S3412 1R SCS

An Act concerning social media research and supplementing Chapter 62 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. The Legislature finds and declares that:

a. The United States Surgeon General released an advisory on social media and youth mental health in May 2023, finding that:

(1) up to 95 percent of American minors between ages 13 through 17 reported using a social media platform;

(2) individuals experience critical stages of brain development during childhood and adolescence, making these age groups more vulnerable to harms from social media;

(3) children may experience harmful effects from social media usage depending on the amount of time spent on social media platforms, the type of content they consume or are otherwise exposed to, and the degree to which their social media usage disrupts activities that are essential for health, such as sleep and physical activity;

(4) recent research shows that adolescents who spend more than three hours per day on social media face double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes, such as symptoms of depression and anxiety;

(5) exposure to certain social media content may perpetuate body dissatisfaction, disordered eating behaviors, social comparison, and low self-esteem, especially among adolescent girls; and

(6) extreme, inappropriate, and harmful content continues to be widely accessible by children and adolescents and, in certain cases, childhood deaths have been linked to suicide- and self-harm-related content and risk-taking challenges on social media platforms.

b. Heavier usage of social media also leads to less healthy sleep patterns and sleep quality, which can in turn exacerbate both physical and mental health problems.

c. In 2024, a bipartisan coalition of 42 attorneys general urged the use of warning labels on social media platforms.

d. In 2023, P.L.2023, c.126 established the New Jersey Commission on the Effects of Social Media Usage on Adolescents (commission) in response to mounting public concern over the role of digital platforms in the lives of young people. The commission, which included education officials, medical and mental health professionals, policy experts, community stakeholders, parents, and students, was tasked with studying the prevalence of social media usage in and outside of public schools and examining the effects of social media usage on young people’s health and academic performance.

e. On September 15, 2025, the commission issued a recommendation for the New Jersey Legislature to address social media platform functions and features that may cause harm to young people. Specifically, the commission advised the Legislature to require social media platforms to:

(1) create developmentally appropriate digital experiences for youth that prioritize safety and limit features that may increase harm without blocking access to educational content from medical professionals;

(2) implement strong default privacy settings for minors, restrict data collection and third-party access, protect against targeted advertising, invasive tracking, and addictive design features, and restrict notifications during designated times; and

(3) proactively develop, implement, and continuously refine robust safety mechanisms and reporting tools aimed at identifying, preventing, and responding to cyberbullying, bias, discrimination, child exploitation, and abuse on their platforms.

f. ¹[On January 20, 2026, Governor Mikie Sherrill signed Executive Order No. 6 establishing the Office of Youth Online Mental Health Safety and Awareness (office) within the Department of Health. The Governor directed the office, in conjunction with the Office of the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Branch departments and agencies, to collect and analyze the data, information, and recommendations generated by the departments and agencies to develop and refine recommendations for actions the State, or instrumentalities of the State, to take to guide youth in the responsible use of online and social media platforms. Governor Sherrill also directed the office, after the establishment of a research center at a State institution of higher education focused on the relationship between digital technology and children’s mental health and wellbeing, to discharge its functions in close coordination and collaboration with that research center.

g.]¹ New Jersey and the United States are facing an ongoing youth mental health crisis, with rates of adolescent suicides, depressive episodes, and feelings of sadness and hopelessness increasing significantly in recent years.

¹[h.] g.¹ For these reasons, it is essential for the Legislature to take action to ensure that youth, their families, and the public are warned of, and protected against, the risks of social media use.

2. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):

“Actual knowledge” includes all information and inferences known to the covered online service provider relating to the age of the individual, including, but not limited to, self-identified age, age flags, a commercially-reasonable and technically-feasible age verification mechanism, and any age the covered online service provider has attributed to, or associated with, the individual for any purpose, including marketing, advertising, or product development. If the age of an individual attributed by a covered online service provider for purposes of marketing or advertising is inconsistent with the individual’s self-identified age, a covered online service provider shall disregard the self-identified age for purposes of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

“Addictive social media behaviors” means any behavior, as determined by the Commissioner of Health, that may negatively impact a user’s health as measured by, among other metrics, a user’s cumulative daily use of a covered online service provider, or the frequency with which a user accesses a covered online service provider.

“Center” means the Social Media Research Center.

“Child” means an individual under the age of 13.

“Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Health.

“Covered child” means an individual who a covered online service provider has actual knowledge is a child.

“Covered minor” means an individual who a covered online service provider has actual knowledge is a minor.

