Hawaii’s latest skirmish over kids and screens is heating up at the Capitol, where lawmakers have advanced SB 2761, a bill that would effectively block most residents under 16 from having social media accounts. Backers say the move is about protecting keiki from algorithm-driven harms and a growing youth mental health crisis, while opponents argue the measure swings too wide and could shut down legitimate, supervised uses. The bill has cleared several Senate committee votes and moved through the chamber, lining it up for a fight in the House.
What the Bill Would Do
As written, SB 2761 would prohibit social media platforms from allowing anyone under sixteen to create or maintain an account, and would require companies to take steps to shut down profiles for users they know are under that age. In written testimony, the Department of the Attorney General noted that the bill tells platforms to take "reasonable steps" to verify age but does not spell out how, and suggested lawmakers consider adding a parental consent exception to help the bill hold up in court. According to Pacific Business News, the Legislature’s working version would require parental consent for users under 16 while still leaving the details of age verification largely undefined.
Attorney General Flags Constitutional Risk
The Attorney General’s office cautioned lawmakers that the proposal "may be subject to legal challenge under the First Amendment" and urged the Legislature to more clearly document how social media use is linked to harms among Hawaii youth. In its memo, the office recommended narrowing the restrictions or explicitly allowing parental consent and shifting the focus toward verifiable age checks instead of an outright ban, changes it said would give the measure a better shot at surviving in court, according to the Department of the Attorney General.
Industry and Civil Liberties Pushback
Tech industry group NetChoice is not mincing words. In testimony, the group urged lawmakers to reject the ban outright, calling it "facially unconstitutional" and warning that enforcing it would likely require platforms to collect sensitive ID information from users, creating what it sees as fresh privacy and security risks. NetChoice argued that a parental-consent carveout or more targeted rules would be a better way to protect kids without wiping out minors’ rights to speak and access information online, according to NetChoice.
Legal Questions Ahead
Hawaii’s proposal is dropping into a crowded national battlefield where states keep testing new online safety rules and courts keep batting some of them back. Similar age-verification and social media laws in other states have repeatedly drawn lawsuits, and judges have split on what is enforceable. Research tracking these efforts points out that both constitutional and privacy issues remain unsettled, and that a patchwork of federal and state rulings has led to inconsistent outcomes across the country, according to New America.
What’s Next
SB 2761 has moved through Senate committees and was adopted as SD2 in the upper chamber earlier this month. It now heads to the House, where members are expected to wrangle over potential amendments and parliamentary moves. The Senate has reported the bill for a third reading and sent it on toward the lower chamber, according to FastDemocracy. If Hawaii presses ahead with the measure, supporters may not have to wait long to find out whether the courts agree.
