Senate approves social‑media rules for minors that include use limits and an affirmative defense for platforms

Senators approved First Substitute House Bill 464, a bill aiming to curb certain engagement-driven design features on social-media platforms when minors are involved and to create civil remedies for minors harmed by platforms.

Under floor amendments described by Senator Cullimore (floor sponsor), the bill provides an affirmative defense to a platform that demonstrates: (1) it limits a minor’s use of the platform to under three hours a day; and (2) it limits access outside the hours of 10:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sponsors emphasized the bill does not prescribe a single verification technology and instead leaves implementation choices to companies, subject to existing consumer-data privacy law.

Senators pressed the sponsor on verification and privacy concerns; the sponsor said discussions with age‑verification experts informed the approach and maintained the legislation is intended to enhance, not erode, minors’ privacy protections. The Senate recorded passage with a favorable tally reported as 24 yeas, 0 nays and 5 absent.

Floor debate focused on practical trade-offs: senators worried verification might require the collection of additional personal information, while sponsors said there are existing industry models (for adult-site verification and gambling-site authentication) and that the bill intentionally avoids being prescriptive about methods. The measure returns to the House for final processing.