Bill Text: IL SB2064 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Creates the Youth Social Media Engagement Act. Creates the Commission on Youth Social Media Engagement. Provides that the Commission shall develop a resource bank of existing evidence-based and research-based scholarly articles pertaining to the mental and physical health impacts of social media use by youth, Internet safety, and cybersecurity and make recommendations to the General Assembly. Sets forth provisions concerning membership; terms; compensation; and administrative support. Provides that, on and after January 1, 2027, a social media platform operating in the State shall establish a function to provide users who are under the age of 18 with information about the user's engagement with social media. Provides that a violation of specified provisions is an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Amends the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act to make conforming changes. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-06 - Referred to Assignments [SB2064 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-SB2064-Introduced.html

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104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB2064 Introduced 2/6/2025, by Sen. Karina Villa SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
New Act
815 ILCS 505/2HHHH new
Creates the Youth Social Media Engagement Act. Creates the Commission on Youth Social Media Engagement. Provides that the Commission shall develop a resource bank of existing evidence-based and research-based scholarly articles pertaining to the mental and physical health impacts of social media use by youth, Internet safety, and cybersecurity and make recommendations to the General Assembly. Sets forth provisions concerning membership; terms; compensation; and administrative support. Provides that, on and after January 1, 2027, a social media platform operating in the State shall establish a function to provide users who are under the age of 18 with information about the user's engagement with social media. Provides that a violation of specified provisions is an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Amends the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act to make conforming changes. Effective immediately.
LRB104 09138 SPS 19194 b
A BILL FOR
SB2064 LRB104 09138 SPS 19194 b
AN ACT concerning health.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Youth
Social Media Engagement Act.
Section 5. Findings and intent. The General Assembly finds
and declares:
(a) On May 23, 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy
released a Social Media and Youth Mental Health advisory to
recognize the growing impact of social media on youth mental
health and well-being as a significant public health challenge
that requires immediate awareness and action.
(b) The advisory includes recommendations for policymakers
to address this issue, including to "strengthen protections to
ensure greater safety for children interacting with all social
media platforms".
(c) In the United States, up to 95% of youth ages 13 to 17
report using social media platforms, and a third of youth
report using social media "almost constantly".
(d) A study of youth in the United States ages 12 to 15
found that youth who spend 3 or more hours a day on social
media had double the risk of experiencing poor mental health
outcomes, including experiencing symptoms of depression and

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anxiety. As of 2021, the average time spent on social media for
this age group is 3.5 hours a day, with one in 4 youth spending
5 or more hours a day on the platforms, and one in 5 youth
spending 7 or more hours a day on social media.
(e) A systematic review of 42 studies on the effects of
excessive social media use found a consistent relationship
between social media use and poor sleep quality, reduced sleep
duration, sleep difficulties, and depression among youth.
(f) Social media sites are designed to maximize user
engagement, which can encourage excessive social media use and
behavioral dysregulation. Youth undergo critical periods of
brain development, and social media exposure and frequent use
may be associated with distinct changes in the developing
brain, including overstimulation of the amygdala, triggering
pathways similar to those in individuals with substance use or
gambling addictions.
(g) The Illinois Children's Mental Health Partnership
developed goals in 2022. One of the goals was to "increase
public awareness on all issues connected to child mental
health and wellness to decrease stigma and promote acceptance,
and strengthen children, families, and communities to identify
needs and access support with resources and funding".
(h) Understanding more about how technology and health
intersect can help solve certain societal problems and improve
the mental and physical health of Illinois youth.
(i) It is a matter of statewide concern to provide

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research-based education and interventions, including
resources on the effects of social media use on brain
development, how to mitigate the risks associated with social
media use, and how to maintain well-being while interacting in
online environments, to help youth make informed decisions on
responsible social media use.
Section 10. Commission on Youth Social Media Engagement.
(a) The Commission on Youth Social Media Engagement is
created. The Commission shall develop a resource bank of
existing evidence-based and research-based scholarly articles
pertaining to the mental and physical health impacts of social
media use by youth, Internet safety, and cybersecurity and
make recommendations to the General Assembly concerning
practical avenues to inform local community organizations,
parents, youth, and the general public about the resource bank
in a manner that allows for the collection of disaggregated
data on how often the materials are accessed.
(b) The Commission shall consist of the following members:
(1) the Director of the Department of Public Health or
the Director's designee, who shall serve as Chair of the
Commission;
(2) the Director of the Department of Healthcare and
Family Services or the Director's designee;
(3) the State Superintendent of Education or the State
Superintendent's designee;

