legislative session, speakers during subcommittee meetings on House File 864 expressed concerns about entrusting tech companies with users’ data and personal information, needed to verify their age. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the law in June, which requires websites and social media platforms to implement “reasonable” age verification steps if one-third or more of the content available is pornographic.

Sand’s policy platform includes requiring users’ data be protected and that only “pertinent age information” is shared with app developers.

“But I also want to emphasize this — when you’re in uncharted territory, with a new technology that you know is hurting children, the answer is not … to do nothing. The answer is to do something,” Sand said. “And if it doesn’t work perfectly, then adjust, and keep trying, keep doing it.”

The proposal calls for banning the sale of minors’ data and banning targeted advertising for minors, specifically related to their personal data, search history and other information collected online. It also would require minors’ accounts to be private by default, with restrictions on functions like geolocation and direct messages coming from adult users.

The Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature has previously considered similar proposals specifically regarding social media age limits. In 2025, House lawmakers discussed legislation requiring social media companies to obtain parental authorization before allowing a child to create an account on their platform, which would have allowed a parent or guardian to have access to the approved account to view posts and messages received.

Republicans have also called for setting similar restrictions: Sand’s proposal brought up issues like limiting screen time for youth — an issue brought up by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. when he came to Iowa in May. U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, the Republican running for Iowa’s Senate seat in 2026, held an event focused on children’s tech safety Saturday alongside Sen. Ted Cruz.

Sand also praised Reynolds, the current Republican governor, for the 2025 law setting statewide minimum policies banning the use of cellphones in classrooms, and said he believes this issue is an area where he could find common ground with Republicans.

“I’m very aware of the reality that I’ll be working with the Republican Legislature, and I want to propose stuff that those Republicans are likely to look at and say, ‘yes, I would be proud to do that with you, let’s go do it,'” Sand said.

Some concerns about setting legal restrictions on minors’ ability to access these platforms come based on how social media has been integrated into many young people’s lives — and how enacting limits could result in negative social impacts for children. But Sand said he has talked to families across the state who are “really struggling with the presence of social media and their kids’ lives,” and said he believed stricter limits were appropriate.

“It was not hard for us to communicate with people or to stay in touch with people that we met before social media existed,” Sand said. “There was still email. There was still the phone. We still had pen pals. You probably don’t want to go back as far as pen pals, but, there’s plenty of other tools that are available that do not harm our children’s mental health, that don’t make them depressed, and that’s where we should be focused.”