Age Limits on Your Favorite Apps?

In the United States you have to be at least 21 years old to legally drink. You have to be 21 years old to buy tobacco products. But how old should you be to have a TikTok account?

The question might seem strange, but it’s one that a growing number of state and federal lawmakers are discussing.

Why limit access to social media?

As social media platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and others become a universal feature of adolescence, more researchers are studying their impact. A 2023 report on social media use and youth mental health by the U.S. Surgeon General described social media’s mixed effects. On the one hand, “adolescents report that social media helps them feel more accepted (58%), they like that they have people who can support them through tough times (67%), like they have a place to show their creative side (71%), and feel more connected to what’s going on in their friends’ lives (80%).”

But the report also highlighted the negative aspects of social media as follows: “Recent research shows that adolescents who spend more than three hours per day on social media face double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes, such as symptoms of depression and anxiety.” This was an especially concerning finding in light of a 2021 survey conducted by the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. The Survey Research Center concluded teenagers spend on average 3.5 hours per day on social media.

Representative Andrew Gray, a state legislator representing East Anchorage in the Alaska State House, was alarmed enough to take action. He introduced an amendment to a bill to stop children younger than 14 from using social media. Citing research, Gray said, “social media can lead to body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, low self esteem… 46% of teens between 13 and 17 said that social media made them feel worse about their body.”

Gray also expressed concerns about cyberbullying and hate speech on social media. According to Gray, “64% of teens are sometimes exposed to hate-based content when they’re looking at their social media.”

In addition to these mental health concerns, adults have also raised questions about safety and privacy for young social media users. The primary way social media companies make money is by mining and selling user data. Some argue that minors’ data should be protected from this practice. Additionally, there are real concerns about online predators, or adults who target children by communicating with them via social media.

A growing social media crackdown?

In response to concerns about social media’s impact on kids, lawmakers in Congress have proposed several bills. For example, the 2023 Protecting Kids on Social Media Act would require platforms to verify users’ ages, restrict accounts for children under 13, require parental consent for teens, and prevent them from using or keeping age verification information for other purposes. Companies also can’t use personal data in recommendation systems — or algorithms that suggest content, such as TikTok’s “For You” page — for anyone under 18. A later proposal, the Kids Off Social Media Act, would also limit the use of recommendation algorithms for minors. As of 2026, several proposals have been debated in Congress, but none have yet become federal law.

And at the state level, legislators are taking action to regulate adolescents’ usage of social media. As of 2026, dozens of states have proposed or passed laws regulating minors’ social media use though many have faced legal challenges and delays in enforcement. The current and proposed legislation take a variety of approaches. For example, in Colorado, Georgia, and West Virginia, the law requires the state Department of Education to help educate students about healthy and safe social media use. Other states, such as Tennessee and Utah, passed legislation to require social media companies to use age verification or parental consent before a minor is allowed to create a social media account.

Florida’s social media ban, signed into law in March 2024, is perhaps the most restrictive. It states that people under the age of 14 cannot have a social media account. The law allows 14 and 15-year-olds to create accounts with parental permission. Rep. Gray’s proposed amendment contained a similar limitation, but it was voted down.

Finally, other states are taking aim at the design of social media, which some researchers think promotes addictive behaviors. Several states have proposed laws that limit the way social media companies can collect data and use algorithms to keep users scrolling indefinitely. Some laws regulating platform design and data collection for minors have been passed, although several are still being challenged in court or have not yet taken full effect.

Do the laws go too far?

According to Rep. Gray, his proposed legislation has received a universal response from parents: “Thank you.” However, not everyone is convinced such laws are a perfect solution. “There’s been a lot of questions about how we will enforce this,” Rep. Gray said. He added that his 11-year-old son wanted to be sure he could still use the gaming platforms Minecraft and Roblox, as well as YouTube. This question led to more discussion among Alaskan legislators.

Some critics of social media bans claim that they are an example of governmental overreach. They argue that setting age limits for social media should be left to parents. Rep. Gray responded to this criticism by describing social media laws as an addition to a “parental toolbox” and hoped they might make it “a little bit easier for parents to keep their kids shielded from social media.”

Opposition to the laws has even prompted groups like the American Civil Liberties Union to fight the legislation in courts. Critics claim that these laws infringe on people’s first amendment rights. Rep. Gray was skeptical of this argument. “It’s my personal opinion,” he said, “that the First Amendment does not entitle young people to our right to social media. I do not believe that a restriction on a potentially harmful platform is in any way violating a child's freedom of speech.”

Social media companies ready to fight

Social media is a big business. A May 2023 article in Forbes reported the number of social media users as 4.9 billion people globally. The same article states that the value of the social media app market was more than $49 billion in 2022 and only expected to grow.

Anything that limits how social media can be used, and who can use it, creates a big financial risk for companies that own apps like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. As a result, these companies are motivated to ensure the laws are favorable to their businesses. Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, was the top lobbyist among internet companies as of July 2024. It gave more than $7.6 million dollars to politicians. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, gave $2.7 million.

With so much money at stake, it remains to be seen if politicians like Rep. Gray will prevail in their efforts to limit social media. If proponents of such regulation succeed, the day may arrive when social media comes with a warning and an age limit, just like a pack of cigarettes.