Social media platforms have spent years refining the features that keep people scrolling. Personalized feeds, endless recommendations, autoplay, and notifications have become part of how users discover content and how brands reach them.
Now, state lawmakers across the U.S. are taking a closer look at those features, particularly when it comes to younger audiences.
New social media regulations are targeting everything from age verification and parental consent to recommendation algorithms and daily screen time limits. Meta, TikTok, and YouTube are facing growing legal pressure, and some of the changes being discussed could have consequences for advertising, organic reach, and creator marketing.
For marketers, the challenge is figuring out how these rules could change audience behavior before those changes start showing up in campaign reports.
In the latest episode of The Daily Carnage Show, Shannon Sankey breaks down the wave of state-level social media regulations, the legal developments affecting major platforms, and what marketers should be paying attention to.
Want to dig deeper? Watch the full episode here for Shannon’s take on how these changes could reshape social media marketing.
States Are Writing Their Own Social Media Rules
For years, conversations about social media and young people’s mental health largely revolved around congressional hearings, public criticism, and voluntary platform changes.
State governments are now taking a more active role.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures’ 2026 legislation tracker, lawmakers in at least 40 states and Puerto Rico considered more than 300 bills and resolutions related to social media and children during the 2026 legislative session.
Those proposals cover a surprisingly broad range of issues, including age verification, parental consent, data collection, AI companion chatbots, and restrictions on cellphone use in schools.
Of course, introducing legislation doesn’t mean it becomes law. Some proposals never pass, while others face legal challenges or have delayed implementation dates.
Still, the volume of activity is worth watching.
For platforms operating nationwide, different state requirements can create a complicated compliance problem. A feature that’s available to a teenager in one state might require parental permission or different default settings in another.
When those features influence how content gets distributed, advertisers have a reason to pay attention.
Meta and TikTok Are Already Facing Major Changes
Some of the biggest developments have come through legal settlements.
In August 2026, Meta reached a multistate agreement addressing allegations that Facebook and Instagram exposed young users to harmful, addictive design features.
According to the District of Columbia Attorney General’s announcement, the agreement could require Meta to pay up to $17.1 billion and introduce significant protections for younger users.
Those measures include daily usage limits, restrictions on overnight access and notifications, stronger age verification, and additional parental controls.
The agreement also includes changes to features associated with social comparison and prolonged engagement.
For marketers, the potential consequences are fairly straightforward. If younger users spend less time on Instagram and Facebook, there may be fewer opportunities to reach them through advertising.
That doesn’t mean teen advertising disappears. Meta already limits the targeting options available for younger audiences. But changes to usage patterns could still influence reach, impressions, and campaign performance.
TikTok is facing similar pressure.
In September, the company agreed to pay Alabama at least $100 million to resolve allegations involving harms to young users. As detailed in the Alabama Attorney General’s settlement announcement, TikTok also agreed to introduce additional protections, including a two-hour daily usage limit for minors, nighttime restrictions, stronger parental controls, and an option for a non-personalized feed.
The similarities between these agreements are interesting.
States are pursuing changes to the same kinds of features across competing platforms. And with YouTube also facing legal scrutiny, the effects could extend well beyond any single social network.
That makes simply shifting advertising budgets from one platform to another a less reliable response.
New York Wants to Change How Teen Feeds Work
One of the most interesting developments for marketers comes from New York.
Under the state’s SAFE for Kids Act, covered social media platforms must restrict algorithmically personalized feeds and nighttime notifications for users under 18 unless they obtain parental consent.
The final rules released by New York Attorney General Letitia James in July 2026 are scheduled to take effect on January 25, 2027.
Without parental consent, younger users can still access platform content, but they won’t receive the same personalized recommendation experience. Instead, their feeds will rely on content from accounts they follow, presented chronologically.
Remember chronological feeds? Apparently, the dream of the 2010s is alive in New York.
For marketers, though, this is more than a nostalgic throwback.
Recommendation algorithms have become central to how people discover new creators, brands, and content. A user doesn’t necessarily need to follow an account to see its posts, especially on platforms where algorithmic discovery drives a significant share of engagement.
A chronological feed changes that dynamic.
Follower relationships could become more important, while content discovery among people who don’t already follow a brand or creator may become harder. That could affect organic reach, influencer performance, and the way brands build audiences over time.
The actual impact will depend on how platforms implement the rules and how users respond. But it’s a meaningful change to one of the systems marketers have spent years learning to navigate.
Florida Is Pushing for Even Stricter Limits
New York isn’t the only state trying to change the experience for younger users.
Florida has pursued stricter restrictions on social media access, including efforts to remove users under 14 from Facebook and Instagram and limit the time older teens spend on those platforms.
The state has also sought restrictions on features such as autoplay and infinite scrolling, along with limits on advertising and messaging once young users reach their daily usage limits.
Florida chose to pursue its own legal action rather than join the broader multistate settlement with Meta. The distinction matters because it illustrates how fragmented the regulatory environment could become.
