New Jersey is taking measures to protect children from online harm as the typical teen spends 35 hours a week on social media platforms, which is the equivalent of a full-time job. Gov Mikie Sherril signed the “New Jersey Kids Code Act,” which will force platforms to make children’s accounts harder to find, set default privacy settings to the highest level for minors, and feature content meant to keep young users constantly engaged.
The law would also ban overnight notifications and restrict alerts during the school day, when students should be sleeping and learning. These three bills are built to curb some of social media’s most addictive features and let parents have more control over their children’s experience online.
“Big tech isn’t just the big tobacco of our era. They are worse. They designed platforms that hijacked our kids’ attention spans,” Sherrill said at a bill signing ceremony in Jersey City. The New Jersey Kids Code Act will restrict platforms’ use of children’s data to the purposes for which it was collected and bar algorithmic content recommendations unless a minor specifically requests more or less content from a given account or of a specific type.
“Half of parents say their children’s mental health has suffered over the past year because of social media,” said bill sponsor Assemblywoman Andrea Katz, D-Burlington. “Nearly half of teenagers say they lose sleep every single night because they feel stuck on these platforms.”
The law permits both parents and the New Jersey Attorney general to sue over violations. If they’re victorious, courts could award $5,000 per violation or treble damages, which is three times the equal amount of harm suffered – whichever is greater, plus attorney fees.
“When I was a kid, our parents worried about strangers and who’s talking to us at the park or at the mall,” said bill sponsor Sen. Raj Mukherji, D-Hudson. “Today, we have to worry about who’s DMing them, what algorithms are pushing into our kids’ feeds, and what sensitive information is being collected, used, even sold before they’re old enough to understand what they’re giving away.”
These new restrictions are set to take effect in September 2027.
