North Carolina Children’s Privacy Laws (2026)

HB 301 (2025-2026 Session)

Pending · Social media · binds platforms

Ages: Under 14 barred from accounts; 14-15 require parental consent

Requires: Would bar under-14s from accounts on an 'addictive social media platform' and bar 14- and 15-year-olds without a parent's or guardian's consent, with existing accounts terminated after 30 days to dispute and their personal information deleted; platforms would have to offer both anonymous and standard age verification, at the user's choice, to confirm account holders are 16 or older, and could not use an under-16's data for algorithmic recommendations or ad targeting, or sell it (unless relying on an age check made under the bill). A covered platform hosts user-uploaded content, uses algorithms on user data to select content, has an addictive feature such as infinite scroll, autoplay video or push notifications that cannot be disabled, and has at least 10 percent of its under-16 daily active users averaging at least two hours a day; email, audio and direct-messaging-only services are excluded. Attorney General-only enforcement as an unfair and deceptive trade practice (up to $50,000 per violation on top of the Chapter 75 penalty) plus a child account holder's private right of action (up to $10,000) for knowing or reckless account violations; the bill's other parts are public-school AI provisions, not chatbot rules.

Timing: not enacted. If enacted as the Senate's Sixth Edition (engrossed 2026-06-10) reads, the social-media provisions (Part I) would take effect 2027-01-01 and apply to causes of action arising on or after that date; the House declined to concur in that edition, so a conference report may change both the text and the date

Litigation: None; not enacted, so no litigation or injunction. The official ncleg.gov history shows it passed the House 2025-05-06 (106-6), the Senate substituted and passed it 2026-06-10 (48-0 on second reading), the House voted 111-0 not to concur on 2026-06-23, and both chambers appointed conferees on 2026-06-23 and 2026-06-24, the last recorded action; it has never been presented to the Governor. Because conferees were appointed before 2026-08-06, Resolution 2026-6 (S.J.R. 1091) lets the reconvened sessions beginning 2026-10-26, 2026-11-16 and 2026-11-30 adopt a conference report before the session's scheduled sine die adjournment on 2026-12-18; if no conference report is adopted by then, the bill fails with the 2025-26 session.

Entry last reviewed 2026-10-01