Attorney General Tong Praises House Passage of Legislation to Combat Youth Social Media Addiction

Press Releases

05/14/2025

Attorney General Tong Praises House Passage of Legislation to Combat Youth Social Media Addiction

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today praised passage in the state House of Representatives of legislation proposed by his office to prohibit social media companies from exposing minors to harmful and addictive algorithms and notifications without parental consent. The legislation, modeled after similar measures in New York, California, and Utah, would also establish a series of default settings regarding account privacy, time of use and notifications, including barring notifications between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. and limiting social media use to one hour per-day. Parental consent would be required to alter the default settings.

“The amount of time our teenagers spend each day scrolling social media is deeply destructive to their learning, relationships and mental health. We know these platforms are addictive by design—with algorithms and constant alerts honed to maximize profit by overriding self-control. This bill is about giving parents the control necessary to make safe choices for their children. Today’s strong bipartisan vote sends an important message—Connecticut is done waiting for the federal government and tech giants to do right by our kids. I look forward to working with the Senate to advance this important legislation,” said Attorney General Tong.

In addition to strong new default protections, the legislation proposed by Attorney General Tong would require social media companies to annually report to the state the number of minors on their platform, the number of minors with parental consent to use addictive algorithms, and the average amount of time per day a minor spends on the platform, broken down by both age and time of day.

In September, Meta announced new features for “Instagram Teen Accounts,” adding additional privacy features, messaging restrictions, a new sleep mode, and added break reminders. But Meta did little to address the most addictive and harmful features, including its algorithms and infinite scroll—called behavioral cocaine by one developer. The proposed data reporting would give Connecticut the ability to determine if these measures, as well as Connecticut’s own protections, are working to curb social media use during school hours and overnight when kids need to be studying and sleeping.

Attorney General Tong has sued Meta, alleging that the company knowingly designed and deployed harmful features on Instagram and its other social media platforms that purposefully addict youth. Connecticut’s investigation into TikTok over similar allegations is active and ongoing.

Twitter: @AGWilliamTong

Facebook: CT Attorney General

Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov

Consumer Inquiries:

860-808-5318
attorney.general@ct.gov