The Catholic Spirit: Senate passes social media restrictions bill part of MCC’s ‘Protect Kids Package’

A bill that would seek to establish social media requirements related to accounts for minors as well as certain enforcement and regulation mechanisms has now passed the Minnesota House and Senate.

On May 15, a 66-0 vote passed the bill in the Senate; the bill had previously passed the House 132-2 on May 12. 

In a Senate floor session May 15, Sen. Zach Duckworth (R-Lakeville) applauded a bipartisan effort in “working across the aisle on a very complicated bill; it’s before us today and ultimately we’re going to vote on it and I think it has a really good shot at becoming law and helping a lot of kids, keeping them safe and protecting families in general.” 

Sen. Erin Maye Quade (DFL-Apple Valley) echoed that acknowledgement, and said, “In this term that we’ve all served, we’ve done tremendous work to protect Minnesotans and kids from Big Tech and AI. … Today, we say that kids can’t be on social media without their parents knowing, and if they are on social media, they have privacy and safety settings and no more addictive features on those kids’ accounts.” 

The bill — HF4138/SF4696 — was included in “a three-part Protect Kids Package” encouraged by the Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC), which represents the public policy interests of the state’s Catholic bishops.  

In an action alert about the Protect Kids Package, MCC argued the legislation would help to target the “negative mental health effects of social media” — one avenue in encouraging child safety that had “become even more pressing in the wake of the tragic shooting at Annunciation.”  

Read the full article at The Catholic Spirit.