Requires Social Media Research Center to research and make recommendations concerning addictive social media behaviors.*

A4013 1R ACS

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

ASSEMBLY, No. 4013

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�
ADOPTED
JUNE 23, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman� ANDREA KATZ

District 8 (Atlantic and Burlington)

Assemblyman� CODY D. MILLER

District 4 (Atlantic, Camden and Gloucester)

Assemblywoman� MITCHELLE DRULIS

District 16 (Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywomen Park, Morales, Assemblyman Kearney,
Assemblywomen Bagolie, Peterpaul and Assemblyman Sampson

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires Social Media Research Center to research and
make recommendations concerning addictive social media behaviors.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As reported by the Assembly Budget Committee on June
28, 2026, with amendments.

��

An Act
concerning social media research and
supplementing Chapter 62 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

����
Be It Enacted

by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� The Legislature finds
and declares that:�

���� a.���� The United States
Surgeon General released an advisory on social media and youth mental health in
May 2023, finding that:�

���� (1)�� up to 95 percent of
American minors between ages 13 through 17 reported using a social media
platform;

���� (2)�� individuals experience
critical stages of brain development during childhood and adolescence, making
these age groups more vulnerable to harms from social media;

���� (3)�� children may experience
harmful effects from social media usage depending on the amount of time spent
on social media platforms, the type of content they consume or are otherwise
exposed to, and the degree to which their social media usage disrupts activities
that are essential for health, such as sleep and physical activity;

���� (4)�� recent research shows
that adolescents who spend more than three hours per day on social media face
double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes, such as symptoms
of depression and anxiety;

���� (5)�� exposure to certain
social media content may perpetuate body dissatisfaction, disordered eating
behaviors, social comparison, and low self-esteem, especially among adolescent
girls; and

���� (6)�� extreme, inappropriate,
and harmful content continues to be widely accessible by children and
adolescents and, in certain cases, childhood deaths have been linked to
suicide- and self-harm-related content and risk-taking challenges on social
media platforms.

���� b.��� Heavier usage of social
media also leads to less healthy sleep patterns and sleep quality, which can in
turn exacerbate both physical and mental health problems.

���� c.���� In 2024, a bipartisan
coalition of 42 attorneys general urged the use of warning labels on social
media platforms.

���� d.��� In 2023, P.L.2023, c.126
established the New Jersey Commission on the Effects of Social Media Usage on
Adolescents (commission) in response to mounting public concern over the role
of digital platforms in the lives of young people. �The commission, which
included education officials, medical and mental health professionals, policy
experts, community stakeholders, parents, and students, was tasked with
studying the prevalence of social media usage in and outside of public schools
and examining the effects of social media usage on young people�s health and
academic performance.

���� e.���� On September 15, 2025,
the commission issued a recommendation for the New Jersey Legislature to
address social media platform functions and features that may cause harm to
young people. �Specifically, the commission advised the Legislature to require
social media platforms to:�

���� (1)�� create developmentally
appropriate digital experiences for youth that prioritize safety and limit
features that may increase harm without blocking access to educational content
from medical professionals;

���� (2)�� implement strong default
privacy settings for minors, restrict data collection and third-party access,
protect against targeted advertising, invasive tracking, and addictive design
features, and restrict notifications during designated times; and

���� (3)�� proactively develop,
implement, and continuously refine robust safety mechanisms and reporting tools
aimed at identifying, preventing, and responding to cyberbullying, bias,
discrimination, child exploitation, and abuse on their platforms.

���� f.���� New Jersey and the
United States are facing an ongoing youth mental health crisis, with rates of
adolescent suicides, depressive episodes, and feelings of sadness and
hopelessness increasing significantly in recent years.

���� g.��� For these reasons, it is
essential for the Legislature to take action to ensure that youth, their
families, and the public are warned of, and protected against, the risks of
social media use.

���� 2.��� As used in
P.L. , c.
(C. ) (pending before the
Legislature as this bill):�

���� �Actual knowledge� includes
all information and inferences known to the covered online service provider
relating to the age of the individual, including, but not limited to,
self-identified age, age flags, a commercially-reasonable and technically-feasible
age verification mechanism, and any age the covered online service provider has
attributed to, or associated with, the individual for any purpose, including
marketing, advertising, or product development.� If the age of an individual
attributed by a covered online service provider for purposes of marketing or
advertising is inconsistent with the individual�s self-identified age, a
covered online service provider shall disregard the self-identified age for
purposes of P.L. , c.
(C. ) (pending before the
Legislature as this bill).

���� �Addictive social media
behaviors� means any behavior, as determined by the Commissioner of Health,
that may negatively impact a user�s health as measured by, among other metrics,
a user�s cumulative daily use of a covered online service provider, or the
frequency with which a user accesses a covered online service provider.

���� �Center� means the Social
Media Research Center.

���� �Child� means an individual
under the age of 13.

���� �Commissioner� means the
Commissioner of Health.

���� �Covered child� means an
individual who a covered online service provider has actual knowledge is a
child.

���� �Covered minor� means an
individual who a covered online service provider has actual knowledge is a
minor.

