Senate D's Want Stricter Limits On What Kids Can Do On Social Media, AI

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 01/21/2026) Social media companies and “Big Tech” would be legally required to do more to limit kids 17 and younger from accessing “addictive feeds” or artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, under a four-bill package rolled out Wedensday by Senate Democrats.

“Kids Over Clicks” also legally requires digital platforms to give parents more control over their children's online accounts to prevent youths from getting coaxed into self-harm, interactions with sexual predators or any number of things. The bills were technically introduced last month, but weren't spotlighted during a “Kids Over Clicks” press event prior to the Senate session.

Sens. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit), Dayna Polehanki (D-Livonia), Kevin Hertel (D-St. Clair Shores), Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) and Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton) attended Wednesday’s press event on SB757, SB758, SB759 and SB760 along with Alisa Meneely, vice president of government and community affairs for Unspam, a Michigan Kids Code Coalition partner and Jennifer Tuksal, a member of the Michigan Parent Alliance for Safe Schools.

“This much-needed legislation is reasonable, responsible and realistic and represents an important step toward keeping kids safer when they scroll on their phones,” Meneely said. “This legislation is about putting our children’s safety ahead of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg's massive profits.”

She added that other states and countries already require “big tech corporations to deploy privacy first and safety-by-design programs and settings, so they should be able to do this in Michigan, as well.”

The package is broken into three pieces. The first, SB757 sponsored by Camilleri, tells TikTok, Instagram, SnapChat and other platforms to stop providing “addictive personal date-driven content to minors without a parent's signoff.” It wasn't made previously clear what that looks like, although Polehanki said much of the technical aspect of these bills will be worked out in committee.

The second piece, SB758 and 759, sponsored by Chang and Hertel, require platforms to provide clear tools for minors and parents to more closely monitor screen time, purchases and the sharing of other data. It bans notifications to minors during school or late at night. It also prevents alcohol, tobacco, gaming and drug advertising being sent to them, among other things.

The bill also ties violations to state-level consumer protection laws.

The third piece, Polehanki's SB760, would make AI chatbots unavailable to those 17 and under if they encourage self-harm, drugs, alcohol or any other illegal activity.

“Parents need to step up their game,” Polehanki said. “A Gen X, Millennial parent has not been faced with anything like this before. This is unprecedented, so I have a feeling a lot of parents just don't know that there are even AI chatbots out there that are seeking to have in appropriate relationships with their kids.”

She said parents don't live in a world where they can give their kid a phone and let them scroll around for a few hours in a corner.

“It's dangerous out there," she said.