RESET Act
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does:
The RESET Act (Reducing Exploitative Social Media Exposure for Teens Act) bans social media platforms from allowing anyone under 16 to create or maintain an account. Platforms must identify and terminate existing accounts belonging to minors, with a timeline that gives users notice before their accounts are deleted.
Who Benefits and How:
Parents and guardians benefit by having a legal mechanism to keep their children off mainstream social media platforms. Age verification technology companies stand to gain significant business as platforms must now verify user ages. Companies that create kid-friendly alternative platforms could see increased demand as minors are pushed off mainstream social media.
Who Bears the Burden and How:
Major social media platforms like Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, X, and YouTube face substantial compliance costs: they must implement age verification systems, identify existing minor accounts, and manage account termination processes. The digital advertising industry loses access to the under-16 demographic. The FTC and state attorneys general take on new enforcement responsibilities. Minors themselves lose access to platforms they currently use.
Key Provisions:
- Platforms must terminate known minor accounts within 270 days (60 days to identify, 180 to notify, 30 more to terminate)
- Personal data of terminated minor accounts must be deleted, but minors have 90 days to request a copy
- Violations are treated as FTC Act violations with civil penalties
- State attorneys general can sue platforms on behalf of residents
- State laws on this topic are preempted (federal law takes precedence)
- Effective date is 1 year after enactment
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Prohibits social media platforms from allowing individuals under 16 to create or maintain accounts, requiring platforms to identify, notify, and terminate existing minor accounts within specified timeframes.
Who Benefits
- Parents and guardians of minors
- Child safety advocacy groups
- Companies developing age-verification technology
Who Bears Costs
- Social media platforms (Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, X, etc.)
- Minors under 16 who use social media
- Federal Trade Commission (enforcement burden)
Key Policy Areas
Technology, Consumer Protection, Children's Privacy, Social Media Regulation
Primary Purpose
Prohibits social media platforms from allowing individuals under 16 to create or maintain accounts, requiring platforms to identify, notify, and terminate existing minor accounts within specified timeframes.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Protect minors from social media harms by outright banning their presence on covered platforms, with FTC enforcement and state attorney general authority"
Identified Gains
- Parents and guardians of minors
- Child safety advocacy groups
- Companies developing age-verification technology
- Alternative platforms for minors
Identified Costs
- Social media platforms (Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, X, etc.)
- Minors under 16 who use social media
- Federal Trade Commission (enforcement burden)
- State attorneys general (enforcement capacity)
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMrs. Houchin introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Minors under 16, Parents and guardians of minors
Positive-direction: Parents and guardians of minors
Negative-direction: Minors under 16
Social media platforms (Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, X, YouTube, etc.)
Age verification technology providers
Alternative platforms designed for minors (kid-friendly apps)
Digital advertising industry targeting minors
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_commission"
- → Federal Trade Commission
- "covered_platform"
- → Social media platforms as defined in the TAKE IT DOWN Act (Public Law 119-12)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The Federal Trade Commission
Has the meaning given that term in section 4 of the TAKE IT DOWN Act (Public Law 119-12; 47 U.S.C. 223a note)
To have actual knowledge or to have acted in willful disregard
An individual under the age of 16
Has the meaning given the term 'personal information' in section 1302 of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6501)
An individual who creates or maintains an account or profile on the covered platform
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology