House File 278 would further require companies such as Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok to provide parents access to their child's accounts and give them the power to restrict or cancel them. It applies to children younger than 18.
"This provides parents' parental rights, as far as working within social media platforms," said Rep. Samantha Fett, R-Carlisle. "As we know, it's a daily piece of our children's lives."
The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill 19-2, sending it to the full Iowa House for a vote. A similar bill in 2023 also received committee approval, but went no further. There is no companion bill in the Iowa Senate.
The U.S. Surgeon General has warned that social media use might be unsafe for children, especially those who use it excessively.
"Children and adolescents on social media are commonly exposed to extreme, inappropriate and harmful content, and those who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of poor mental health, including experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety," the Surgeon General concluded in 2023.
About a dozen states already have adopted laws to restrict children's social media access, according to the Age Verification Providers Association.
The Iowa bill would apply to internet sites or applications that allow children to:
— Create profiles that include personal information.
— Connect with other people to share content.
— Exchange text, images, videos and other content.
— Send private messages to other users.
— Create groups of people with common interests.
The bill would put the onus on social media companies to obtain permission from a parent or guardian before creating the account and lets the adults revoke their permission at any time.
Anita Fischer, of the conservative group Protect My Innocence, implored lawmakers of a subcommittee last week to pass the bill: "I'm asking you to please protect Iowa's children from this social media experiment."
Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, said he hoped the bill would be altered to exempt platforms that students might use to further their educations or potential careers, but that he would still support the bill.
A lobbyist for the parent company of LexisNexis — which is used for educational research — worried at last week's subcommittee hearing that the bill's language might classify it as a social media platform because it allows students to interact for classwork. And technology experts said the legislation might lead to increased data collection of children and their parents by the social media companies.
Max Pringle, a software engineer and intelligence officer for the Iowa Army National Guard, said legislators should require cellphone carriers or manufacturers to provide parental oversight of the accounts.
"This approach protects children while respecting privacy and keeps power in the parent's hands without giving social media companies even more control," he said.
The bill would empower the state's attorney general to seek fines of up to $1,000 for each violation.
© 2025 The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
