IdahoH 05422026 regular legislative sessionHouseWALLET

SOCIAL MEDIA – Adds to existing law to establish the Stop Harms from Addictive Social Media Act.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

7 provisions identified: 7 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.

No addictive feeds or profile-based ads

Beginning July 1, 2026, platforms may not show addictive interface features to children. Examples include infinite scroll, auto-play video, push notifications, profile-based feeds, usage counts, and badges or tiers tied to use. Platforms also may not show paid ads to children that target them using profile data.

Parental consent, privacy defaults, and time limits

Beginning July 1, 2026, platforms must get verifiable parental consent to create or keep a child's account or to change its terms. The consent must be strong enough to form a binding contract under Idaho law. Data collected only to get consent can be used just for that and must be deleted right after the attempt, unless another law requires keeping it. Child accounts must start with the most private settings, and changes need parental consent. When a parent consents, the platform must offer a separate password to monitor time, set daily and weekly limits, and set allowed hours.

Parents and kids can sue platforms

Beginning July 1, 2026, parents and children can sue a platform for negligent, reckless, or knowing violations. For reckless or knowing violations, you can recover actual damages or $10,000, whichever is higher, plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees. Damages can include mental health and emotional distress. You must file within three years after you knew or should have known about the violation. A platform is not liable if it used reasonable means to comply. The Idaho Attorney General can also investigate and enforce knowing or reckless violations under state consumer law.

Age checks after 25 and 50 hours

Beginning July 1, 2026, platforms must ask for a birth date at sign-up. After 25 hours of use in six months, they have 14 days to estimate age and can treat the user as not a child only if at least 80% confident the user is 16 or older. After 50 hours, they have 14 days and need at least 90% confidence. After that, they must update the age estimate every 100 hours of use or when analytics update. No age checks apply to accounts held for seven years or more.

How to close a child account

Beginning July 1, 2026, if a platform decides an account is a child's and no parental consent exists, it must notify the user within 7 days. The user then has 30 days to dispute the age or to get parental consent. The platform must decide the dispute within 30 days and, if closure is still required, close the account within 7 days. A minor can request closure and the platform must close the account within 7 days. A verified parent can request closure and the platform must close it within 14 days. Platforms must provide a clear, easy way for parents to make this request.

Kids can't waive their legal rights

Beginning July 1, 2026, any contract tied to a child's account without verifiable parental consent is void. That includes arbitration clauses and limits on remedies. Minors and parents also cannot waive the law's protections in any contract, waiver, or choice-of-law term. Courts and arbitrators cannot enforce those limits.

Which social platforms must follow kid-safety rules

Beginning July 1, 2026, Idaho protects children age 16 or younger on large social platforms. The law covers platforms with at least $1 billion in worldwide ad revenue in any one of the prior three years. It also defines personal information to include online activity, messages, identifying photos, biometrics, and location. It excludes a search term you type in the current session, some messaging-only IDs, and user-chosen settings. Smaller apps that do not meet the threshold are not covered.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Affiliation unavailable

Cosponsors

Cindy J. Carlson
Republican • Senate

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 83 • No: 21

House vote • 3/20/2026

House Floor Vote

Yes: 21 • No: 14

House vote • 2/9/2026