“Covered online service provider” means:

a. ¹[A] a¹ sole proprietorship, a limited liability company, a corporation, an association, or any other legal entity ¹[that]¹:

(1) ¹that¹ owns, operates, controls, or provides an online service or generates the majority of its annual revenue from online services;

(2) ¹that¹ conducts business in this State;

(3) ¹[employs users’ personally identifiable information to select, recommend, or prioritize media and alone, or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of processing users’ personal data] whose online services are reasonably likely to be accessed by a child or minor¹; and

(4) (a) ¹that¹ has ¹annual¹ gross revenue in excess of $25,000,000. Beginning January 1, 2029, and every ¹[2] two¹ years thereafter, the Department of the Treasury shall adjust the amount of annual gross revenue to reflect the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index; or

(b) ¹that¹ annually processes the personal data of not less than 25,000 ¹[users] consumers¹ or households; or

b. ¹[A] a¹ person that controls or is controlled by a legal entity described in subsection a. of this definition and that shares common branding with the legal entity.

¹[“Covered] A “covered¹ online service ¹[providers” are controllers] provider” is a controller¹ for the purpose of P.L.2023, c.266 (C.56:8-166.4 et seq.).

¹A “covered online service provider” does not include an entity that solely provides a direct messaging service or product.¹

“Minor” means an individual who is at least 13 years of age but less than 18 years of age.

“Online service” means ¹[any service provided over the Internet that collects, uses, stores, discloses, analyzes, deletes, or modifies the personal data of consumers] a service or product that: (1) is accessible to the public via the Internet; (2) displays content that is generated by one or more account holders; (3) has an account holder in this State; and (4) allows account holders to interact with content associated with other individual account holders as a central feature of the service.

“Online service” does not include:

a. a “telecommunications service,” as that term is defined in 47 U.S.C. s.153;

b. a “broadband internet access service,” as that term is defined in 47 C.F.R. s.8.1;

c. an email service; or

d. the sale, delivery, or use of a physical product¹.

3. The Social Media Research Center, in coordination with the Office of Youth Online Mental Health Safety and Awareness within the Department of Health, shall research and make recommendations regarding:

a. ¹[The] the¹ impact of addictive social media behaviors among ¹covered¹ children and ¹covered¹ minors on public health;

b. ¹[The] the¹ structure and design of warning labels on online services owned, operated, controlled, or provided by covered online service providers, if any, that are designed to reduce addictive social media behaviors among ¹covered¹ children and ¹covered¹ minors and reduce any burden to be placed upon covered online service providers. The research shall include an examination of warning labels displayed:

(1) when a covered child or covered minor creates an account with an online service owned, operated, controlled, or provided by a covered online service provider;

(2) the first time each day a covered child or covered minor accesses or exits an online service owned, operated, controlled, or provided by a covered online service provider;

(3) after a covered child or covered minor spends an established period of cumulative daily use on an online service owned, operated, controlled, or provided by a covered online service provider; and

(4) upon detection of addictive social media behavior by a covered child or covered minor;

c. ¹[The] the¹ impact, if any, of warning labels on online services owned, operated, controlled, or provided by covered online service providers at reducing addictive social media behaviors among covered children and covered minors; and

d. ¹[The] the¹ impact, if any, of including mandatory disclaimers concerning addictive social media behaviors among ¹covered¹ children and ¹[minor users] covered minors¹, and any resources to mitigate those behaviors, in the advertising of online services owned, operated, controlled, or provided by covered online service providers.

4. No later than 18 months after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) or P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as Assembly Bill No. 4014 and Senate Bill No. 3411 of 2026-2027), whichever is later, the center shall issue a final report containing the center’s findings and recommendations to deter or mitigate addictive social media behaviors to the Governor and the Department of Health, and to the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), based upon the research findings identified pursuant to section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

5. The commissioner shall review the center’s final report. The commissioner may, in consultation with the Department of Human Services, the Department of Children and Families, and the Department of Law and Public Safety, and taking into consideration the recommendations set forth in the center’s final report issued pursuant to section 4 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), adopt such rules and regulations pursuant to the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) ¹,¹ as deemed appropriate to implement the recommendations contained therein ¹[no later than 30 months after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) or P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as Assembly Bill No. 4014 and Senate Bill No. 3411 of 2026-2027), whichever is later,]¹ and to deter and reduce addictive social media behaviors among ¹covered¹ children and ¹covered¹ minors.

6. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subparagraph, subsection, section or part of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subparagraph, subsection, section or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the Legislature that P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) would have been enacted even if such invalid provisions had not been included herein.

7. This act shall take effect immediately.