Different states may pursue different age thresholds, usage limits, and requirements for specific platform features. For national brands, that creates uncertainty about how audiences will experience the same platforms across the country.
For the platforms themselves, it raises practical questions about whether they’ll build state-specific experiences or adopt broader changes that apply to everyone.
What Social Media Regulation Means for Marketers
The advertising implications go beyond whether a teenager can spend two hours or three hours on Instagram.
These regulations could affect the systems that determine how content is discovered, how long people stay engaged, and which audience signals advertisers can use. There are a few areas worth keeping an eye on.
Diversify your media mix. If reaching younger audiences is an important part of your strategy, relying too heavily on one platform creates additional risk. Consider how usage restrictions or changes in available inventory could affect your results.
Expect engagement benchmarks to change. Personalized feeds, notifications, and autoplay all influence how people interact with content. If those features change, impressions, reach, watch time, and engagement rates could change with them. Historical benchmarks may become less useful.
Pay attention to organic discovery. If more users move toward chronological or non-personalized feeds, follower relationships could become more important. Brands may need to rethink how they attract new audiences and maintain relationships with existing ones.
Revisit audience targeting and measurement. Stronger age verification and restrictions on personalization could influence which signals platforms use to deliver advertising. Make sure your reporting can account for changes in audience availability and campaign performance.
Keep creator marketing on your radar. Creators often depend on recommendation algorithms to reach people who don’t already follow them. Changes to those systems could affect content distribution and how brands evaluate influencer partnerships.
And perhaps most importantly, keep track of which regulations are actually enforceable.
A proposed bill, a settlement agreement, and a law scheduled to take effect next year are very different things. Marketers should understand the direction of these developments without making major budget decisions based on predictions alone.
Social Media Marketing Is Entering a Different Regulatory Era
Social media advertising isn’t going anywhere. But the rules governing the platforms are becoming more consequential.
For years, marketers have adapted to algorithm updates, changing ad formats, new targeting restrictions, and shifts in consumer behavior. Now, state governments are becoming another important influence on how those platforms operate.
The goal of protecting younger users is important. At the same time, changes to recommendation systems, engagement features, and audience access can have effects throughout the marketing ecosystem.
We don’t yet know exactly how these regulations will influence campaign performance. That will depend on implementation, legal challenges, and whether users change how much time they spend on each platform. But there’s a question worth asking now:
If governments start changing how social media platforms work, how much of your marketing strategy will need to change with them?
Social media platforms have spent years refining the features that keep people scrolling. Personalized feeds, endless recommendations, autoplay, and notifications have become part of how users discover content and how brands reach them.
Now, state lawmakers across the U.S. are taking a closer look at those features, particularly when it comes to younger audiences.
New social media regulations are targeting everything from age verification and parental consent to recommendation algorithms and daily screen time limits. Meta, TikTok, and YouTube are facing growing legal pressure, and some of the changes being discussed could have consequences for advertising, organic reach, and creator marketing.
For marketers, the challenge is figuring out how these rules could change audience behavior before those changes start showing up in campaign reports.
In the latest episode of The Daily Carnage Show, Shannon Sankey breaks down the wave of state-level social media regulations, the legal developments affecting major platforms, and what marketers should be paying attention to.
Want to dig deeper? Watch the full episode here for Shannon’s take on how these changes could reshape social media marketing.
States Are Writing Their Own Social Media Rules
For years, conversations about social media and young people’s mental health largely revolved around congressional hearings, public criticism, and voluntary platform changes.
State governments are now taking a more active role.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures’ 2026 legislation tracker, lawmakers in at least 40 states and Puerto Rico considered more than 300 bills and resolutions related to social media and children during the 2026 legislative session.
Those proposals cover a surprisingly broad range of issues, including age verification, parental consent, data collection, AI companion chatbots, and restrictions on cellphone use in schools.
Of course, introducing legislation doesn’t mean it becomes law. Some proposals never pass, while others face legal challenges or have delayed implementation dates.
Still, the volume of activity is worth watching.
For platforms operating nationwide, different state requirements can create a complicated compliance problem. A feature that’s available to a teenager in one state might require parental permission or different default settings in another.
When those features influence how content gets distributed, advertisers have a reason to pay attention.
Meta and TikTok Are Already Facing Major Changes
Some of the biggest developments have come through legal settlements.
In August 2026, Meta reached a multistate agreement addressing allegations that Facebook and Instagram exposed young users to harmful, addictive design features.
According to the District of Columbia Attorney General’s announcement, the agreement could require Meta to pay up to $17.1 billion and introduce significant protections for younger users.
Those measures include daily usage limits, restrictions on overnight access and notifications, stronger age verification, and additional parental controls.
The agreement also includes changes to features associated with social comparison and prolonged engagement.
For marketers, the potential consequences are fairly straightforward. If younger users spend less time on Instagram and Facebook, there may be fewer opportunities to reach them through advertising.
