Michigan Children’s Privacy Laws (2026)

Pending · Social media · binds platforms, operators

Ages: minors (under 18)

Requires: Would bar any service where an addictive feed is a significant part of the service from providing that feed (user-generated media recommended using information about the user or the user's device) to any user unless it has used commercially reasonable and technically feasible methods to determine the user is not a minor or has obtained verifiable parental consent, and bars addictive-feed notifications to covered minors from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and, on weekdays from September 1 to May 31, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Attorney General writes the age-determination and consent rules and enforces the act, with civil fines of not more than $5,000 per violation. Passed the Senate 20-17 on 2026-04-29 as part of the sponsors' four-bill "Kids Over Clicks" package and was referred to the House Committee on Communications and Technology, where it remains pending with no House action.

Litigation: None; not enacted, so not enjoined.

Entry last reviewed 2026-10-01

Pending · Social media · binds platforms, operators

Ages: minors (under 18)

Requires: Under the "kids code act" (Senate substitute S-2), covered online service providers (businesses earning most of their revenue online, with over $25 million in gross revenue or processing the personal data of at least 50,000 Michigan consumers or households) would have to set the default privacy settings of covered minors (users they have actual knowledge are under 18) to the highest level, keep only the minimum personal data needed, delete age-verification data immediately, and give parents controls over a known child's (under 13) settings and screen time and a minor's purchases; they could not facilitate targeted advertising or ads for products such as tobacco, gambling and alcohol, profile minors beyond what a requested service needs, use dark patterns, select media with a minor's data beyond the minor's express requests, settings or searches, or send minors notifications from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. or, on weekdays from September 1 to May 31, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. They must also offer harm reporting, publish an annual report prepared by an independent third-party auditor and designate a compliance officer, with civil fines of not more than $50,000 per violation beginning 2027-01-01. Passed the Senate 20-17 on 2026-04-29 and was referred to the House Committee on Communications and Technology, where it remains pending.

Timing: Not enacted. The Senate-passed text provides that the act "takes effect on July 1, 2026" (a date already past) and "does not take effect unless Senate Bill No. 759 of the 103rd Legislature is enacted into law"; its civil fine applies beginning 2027-01-01.

Litigation: None; not enacted, so not enjoined.

Entry last reviewed 2026-10-01

Pending · Social media · binds platforms, operators

Ages: minors (under 18)

Requires: A one-section amendment to the Michigan Consumer Protection Act (MCL 445.903) that adds "Violating the kids code act" to the Act's list of unfair, unconscionable or deceptive practices; it imposes no duty of its own. It is tie-barred to SB 758, the kids code act: SB 758 does not take effect unless SB 759 is enacted, and SB 759's own enacting section ties it, by bill request number, to enactment of the kids code bill. Passed the Senate 20-17 on 2026-04-29 and was referred to the House Committee on Communications and Technology, where it remains pending.

Litigation: None; not enacted, so not enjoined.

Entry last reviewed 2026-10-01

SB 760 (Substitute S-1 as passed by the Senate), 2025-2026 Legislature

Pending · AI companion · binds operators

Ages: Michigan residents under 18; the listed features are blocked unless the operator has actual knowledge the user is not a minor

AI chatbot access for minors: Blocks features for minors (proposed in a pending bill, not law).

Requires: Under the "leading ethical AI development for kids act" (Senate substitute S-1), an operator of an advanced chatbot (any generative AI system with a natural-language text or voice interface giving ongoing adaptive responses, minus narrow customer-service, research, internal, clinically supervised and curriculum-tool carve-outs) could not offer companionship-simulating features (such as presenting as a person, friend, partner or counselor, claiming to be human or to feel emotions, first-person pronouns, sycophancy, unprompted emotional questions, reusing personal or health details from over 12 hours earlier or a prior session, sexual interaction) or outputs that promote suicide, self-harm, harm to others, disordered eating or drug or alcohol abuse, encourage secrecy, isolation or not seeking help, put engagement over safety, or are sexually explicit, unless it has actual knowledge the user is not a minor; a user's self-identification as an adult is not enough. Age-determination data must be deleted immediately and a minor's inputs may not train the model without written parental consent; none of these duties, including the feature limits, applies until the Attorney General's first implementing rules take effect, and enforcement is by AG civil fines of $25,000 per violation (each day a separate violation) and by suits from harmed minors or their parents. Passed the Senate 20-17 on 2026-04-29 as part of the sponsors' four-bill "Kids Over Clicks" package and was referred to the House Committee on Communications and Technology, where it remains pending.

Timing: Not enacted. Secs. 4 and 5 each provide that the section "does not apply until the effective date of the rules initially promulgated under section 19" (the Attorney General's implementing rules).

Litigation: None; not enacted, so not enjoined.

Entry last reviewed 2026-10-01