Cybersecurity Policy Report, NetChoice Urges Minnesota Governor to Veto Social Media Bill, (May 21, 2026)

By Carrie DeLeon

NetChoice LLC is urging Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (R.) to veto a bill that would impose requirements on large social media platforms aimed at protecting children under 16. The bill was sent to Gov. Walz for his signature this week.

NetChoice said the measure was “a deeply flawed piece of legislation that threatens free expression online and violates Minnesotans constitutional rights.”

“The bill’s age verification, parental consent and ‘addictive feature’ restrictions violate the First Amendment, operate as unconstitutional prior restraints, endanger children’s privacy by mandating mass collection of sensitive government ID data and fail basic due process standards through vague compliance requirements. Minnesota deserves a child safety strategy that can actually survive legal scrutiny—this bill is not it, and we urge its veto,” NetChoice said.

HF 4138/SF 4696 would require large social media platforms to estimate the age of users based on their activity, using reasonable means and efforts, and treat users as children unless they can determine with high confidence that the user is older than 15. For children under age 15, platforms would have to obtain verifiable parental consent before creating or maintaining accounts.

“This bill does not ban users from having social media, instead it requires a parent or guardian to approve of social media contractual agreements,” said bill sponsor Rep. Peggy Scott (R.).

Also under the bill, privacy settings for young users would be automatically set to the highest level, which would restrict, among other things, content sharing only between a child’s direct friends. The bill also would require parents to be given options to monitor and limit their child’s usage, including setting time limits and restricting access times.

In a letter to Gov. Walz this week, NetChoice said the proposed Stop the Harms from Addictive Social Media Act would not survive legal challenges. “This bill is riddled with serious constitutional defects that courts have already identified and struck down in materially identical laws enacted by other states,” NetChoice told the governor.

“Minnesota deserves a child safety strategy that will actually withstand legal scrutiny and deliver real results for families. HF 4138/SF 4696 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. We urge you to veto this bill and uphold the constitutional rights to free expression and access to protected online speech for every Minnesotan, while simultaneously saving the taxpayer and state legal authorities valuable money and time,” NetChoice said.

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