The Indiana General Assembly is taking a stricter stance on how children access cellphones during the school day and social media in their everyday lives.
On the final day of the legislative session, lawmakers sent a pair of bills to the governor meant to crack down on children’s exposure to addictive digital features.
The social media legislation would be enforced by the Indiana Attorney General, who could use providers through the state’s consumer protection division. While the bill initially proposed an outright ban for children under 14, the final version requires children aged 15 and younger to get parental permission before opening certain accounts.
Sen. Jeff Raatz (R-Richmond) said the rise in mental health concerns and suicide rates among children is reason enough to push for this kind of restriction.
“We have an obligation to protect those who are vulnerable the same way we do with driver's license, the same way we do with alcohol,” Raatz said on Friday. “This is an epidemic across our nation.”
Indiana is following in the footsteps of at least 17 other states that have passed legislation to ban minors from having accounts, ban addictive features of social media or require parental consent for accounts.
Social media restrictions for under 16 years old
The language ultimately approved in HB 1408 creates tighter restrictions on children’s access to social media by giving parents more control and forcing social media companies to redesign their platforms to be less addictive for kids.
Raatz said Indiana’s bill was modeled after similar legislation passed in Idaho, Kentucky, Utah and Arkansas.
The bill requires:
- Any children aged 15 and younger to obtain their parents' permission to access social media accounts.
- Social media companies are required to remove any addictive features and targeted advertising on those accounts
- Minor children will also be limited in their direct messaging abilities.
- Parents can access their child’s account with their own passwords and set daily and weekly time limits.
The law also requires platforms to continuously evaluate users' ages based on their usage over time using AI software.
The bill doesn’t name specific social media companies that would be affected but instead names certain features that would make them qualify for restrictions, such as the company has a significant user base made up of minors and uses addictive features like continuous scrolling, automatic playing videos and reaction buttons.
The restrictions wouldn’t apply to platforms that are primarily meant to send direct messages or email. It would take effect January 1, 2027.
Most of the other states that have tried to enact similar bans or restrictions have been challenged in legal battles.
Raatz said he expects the law to be challenged in court, but still sees the effort as worth it to protect young kids.
While Democrats were also largely supportive of the restrictions, Sen. Fady Qaddoura (D-Indianapolis) did point out the contradiction in the state’s actions of also allowing tax breaks for the same social media companies building data centers in the state.
“It's extremely difficult to reconcile protecting kids and then giving them the same companies, up to 50 years of sales tax exemptions in the same state talking about the same piece of legislation,” Qaddoura said on Friday.
Stricter cell phone ban in schools
A separate measure requires school districts to create a plan to either prohibit any kind of cell phone or wireless communication device from being brought into schools or a policy how devices would inaccessible to students throughout the school day.
Indiana has previously passed a law stating that cellphones were not to be used during the school day unless the school or teachers approved their use for educational purposes.
The bill’s authors said they purposefully left out explicit instructions for schools on how to store the devices to give them more flexibility and hopefully avoid unfunded mandates.
The Indiana Department of Education is expected to publish a model policy on implementation guidance, which could include guidance on using lockers or existing resources to store devices.
The bill does allow certain students to have access to the devices if they meet certain requirements:
- The device is included in a student’s individualized education program
- The device is included in a student’s 504 plan
- The device is necessary for medical management from an order provided by a licensed health care provider
- The device is necessary for language translation, but it prioritizes school-managed devices when possible
A school district’s superintendent or designee of a superintendent can also decide when devices can be used during an emergency.
The bill also allows students to use audio recording devices for note-taking or other learning assistance needs as long as it doesn’t take videos or images at the same time.
Both bills now head to the governor.
Contact Government Reporter Caroline Beck at cbeck@wfyi.org