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(4) 4 members appointed by the Governor, of which 3
members shall represent the interests of social media
platforms;
(5) 5 members appointed by the President of the
Senate, of which one member shall represent the interests
of parents, one member shall be between the ages of 16 and
25 years of age, one member with experience as a youth
mental health professional such as a social worker, child
adolescent psychiatrist, or other professional
specializing in youth mental health, and not more than one
of whom may be a current member of the General Assembly;
(6) 5 members appointed by the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, of which one member shall represent the
interests of parents, one youth member shall be between
the ages of 16 and 25 years of age, one member shall have
experience as a youth mental health professional such as a
social worker, child adolescent psychiatrist, or other
professional specializing in youth mental health, and not
more than one of whom shall be a current member of the
General Assembly;
(7) 5 members appointed by the Minority Leader of the
Senate, of which one member shall represent the interests
of parents, one youth member shall be between the ages of
16 and 25 years of age, one member shall have experience as
a youth mental health professional such as a social
worker, child adolescent psychiatrist, or other

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professional specializing in youth mental health, and not
more than one of whom shall be a current member of the
General Assembly; and
(8) 5 members appointed by the Minority Leader of the
House of Representatives, of which one member shall
represent the interests of parents, one youth member shall
be between the ages of 16 and 25 years of age, one member
shall have experience as a youth mental health
professional such as a social worker, child adolescent
psychiatrist, or other professional specializing in youth
mental health, and not more than one of whom shall be a
current member of the General Assembly.
(c) The Commission shall have the following duties:
(1) establish and adopt goals and guiding principles
for conducting a review of relevant research to compile a
resource bank that will be used to inform youth, parents,
and the greater community of the mental health risks
associated with youth social media use;
(2) develop a review and selection process for the
resource bank materials;
(3) identify the scholarly articles and materials that
will be a part of the resource bank by following the
process outlined by the Commission;
(4) ensure, to the extent possible, the resource bank
materials are youth-friendly, culturally sensitive, and
available in both English and Spanish, and may include

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Internet links to scholarly articles, resources, and
materials about the mental and physical health impacts of
social media use, Internet safety, and cybersecurity from
entities that the Commission finds reliable;
(5) when possible, as part of the resource bank,
identify what grade or age-group materials are appropriate
for;
(6) engage with relevant community stakeholders,
including youth, for input on what type of information
should be included within the resource bank; and
(7) consider what avenues of distribution for the
resource bank will inform local community organizations,
parents, youth, and the general public about the resource
bank in a manner that allows for the collection of
disaggregated data on how often the materials are
accessed.
(d) The appointing authorities shall make appointments to
the Commission as soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, and the Chair of the Commission shall convene the
first meeting by September 15, 2025. Subsequent meetings of
the Commission shall convene at the call of the Chair of the
Commission. A majority of all the appointed members of the
Commission shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of
business and all recommendations of the Commission shall
require approval of a majority of the members of the
Commission. Meetings of the Commission are subject to the Open

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Meetings Act.
(e) Members of the Commission shall serve without
compensation.
(f) The Department of Public Health shall provide
administrative support to the Commission.
(g) On or before December 31, 2025, the Commission shall
submit to the General Assembly a written report that:
(1) describes the process selected by the Commission
to create the resource bank;
(2) compiles the resource bank materials selected
through the Commission's selected process; and
(3) makes recommendations to the General Assembly
regarding practical avenues to inform local community
organizations, parents, youth, and the general public
about the resource bank in a manner that allows for the
collection of disaggregated data on how often the
materials are accessed.
(h) This Section is repealed on January 1, 2027.
Section 15. Social media platform health requirements for
youth.
(a) As used in this Section, "social media platform" means
an Internet-based service, website, or application that:
(1) has more than 100,000 active users in Illinois;
(2) permits an Illinois resident to become a
registered user, establish an account, or create a public

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or semi-public profile for the purpose of allowing users
to create, share, and view user-generated content through
the account or profile;
(3) enables one or more users to create or post
content that can be viewed by other users of the medium;
and
(4) includes a substantial function to allow users to
interact socially with each other within the service or
application.
For the purpose of this definition, a service or
application that provides electronic mail or direct messaging
services does not satisfy the criteria of paragraph (4) on the
basis of that function alone.
"Social media platform" does not include an Internet-based
service or application in which the predominant or exclusive
function is:
(1) providing electronic mail;
(2) facilitating commercial transactions, if the
interaction with other users or account holders is
generally limited to:
(A) the ability to upload a post and comment on
reviews or the ability to display lists or collections
of goods for sale or wish lists; and
(B) the primary function of the platform is
focused on online shopping or e-commerce rather than
interactions between users or account holders;