That doesn’t mean teen advertising disappears. Meta already limits the targeting options available for younger audiences. But changes to usage patterns could still influence reach, impressions, and campaign performance.
TikTok is facing similar pressure.
In September, the company agreed to pay Alabama at least $100 million to resolve allegations involving harms to young users. As detailed in the Alabama Attorney General’s settlement announcement, TikTok also agreed to introduce additional protections, including a two-hour daily usage limit for minors, nighttime restrictions, stronger parental controls, and an option for a non-personalized feed.
The similarities between these agreements are interesting.
States are pursuing changes to the same kinds of features across competing platforms. And with YouTube also facing legal scrutiny, the effects could extend well beyond any single social network.
That makes simply shifting advertising budgets from one platform to another a less reliable response.
New York Wants to Change How Teen Feeds Work
One of the most interesting developments for marketers comes from New York.
Under the state’s SAFE for Kids Act, covered social media platforms must restrict algorithmically personalized feeds and nighttime notifications for users under 18 unless they obtain parental consent.
The final rules released by New York Attorney General Letitia James in July 2026 are scheduled to take effect on January 25, 2027.
Without parental consent, younger users can still access platform content, but they won’t receive the same personalized recommendation experience. Instead, their feeds will rely on content from accounts they follow, presented chronologically.
Remember chronological feeds? Apparently, the dream of the 2010s is alive in New York.
For marketers, though, this is more than a nostalgic throwback.
Recommendation algorithms have become central to how people discover new creators, brands, and content. A user doesn’t necessarily need to follow an account to see its posts, especially on platforms where algorithmic discovery drives a significant share of engagement.
A chronological feed changes that dynamic.
Follower relationships could become more important, while content discovery among people who don’t already follow a brand or creator may become harder. That could affect organic reach, influencer performance, and the way brands build audiences over time.
The actual impact will depend on how platforms implement the rules and how users respond. But it’s a meaningful change to one of the systems marketers have spent years learning to navigate.
Florida Is Pushing for Even Stricter Limits
New York isn’t the only state trying to change the experience for younger users.
Florida has pursued stricter restrictions on social media access, including efforts to remove users under 14 from Facebook and Instagram and limit the time older teens spend on those platforms.
The state has also sought restrictions on features such as autoplay and infinite scrolling, along with limits on advertising and messaging once young users reach their daily usage limits.
Florida chose to pursue its own legal action rather than join the broader multistate settlement with Meta. The distinction matters because it illustrates how fragmented the regulatory environment could become.
Different states may pursue different age thresholds, usage limits, and requirements for specific platform features. For national brands, that creates uncertainty about how audiences will experience the same platforms across the country.
For the platforms themselves, it raises practical questions about whether they’ll build state-specific experiences or adopt broader changes that apply to everyone.
What Social Media Regulation Means for Marketers
The advertising implications go beyond whether a teenager can spend two hours or three hours on Instagram.
These regulations could affect the systems that determine how content is discovered, how long people stay engaged, and which audience signals advertisers can use. There are a few areas worth keeping an eye on.
Diversify your media mix. If reaching younger audiences is an important part of your strategy, relying too heavily on one platform creates additional risk. Consider how usage restrictions or changes in available inventory could affect your results.
Expect engagement benchmarks to change. Personalized feeds, notifications, and autoplay all influence how people interact with content. If those features change, impressions, reach, watch time, and engagement rates could change with them. Historical benchmarks may become less useful.
Pay attention to organic discovery. If more users move toward chronological or non-personalized feeds, follower relationships could become more important. Brands may need to rethink how they attract new audiences and maintain relationships with existing ones.
Revisit audience targeting and measurement. Stronger age verification and restrictions on personalization could influence which signals platforms use to deliver advertising. Make sure your reporting can account for changes in audience availability and campaign performance.
Keep creator marketing on your radar. Creators often depend on recommendation algorithms to reach people who don’t already follow them. Changes to those systems could affect content distribution and how brands evaluate influencer partnerships.
And perhaps most importantly, keep track of which regulations are actually enforceable.
A proposed bill, a settlement agreement, and a law scheduled to take effect next year are very different things. Marketers should understand the direction of these developments without making major budget decisions based on predictions alone.
Social Media Marketing Is Entering a Different Regulatory Era
Social media advertising isn’t going anywhere. But the rules governing the platforms are becoming more consequential.
For years, marketers have adapted to algorithm updates, changing ad formats, new targeting restrictions, and shifts in consumer behavior. Now, state governments are becoming another important influence on how those platforms operate.
The goal of protecting younger users is important. At the same time, changes to recommendation systems, engagement features, and audience access can have effects throughout the marketing ecosystem.
We don’t yet know exactly how these regulations will influence campaign performance. That will depend on implementation, legal challenges, and whether users change how much time they spend on each platform. But there’s a question worth asking now:
If governments start changing how social media platforms work, how much of your marketing strategy will need to change with them?