All 50 states have introduced bills to regulate digital media for kids. A new database tracks them

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As of March 2026, every U.S. state had introduced at least one bill seeking to regulate social media or other digital platforms for people younger than 18. The wave of legislation would be difficult for anyone to keep track of, whether they're a researcher, parent or policymaker. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have built a public database to help.

August 4, 2026

by UC Davis

edited by Gaby Clark, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

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The Youth Digital Policy Repository categorizes state legislation by location, year and topic, including age verification, parental consent and targeted ads. The database, available to the public, lists researchers who can provide expertise to policymakers working on future legislation.

"Adolescent mental health and well-being is such an important outcome," said Samantha Vigil, the database project lead and a Ph.D. candidate in communication at UC Davis. "This repository provides a centralized source of regulations, both attempted and passed, to inform future legislation."

Vigil developed the tool in the UC Davis Human Development and Media Lab with primary investigator Drew Cingel, an associate professor of communication. The researchers describe the database and the legislative landscape behind it in Journal of Children and Media.

The database compiles introduced, passed, failed and enacted legislation. It currently includes 379 pieces of U.S. legislation dating back to 2022, and the research team plans to expand its coverage globally.

Undergraduate research assistants helped compile the repository's contents by identifying, reading and coding all digital media-related legislative bills at each step of the lawmaking process, from introduction to passage or failure. The repository will be updated twice a year in June and November.

"We hope that it helps politicians and policymakers in state governments across the United States to be aware of what other states are doing to help shape our own local and state laws," Cingel said.

The growth in proposed U.S. social media regulations reflects concerns from both teens and parents about the technology's risks. A 2025 Pew Research Center survey found that 48% of American 13- to 17-year-olds called social media harmful to people their age, and 44% of parents identified social media as the leading harm to their child's mental health.

Cingel said that research has implicated social media in poor mental health among U.S. children and teens, driven in part by platform features such as infinite scrolling and content-recommending algorithms.

Other countries have already enacted legislation to curb access to social media for minors. In 2024, Australia passed a law banning access to social media for those 16 and younger. It took effect in December 2025. In June, the UK government announced a similar ban to begin in 2027.

Vigil said that U.S. social media regulation is more fragmented, which is partly why a tracking tool is needed. U.S. lawmakers, she said, are more hesitant to propose outright bans for children and teens. Other advocates seek to increase media literacy so young people can be safer online.

Instead of bans or placing the burden of safety on children and parents, Vigil said the platforms themselves should be designed in a way that makes them safer to use.

"Social media and AI and other technologies are so ingrained in the world that children are growing up in, so to close the door and say you don't get to use this because it's not safe takes away a lot of opportunities and some of the potential benefits," said Vigil.

Samantha L. Vigil et al, The youth digital policy repository: A tool for tracking digital media legislation aimed at minors, Journal of Children and Media (2026). DOI: 10.1080/17482798.2026.2698291

Key concepts Online child safety regulation Provided by UC Davis Who's behind this story? Gaby Clark