Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official page posted by the New Jersey Legislature, fetched 2026-08-28. Where this bill amends existing law, language marked for deletion in the official page appears here in brackets. This is the introduced version. The official bill page.
SENATE, No. 3412 STATE OF NEW JERSEY 222nd LEGISLATURE INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 9, 2026 Sponsored by: Senator RAJ MUKHERJI District 32 (Hudson) Senator LINDA R. GREENSTEIN District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex) Co-Sponsored by: Senators Beach and Moriarty SYNOPSIS Requires certain social media platforms to take certain actions concerning user mental health. CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT As introduced. An Act concerning social media use and advertising and supplementing Title 56 of the Revised Statutes. Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey: 1. The legislature finds and declares that: a. The United States Surgeon General released an advisory on social media and youth mental health in May 2023, which finds: (1) social media use by young people is nearly universal, with up to 95 percent of American minors between ages 13 through 17 reporting using a social media platform; (2) childhood and adolescence represent critical stages in brain development that can make young people more vulnerable to harms from social media; (3) usage of social media can become harmful depending on the amount of time children spend on platforms, the type of content they consume or are otherwise exposed to, and the degree to which it disrupts activities that are essential for health, such as sleep and physical activity; (4) 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; (5) social media may also perpetuate body dissatisfaction, disordered eating behaviors, social comparison, and low self-esteem, especially among adolescent girls; and (6) extreme, inappropriate, and harmful content continues to be easily and widely accessible by children and adolescents, and in certain cases, childhood deaths have been linked to suicide- and self-harm related content and risk-taking challenges on social media platforms. b. Heavier usage of social media also leads to less healthy sleep patterns and sleep quality, which can in turn exacerbate both physical and mental health problems. c. In 2024, a bipartisan coalition of 42 attorneys general urged the use of warning labels on social media platforms. d. Evidence cited in lawsuits against social media companies for harms against children also supports the use of warning labels to advise users of the potential harms of these features. Lawsuits have cited internal documents from companies detailing their deliberate targeting of children in order to bring them on the social media platform and to keep them on the platform. Internal documents have also revealed that social media platforms are aware that their features can impact the health and development of children’s brains and mental health. The documents demonstrate that platforms understand that children cannot resist some of these features due to their stage of development and capitalize on this in order to keep children on their platforms. e. Both New Jersey and the United States are facing an ongoing youth mental health crisis, with rates of adolescent suicides, depressive episodes, and feelings of sadness and hopelessness increasing significantly in recent years. f. State governments and the federal government have effectively employed black box style warnings to educate the public regarding goods that pose a risk of harm to public health. g. For these reasons, it is essential that New Jersey act to ensure that users, their families, and the public are warned of the risks of social media use, and requiring the display of a black box style warning is an appropriate mechanism for doing so. 2. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill): “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Health. “Covered social media platform” or “covered platform” means a public or semi-public Internet-based service or application that has covered users in this State and meets the following criteria: a. a primary function of the service or application is to connect covered users in order to allow covered users to interact socially with each other within the service or application, except that a service or application that provides email or direct messaging services shall not be considered to meet this criterion on the basis of that function alone; and b. the service or application allows covered users to do all of the following: (1) construct a public or semi-public profile for purposes of signing into and using the service or application; (2) populate a public list of other covered users with whom a covered user shares a social connection within the service or application; and (3) create or post content viewable by other covered users, including, but not limited to, on message boards, in chat rooms, or through a landing page or main feed that presents the covered user with content generated by other covered users. A service or application that consists primarily of news, sports, entertainment, ecommerce, or content that is preselected by the provider, or for which any chat, comments, or interactive functionality is incidental to, directly related to, or dependent on the provision of such content, shall not be considered to meet the criteria of this subsection of this definition on the basis of these functions alone. “Covered user” means a person who has an account on a covered social media platform, regardless of whether the person posts or has posted content or material to the covered social media platform. “Department” means the Department of Health. “Problematic behaviors” means behaviors, as determined by the commissioner, that may negatively impact a covered user’s mental health, including but not limited to: a. cumulative active use of a covered social media platform for three or more hours during one calendar day; b. accessing a covered social media platform within 10 minutes following awaking from sleep; and c. making 10 or more posts on the covered platform within one calendar day “Public or semi-public Internet-based service or application” excludes any Internet-based service or application that is used to facilitate communication within a business or enterprise among employees or affiliates of the business or enterprise, provided that access to the service or application is restricted to employees or affiliates of the business or enterprise using the service or application. 