Minnesota Children's Privacy Laws (2026)

Stop Harms from Addictive Social Media Act amendments (HF 4138) · HF 4138 (2026 Minn. Laws ch. 111)

Enacted, not yet effective: Signed into law; its effective date is still in the future. · Social media · effective 2027-07-01 · binds platforms, operators

Ages: Under 16 (treated as 'child'/15-or-younger when not confidently estimated at 16+)

Requires: Covered social media platforms (10,000+ MN account holders or $1B+ worldwide revenue) must run age estimation on account holders, treat anyone not confidently 16+ as a child (15 or younger), obtain verifiable parental consent to create/maintain a child's account, default child accounts to highest privacy settings, ban addictive features (infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications) and targeted paid ads for child accounts, and provide parental monitoring/deletion tools. Enforced by AG under deceptive-trade-practices law plus a private right of action ($10,000 statutory damages per knowing/reckless violation).

Litigation: No suit filed against HF 4138; not enjoined. NetChoice opposed the bill and has threatened a First Amendment challenge but has not sued. The active NetChoice v. Ellison case (D. Minn., filed Apr 29, 2026) targets the separate warning-label statute, Minn. Stat. 325M.335, not this law.

Entry last reviewed 2026-07-18

Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act (MCDPA): minors' provisions · HF 4757 (2024, Ch. 121)

In force: Effective and enforceable today. · Privacy law (minors) · effective 2025-07-31 · binds operators

Ages: Known children under 13 (COPPA); teens 13-16

Requires: A controller may not process the personal data of a consumer for targeted advertising, or sell it, without consent where the controller knows the consumer is between 13 and 16 (Minn. Stat. 325M.16, subd. 2(f)). Processing the personal/sensitive data of a 'known child' (under 13) requires consent from a parent or lawful guardian in accordance with COPPA (subd. 2(d)); COPPA-compliant verifiable parental consent satisfies the obligation.

Entry last reviewed 2026-07-18

Minnesota Social Media Mental Health Warning Label Law · HF 2 (2025 First Special Session, Minn. Laws 1Sp2025 ch. 3, art. 19, sec. 13; codified as Minn. Stat. 325M.335)

In force: Effective and enforceable today. · Social media · effective 2026-07-01 · binds platforms, operators

Ages: All users (no age restriction in the statute itself; it is a general social-media warning-label mandate, tracked here on the same in-dataset precedent as CA AB 56)

Requires: Social media platforms must display a conspicuous mental health warning label every time a user accesses the platform, staying visible until the user exits or affirmatively acknowledges the risk and proceeds. The warning must describe potential negative mental health impacts of social media use and provide the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline number, cannot be buried in terms and conditions, cannot be permanently dismissed, and cannot be obscured by other content. The health commissioner (with the commerce commissioner's help) was required to issue content guidelines by March 1, 2026, and is exempt from the normal rulemaking process (Chapter 14) in doing so.

Litigation: NetChoice v. Ellison, No. 0:26-cv-02405 (D. Minn., filed 2026-04-29), challenges this law (not HF 4138) as a First Amendment violation. No preliminary injunction was ever sought or entered; the only motions on the docket are motions to dismiss. Defendants' first MTD (filed 2026-06-03) was withdrawn 2026-07-10 after NetChoice filed an amended complaint (2026-06-24, which also references rescinded and reissued Dept. of Health guidelines); a renewed MTD targeting the amended complaint was filed 2026-07-08 with a hearing set for 2026-10-19. The law is in force and not enjoined; the Attorney General's office has voluntarily agreed not to enforce it while the motion to dismiss is pending, per contemporaneous local reporting.

Entry last reviewed 2026-07-18