House committee advances Social Media Youth Protection Act after daylong hearing

Representative Amy Regier, sponsor of House Bill 9 25, opened the Judiciary Committee hearing by saying she represents House District 6 in Kalispell and that she brought "House Bill 9 25, the Social Media Youth Protection Act" to the committee to require platforms to install safeguards and give parents supervisory tools.

The bill would require social media companies to implement an age-assurance system, set strong default privacy settings for minor account holders, disable engagement-driving features such as autoplay and push notifications for minors, and offer parental supervisory tools including time limits and mandatory breaks. The bill also ties enforcement to the Montana Consumer Protection Act and creates a private right of action, and it includes a 95% accuracy standard for age-assurance measures in the text discussed in the hearing.

Why it mattered: proponents said the law addresses a widespread public-health problem for Montana youth. Rachel Green, the governor's policy director, cited surveys and prevalence figures in support of the legislation and said social media use among teens is near-universal. Several health and child-welfare witnesses,…