���� �Covered online service
provider� means:�

���� a.����
1
[
A
]

a
1
sole
proprietorship, a limited liability company, a corporation, an association, or
any other legal entity
1
[
that
]
1
:�

���� (1)��
1
that
1
owns,
operates, controls, or provides an online service or generates the majority of
its annual revenue from online services;

���� (2)��
1
that
1

conducts business in this State;

���� (3)��
1
[
employs users�
personally identifiable information to select, recommend, or prioritize media
and alone, or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of
processing users� personal data
]

whose online services are reasonably likely to be accessed by a child or
minor
1
;
and

���� (4)�� (a)
1
that
1
has
1
annual
1
gross
revenue in excess of $25,000,000.� Beginning January 1, 2029, and every two years
thereafter, the Department of the Treasury shall adjust the amount of annual
gross revenue to reflect the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index; or

���� (b)��
1
that
1
annually
processes the personal data of not less than 25,000
1
[
users
]

consumers
1
or
households; or

���� b.���
1
[
A
]

a
1
person
that controls or is controlled by a legal entity described in subsection a. of
this definition and that shares common branding with the legal entity.

����
1
[
�Covered
]

A �covered
1
online
service
1
[
providers� are
controllers
]

provider� is a controller
1

for the purpose of P.L.2023, c.266 (C.56:8-166.4 et seq.).

����
1
A �covered
online service provider� does not include an entity that solely provides a
direct messaging service or product.
1

���� �Minor� means an individual
who is at least 13 years of age but less than 18 years of age.

���� �Online service� means
1
[
any service
provided over the Internet that collects, uses, stores, discloses, analyzes,
deletes, or modifies the personal data of consumers
]

a service or product that:�
(1) is accessible to the public via the Internet; (2) displays content that is
generated by one or more account holders; (3) has an account holder in this
State; and (4) allows account holders to interact with content associated with
other individual account holders as a central feature of the service.

����
�Online service� does not
include:�

����
a.���� a �telecommunications
service,� as that term is defined in 47 U.S.C. s.153;

����
b.��� a �broadband internet
access service,� as that term is defined in 47 C.F.R. s.8.1;

����
c.���� an email service; or

����
d.��� the sale, delivery,
or use of a physical product
1
.

���� 3.��� The Social Media
Research Center, in coordination with the Office of Youth Online Mental Health
Safety and Awareness within the Department of Health, shall research and make
recommendations regarding:�

���� a.���� the impact of addictive
social media behaviors among covered children and covered minors on public
health;

���� b.��� the structure and design
of warning labels on online services owned, operated, controlled, or provided
by covered online service providers, if any, that are designed to reduce
addictive social media behaviors among covered children and covered minors and
reduce any burden to be placed upon covered online service providers. �The
research shall include an examination of warning labels displayed:�

���� (1)�� when a covered child or
covered minor creates an account with an online service owned, operated,
controlled, or provided by a covered online service provider;

���� (2)�� the first time each day
a covered child or covered minor accesses or exits an online service owned,
operated, controlled, or provided by a covered online service provider;

���� (3)�� after a covered child or
covered minor spends an established period of cumulative daily use on an online
service owned, operated, controlled, or provided by a covered online service
provider; and

���� (4)�� upon detection of
addictive social media behavior by a covered child or covered minor;

���� c.���� the impact, if any, of
warning labels on online services owned, operated, controlled, or provided by
covered online service providers at reducing addictive social media behaviors
among covered children and covered minors; and

���� d.��� the impact, if any, of including
mandatory disclaimers concerning addictive social media behaviors among covered
children and covered minors, and any resources to mitigate those behaviors, in
the advertising of online services owned, operated, controlled, or provided by
covered online service providers.

���� 4.��� No later than 18 months
after the effective date of P.L. , c.
(C. ) (pending before the
Legislature as this bill) or P.L. , c.
(C. ) (pending before the
Legislature as Assembly Bill No. 4014 and Senate Bill No. 3411 of 2026-2027),
whichever is later, the center shall issue a final report containing the
center�s findings and recommendations to deter or mitigate addictive social
media behaviors to the Governor and the Department of Health, and to the
Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), based upon
the research findings identified pursuant to section 3 of
P.L. , c.
(C. ) (pending before the
Legislature as this bill).

���� 5.��� The commissioner shall
review the center�s final report.� The commissioner may, in consultation with
the Department of Human Services, the Department of Children and Families, and
the Department of Law and Public Safety, and taking into consideration the
recommendations set forth in the center�s final report issued pursuant to
section 4 of P.L. , c.
(C. ) (pending before the
Legislature as this bill), adopt such rules and regulations pursuant to the
�Administrative Procedure Act,� P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.)
1
,
1
as
deemed appropriate to implement the recommendations contained therein
1
[
no later than
30 months after the effective date of P.L. ,
c. (C. )
(pending before the Legislature as this bill) or P.L. ,
c. (C. )
(pending before the Legislature as Assembly Bill No. 4014 and Senate Bill No.
3411 of 2026-2027), whichever is later,
]
1

and to deter and reduce addictive social media behaviors among covered children
and covered minors.

���� 6.��� If any clause, sentence,
paragraph, subparagraph, subsection, section or part of P.L. ,
c. (C. ) (pending
before the Legislature as this bill) shall be adjudged by any court of
competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair,
or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to
the clause, sentence, paragraph, subparagraph, subsection, section or part
thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have
been rendered.� It is hereby declared to be the intent of the Legislature that P.L. ,
c. (C. ) (pending
before the Legislature as this bill) would have been enacted even if such
invalid provisions had not been included herein.

���� 7.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.