House passes bill limiting "addictive" social‑media features for minors

The Kentucky House on the floor passed House Bill 227 on a bipartisan voice/roll-call after extended debate, advancing a measure sponsors said is aimed at stopping major social‑media companies from deploying features they regard as ‘‘addictive’’ to children.

The billintroduced on the floor by the bill sponsor and moved under the committee substitute with multiple floor amendmentsrestricts the use of specifically defined design features for accounts operated by users identified as minors. The sponsor said the measure applies only to platforms that generated more than $1 billion in advertising revenue in one of the preceding three years and relies on age‑estimation technology rather than identity verification.

The sponsor argued the bill targets product design rather than content. These social media platforms are like slot machines, the sponsor said, describing features such as infinite scroll, autoplay and algorithmic feeds as mechanisms that identally pull kids down dangerous holes of drug‑related or sexual content and that capture attention to monetize it. The sponsor also told members the bill protects our kids, it protects parental rights, it protects free speech and noted the state attorney general has signaled support and readiness to defend the law in court.

Members across the floor asked how the statute would be enforced and whether the civil penalties in the bill—statutory fines described on the floor as in the $5,000 and $10,000 range—would be sufficient for billion‑dollar companies. The sponsor said enforcement would proceed through three mechanisms: actions by the attorney general, federal law avenues, and private suits by parents; he acknowledged courts ultimately would determine penalty adequacy.

Lawmakers also questioned scope. A member asked whether YouTube would be covered; the sponsor replied that YouTube would be included under the bill's definition of covered "social media". Other members raised the issue of whether similar targeting and engagement techniques on streaming platforms would require separate treatment in future legislation.

The floor debate included several expressions of strong support and some members said they expected to refine aspects of the law in later sessions. After floor votes on committee and floor amendments, the House passed HB 227 as amended. The bill now moves to the Senate.

Next procedural steps: the House applied the "clincher" and the bill was advanced from the House; Senate consideration and any conference changes were not recorded in this transcript.