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(3) facilitating teleconferencing and video
conferencing features that are limited to certain
participants in the teleconference or video conference and
are not posted publicly or for broad distribution to other
users;
(4) facilitating crowd-sourced content for reference
guides such as encyclopedias and dictionaries;
(5) providing cloud-based electronic services,
including cloud-based services that allow collaborative
editing by invited users;
(6) consisting primarily of news, sports,
entertainment, or other content that is preselected by the
provider and not user generated, and any chat, comment, or
interactive functionality that is provided incidental to,
directly related to, or dependent upon provision of the
content; or
(7) interactive gaming, virtual gaming, or an online
service that allows the creation and uploading of content
for the purpose of interactive or virtual gaming;
(8) providing information concerning businesses,
products, or travel information, including user reviews or
rankings of businesses or products;
(9) facilitating communication within a business or an
enterprise among employees or affiliates of the business
or enterprise so long as access to the service or
application is restricted to employees or affiliates of

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the business or enterprise;
(10) selling enterprise software to businesses,
governments, or nonprofit organizations;
(11) providing a streaming service that streams only
licensed media in a continuous flow from the service,
website, or application to the end user and does not
require a user or account holder to obtain a license for
the media by agreement with a social media platform's
terms of service;
(12) providing an online service, website, or
application that is used by or under the direction of an
educational entity, including a learning management
system, a student engagement program, or a subject- or
skill-specific program, for which the majority of the
content is created or posted by the provider of the online
service, website, or application and the ability to chat,
comment, or interact with other users is directly related
to the provider's content;
(13) providing or obtaining technical support for a
platform, product, or service;
(14) providing career development opportunities,
including professional networking, job skills, learning
certifications, and job posting and application services;
(15) focused on facilitating academic or scholarly
research; or
(16) reporting or disseminating news information, as

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protected by the United States Constitution.
(b) On and after January 1, 2027, a social media platform
operating in this State shall establish a function that
either:
(1) meets the criteria described in subsection (c) and
is informed by the standards established under subsection
(d); or
(2) displays a pop-up or full screen notification to a
user who attests to being under the age of 18:
(A) when the user has spent one cumulative hour on
the social media platform during a 24-hour period; or
(B) when the user is on a social media platform
between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The notification described in this paragraph shall
repeat at least once every 30 minutes after the initial
notification.
(c) A social media platform that establishes the function
described in paragraph (1) of subsection (b) shall provide
users who are under the age of 18 with information about youth
engagement with social media that helps the user understand
the impact of social media on the developing brain and the
mental and physical health of youth users. The information
shall be supported by data from peer-reviewed scholarly
articles or the sources included in the resource bank
developed by the Commission on Youth Social Media Engagement.
(d) The Department of Public Health, in consultation with

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the Department of Innovation and Technology, shall establish
standards for the functions established by social media
platforms under subsection (b). The standards shall:
(1) recommend intervals for notification frequency
that are similar to those in paragraph (2) of subsection
(b);
(2) provide sample messaging for the content of the
notification;
(3) be informed by data and research on the efficacy
of notifications;
(4) be ix nformed by the resource bank developed by
the Commission on Youth Social Media Engagement; and
(5) recommend the age range of users who would most
benefit from notifications.
Section 20. Enforcement. A violation of Section 15 is an
unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive
Business Practices Act. All remedies, penalties, and authority
granted to the Attorney General by that Act shall be available
to him or her for the enforcement of Section 15.
Section 25. Rulemaking.
(a) The Department of Public Health may adopt necessary
rules to administer and enforce this Act.
(b) The Department of Public Health shall consult with the
Department of Innovation and Technology before adopting any

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rules that relate to the standards established under
subsection (f) of Section 15.
Section 30. Severability. If any provision of this Act or
its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid,
the invalidity of that provision or application does not
affect other provisions or applications of this Act that can
be given effect without the invalid provision or application.
Section 90. The Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business
Practices Act is amended by adding Section 2HHHH as follows:
(815 ILCS 505/2HHHH new)
Sec. 2HHHH. Violations of the Youth Social Media
Engagement Act. A person who violates Section 15 of the Youth
Social Media Engagement Act commits an unlawful practice
within the meaning of this Act.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.