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HF 4138

Social media platforms requirements established relating to accounts for minors, and enforcement mechanisms established for regulations on child social media accounts.

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Keith Allen and 19 co-sponsors

Prohibits addictive features and targeted ads for child accounts and requires parental involvement and age estimates to protect Minnesota minors online.

Effective date 07/01/2026
#childrenandminors #telecommunicationsandinformationtechnology
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WeVote Research Nonpartisan
Bill Summary · HF 4138

Summary of HF 4138 (2025-2026) – Minnesota

Aimed at protecting Minnesotan minors from addictive social media design and ensuring parental involvement, HF 4138 establishes age-estimation requirements, protections for child accounts, and enforcement mechanisms including private rights of action and penalties. The bill would codify these provisions in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 325M.

Purpose and Intent

  • Limit exposure of minors to addictive interface features and targeted paid advertising on major social media platforms.
  • Require parental involvement in creating and maintaining child accounts.
  • Create enforceable rules with remedies for violations, including monetary damages and injunctive relief.
  • Establish clear age-estimation procedures to determine when an account is treated as belonging to a child.

Key Provisions and Changes

1) Definitions and Scope (Section 1.1 – 1.4; subsections 1–3)

  • Defines terms critical to the act:
    • Account holder: Minnesota resident with a covered platform account while physically located in MN.
    • Child: Age 15 or younger (within Minnesota).
    • Minor: Under 18.
    • Covered social media platform: Platforms with at least $1B in worldwide advertising revenue in one or more of the prior three years (excludes certain services, e.g., non-user-generated, certain communications-focused services, etc.).
    • Addictive interface features: Includes infinite scrolling, profile-based feeds, push notifications, autoplay, display of personal metrics, and award/badge displays tied to usage metrics.
    • Personal information: Broadly defined, incorporating children’s privacy protections, geolocation, biometrics, and online activity/history data, with several exceptions.
    • Targeted paid advertising: Ads selected based on account activity or personal information, with a carve-out to exclude age-based exclusions required by law or policy.
    • Verifiable parental consent: As defined by federal COPPA provisions.

2) Age Estimation and Classification (Section 1.1 – 1.4; subdivision 2)

  • Age estimation process triggered after hours thresholds:
    • After a new account has 25+ hours on platform within 6 months, platform has 14 days to estimate age.
    • If confidence ≥ 80% that user is 15+ (or age range average ≥ 15), they may treat as non-child; otherwise treat as child.
    • After 50+ hours in 6 months, 14 days to revise the estimate; if confidence ≥ 90% that user is >15, may treat as non-child; otherwise child.
    • Ongoing updates: Every 6 months or whenever the platform applies data analytics/AI updates demographic estimates; 90% confidence threshold for treating as non-child.
    • No duty to estimate age if a user has had an account for at least seven years.
    • Requires that age-estimation rely on information the platform already has; no new data collection obligation beyond ordinary operations.

3) Creation and Maintenance of a Child’s Account (Section 1.1 – 1.4; subdivision 3)

  • Account creation must collect birth month/year (no default birthdate).
  • Platforms may not create or alter a child’s account without verifiable parental consent.
  • Information collected to obtain consent must be limited to consent purposes and not sold/disclosed beyond compliance needs, with limited exceptions.

4) Privacy and Parental Oversight (Subdivision 4)

  • Child accounts default to the most private privacy settings.
  • Changes to privacy settings for a child require verifiable parental consent.
  • During consent process, platforms must offer parents tools to monitor usage, set time limits, and restrict access times.

5) Prohibition on Addictive Features and Targeted Ads (Subdivision 5)

  • Prohibits addictive interface features in child accounts.
  • Prohibits targeted paid advertising in child accounts.

6) Termination and Dispute Resolution (Subdivision 6)

  • Platforms must terminate a child’s account within seven days of a request.
  • Parent can request termination within 14 days of notice; platform must verify parental status.
  • If age classification dependence on age verification arises, child’s account may be terminated unless parental consent is provided; dispute resolution window allows 30 days, with disputes resolved using commercially reasonable verification.

7) Enforcement and Remedies (Subdivision 7)

  • Private right of action for children or parents; court may award damages, injunctive relief, costs, attorney fees.
  • Contracts violating these provisions are void and unenforceable.
  • Civil penalties: If violation is reckless/knowingly systemic, statutory damages of $10,000 plus actual damages; potential punitive damages for consistent patterns.
  • Defenses for platforms: If they used reasonable efforts to comply, they may avoid liability.
  • Limitations period: 3 years from discovery, tolled until the account holder reaches 18.
  • Deceptive trade practices: Violations constitute deceptive practices; MN Attorney General has enforcement authority.

8) Effective Date

  • Effective July 1, 2027.
  • Applies to accounts created before, on, or after that date.

Affected Parties

  • Covered social media platforms meeting the revenue threshold.
  • Minors (15 or younger) residing in Minnesota and their parents/guardians.
  • General public through the enforcement of consumer protection provisions.

Procedural and Timeline Aspects

  • Progressive adoption: committee amendments and multiple readings with referrals (Judiciary Finance and Civil Law → Commerce Finance and Policy → Ways and Means).
  • Final effective date is July 1, 2027, giving platforms and the state time to implement compliance mechanisms before enforcement begins.
  • Private rights of action create parallel enforcement aside from state agencies.

If you’d like, I can tailor this summary for a specific audience (e.g., lawmakers, platform compliance teams, or parent advocacy groups) or add a quick comparison to COPPA-related requirements.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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