Gallego introduces bill requiring parental approval for social media accounts for users under 16

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz) introduced legislation on Tuesday that would require social media platforms to obtain parental permission before children under 16 can create and keep accounts on the services, according to reporting by The Hill. Gallego’s proposal is aimed at adding an upfront consent step tied to minors’ access to major social media platforms operating in the United States.

Under the measure as described in the report, parental approval would be required for users under 16 to create and maintain accounts. The bill would apply to social media companies with platforms accessible in the U.S., establishing a federal baseline standard for account creation and retention for minors.

The Hill reported that the bill would represent the most significant requirement on social media companies currently operating in the U.S., reflecting the scale of compliance changes it would require for platform operators. The proposal would raise the applicable age threshold by at least three years for some services, depending on how those platforms currently set age limits and account creation rules.

Gallego’s proposal adds regulatory structure to how platforms would manage minors’ access, shifting part of the burden from user self-reporting to parental or guardian authorization. That, in practical terms, would require platforms to implement or upgrade verification and consent processes to determine whether a parent has authorized an under-16 user before an account can be created or allowed to remain active.

The bill’s introduction also places the issue in the broader legislative debate over minors’ online access, including how lawmakers balance child safety objectives with questions about privacy, verification methods, and how federal rules would interact with platform policies and state-level approaches. The Hill’s account framed the measure as a major new requirement, but it did not provide additional details in the discovery packet about enforcement mechanisms or specific penalties for noncompliance.

Because the bill is newly introduced, additional steps would typically be required before any changes could become enforceable, including committee consideration and further legislative action. As of the report’s publication, the practical effect would be limited to setting a formal legislative proposal in motion rather than changing platform requirements immediately.