3. a. For each calendar day on which a covered user accesses a covered social media platform, the covered platform shall: (1) display a black box warning as described in paragraph (1) of subsection b. of this section to the covered user the first time that the covered user accesses the covered platform and the first time the covered user exits the covered platform that day; and (2) display a black box warning as described in paragraph (2) of subsection b. of this section to the covered user after three hours of cumulative active use and thereafter at least once per hour of cumulative active use. b. (1) The black box warning required by paragraph (1) of subsection a. of this section shall: (a) be displayed clearly and continuously for a duration of at least 10 seconds from the time the covered user access the covered platform, unless the covered user affirmatively dismisses the warning by clicking on a conspicuous X icon; (b) be displayed in a manner that occupies at least 25 percent of the screen or window of the electronic device that the covered user is using to access the covered platform; and (c) warn the covered user of the potential negative mental health impacts of accessing the covered social media platform. (2) The black box warning required by paragraph (2) of subsection a. of this section shall: (a) be displayed clearly and continuously for a duration of at least 90 seconds, without providing the covered user the ability to bypass or affirmatively dismiss the warning; (b) be displayed in a manner that occupies at least 75 percent of the screen or window of the electronic device that the covered user is using to access the covered platform; and (c) warn the covered user of the potential negative mental health impacts of prolonged use of a covered social media platform and guidance on how to mitigate the effects of those impacts. (3) Notwithstanding the forgoing, if a covered social media platform has actual knowledge that a covered user is over 17 years of age, the black box warning displayed to the covered user pursuant to paragraph (2) of subsection a. of this section may be displayed in the same manner described in paragraph (1) of this subsection. (4) In addition to the other information required pursuant to this section, all black box warnings required by subsection a. of this section shall display the following text: “The Surgeon General has warned that while social media may have benefits for some young users, social media is associated with significant mental health harms and has not been proven safe for young users.” 4. a. A covered social media platform shall: (1) monitor covered users’ activity on the covered platform for problematic behaviors as determined by the commissioner or the commissioner’s designee pursuant to subsection b. of this section; and (2) upon detection of problematic behavior by a covered user: (a) inform the covered user that problematic behavior has been detected on the covered user’s account; and (b) provide the covered user with resources approved by the department related to the problematic behavior. b. The commissioner, or the commissioner’s designee, shall: (1) create a list of problematic behaviors that may negatively impact a covered user’s mental health; and (2) display the list created pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection on the department’s Internet website. 5. Advertising of use of a covered social media platform shall: a. be based upon fact, and shall not be false, deceptive, or misleading; and b. include a disclaimer about the potential negative mental health impacts of using social media based on findings by the department and the United States Department of Health and Human Services. 6. A covered social media platform that violates the provisions of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall be liable for a civil penalty, not to exceed $250,000 per violation, to be collected in a civil action by a summary proceeding under the “Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999,” P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.). The Superior Court and the municipal court shall have jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of the “Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999,” P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.) pursuant to this subsection. 7. a. The provisions of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) do not limit or restrict in any way the application of other laws, statutes, rules, or regulations of this State. b. In the event of a conflict between P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) and one or more other laws of this State, the law that affords the greatest protection from harm to covered users under 18 years of age controls. c. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subparagraph, subsection, section or part of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subparagraph, subsection, section or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the Legislature that P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) would have been enacted even if such invalid provisions had not been included herein. 8. The department shall adopt and promulgate, pursuant to the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), rules and regulations as may be necessary for the implementation of this act. 9. This act shall take effect six months after enactment. STATEMENT This bill requires certain social media platforms to take certain actions concerning user mental health. Under the bill, a covered social media platform is required to display a black box warning to a user when the user initially accesses the platform, when the user exits the platform, after three hours of cumulative active use, and thereafter at least once per hour of cumulative active use. The black box notifications are required to take up a certain amount of screen space, be displayed for certain lengths of time, and contain warnings about the negative mental health effects associated with social media use as described in the bill. The bill also requires covered social media platforms to monitor users’ activity on the platform for problematic behaviors as determined by the Commissioner of Health and, upon detection of problematic behavior by a user, inform the user that problematic behavior has been detected on the user’s account and provide the user with resources approved by the Department of Health related to the problematic behavior. Additionally, the bill requires advertising of use of a covered social media platform to be based upon fact, not be false, deceptive or misleading, and include a disclaimer about the potential negative mental health impacts of using social media. Lastly, the bill states that a covered social media platform that violates the provisions of the bill is to be liable for a civil penalty, not to exceed $250,000 per violation.
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