Walz signs bill enacting social media guardrails for Minnesota children

Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday signed a bill into law enacting new guardrails for Minnesota children on social media platforms including Instagram, TikTok and SnapChat.

The bipartisan law (HF 4138) requires parental consent for Minnesota children under 16 to obtain a social media account. The account defaults to the highest privacy settings that allow parents to limit their child’s usage.

The law also bans infinite scroll, autoplay video and push notifications on accounts belonging to children — “addictive” features that can cause excessive screen time for minors, the bill’s advocates argue.

“As a teacher and a dad, I’ve seen firsthand how new and emerging technology can impact our children,” Walz said in a statement. “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. Privacy and safety have to come first.”

At least 19 other states have enacted laws addressing minor access to social media, according to the Age Verification Providers Association. Social media companies have sued many of the states, with judges in Louisiana and Arkansas striking down those states’ age-vertification laws.

NetChoice, the trade group representing social media giants like TikTok and Meta, urged Walz in a letter to veto the legislation. The trade group said the bill violates the First Amendment rights of platforms and users by imposing content-based restrictions, and Minnesota will be sued.

“Minnesota deserves a child safety strategy that will actually withstand legal scrutiny and deliver real results for families. (HF 4138) is not that strategy. It is constitutionally defective legislation that will be enjoined by federal courts before it can take effect — at significant cost to Minnesota taxpayers — while doing nothing to protect the children it claims to serve,” wrote Tyler Fields, government affairs associate with NetChoice, in the letter.

Last month, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed social media age verification that was forwarded by a bipartisan group of legislators.

The Minnesota House passed Minnesota’s law by a 132-2 vote and the Minnesota Senate passed it 66-0. It takes effect in July 2027.