Creates the Rhode Island Social Media Regulation act, which would not permit a Rhode Island resident who is a minor to be an account holder on a social media's platform unless the minor has the express consent of a parent or guardian.
H5291 would create the Rhode Island Social Media Regulation Act and impose a new set of rules on large social media companies operating in the state. Beginning January 1, 2026, minors in Rhode Island could not hold social media accounts unless a parent or guardian gives express consent, and platforms would be required to verify the age of new and existing account holders. If a minor cannot satisfy the verification and consent requirements, the platform must deny access until compliance is achieved.
The bill also places additional restrictions on accounts held by Rhode Island minor account holders. It would prohibit direct messaging except with friended users, remove those accounts from search results for non-friends, ban advertising on those accounts, bar the use of minors’ personal information for most purposes, and prevent targeted or suggested content, groups, products, or users. Parents or guardians who consent would receive access credentials or another means to view the minor’s posts and messages, and they could set or remove time-of-day and daily-hour limits on account use. The bill further directs the Department of Business Regulation to adopt implementing rules, investigate complaints, and enforce the law through fines, court actions, and reporting requirements.
The bill would add a new chapter to Title 6 of the Rhode Island General Laws governing social media use by minors and the obligations of large social media companies. It would create state-level age-verification, parental-consent, privacy, advertising, and access-control requirements for platforms with at least five million account holders worldwide, while excluding many services such as email, streaming, e-commerce, gaming, cloud services, and educational platforms. It also authorizes administrative enforcement by the Department of Business Regulation, civil penalties, injunctive relief, disgorgement, and a private right of action for aggrieved persons beginning January 1, 2026.
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee testimony or votes in the provided materials, the measure appears to reflect a policy interest in stronger protections for minors online and greater parental oversight of social media use. The structure of the bill suggests a precautionary approach focused on privacy, safety, and limiting platform-driven engagement for minors. No contrary or supportive public sentiment is documented in the supplied record, so the overall sentiment can only be characterized as the bill’s own protective and regulatory orientation.
The main points of contention likely concern age verification, parental access, and the scope of platform restrictions. Social media companies may object to the operational burden of verifying ages, obtaining parental consent, restricting messaging and advertising, and maintaining separate rules for Rhode Island minors. Privacy advocates may also question the collection and retention of sensitive information needed for verification and parental access, while free-speech or access concerns could arise from limiting minors’ account use, search visibility, and targeted content. The bill attempts to address some of these issues by directing the department to set rules for secure handling of verification data and by excluding many non-social-media services from coverage.