A four-bill package aimed at protecting Michigan kids from the harms of social media awaits a vote in the House, and Democratic proponents of the legislation say the November midterms could determine whether it passes.
The Kids Over Clicks package passed the Senate with bipartisan support in April. State Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton, who represents the 4th District, said it aims to protect kids in the absence of federal legislation, with four bills regulating addictive algorithms and protecting kids from manipulative AI chatbots.
Meta has agreed to pay the state at least $171 million to settle a multistate lawsuit over the addictive and dangerous nature of its Instagram and Facebook algorithms. As part of the settlement, Meta has also agreed to certain changes, including improved parental controls for age-appropriate content and screen time limits during school and nighttime hours. Meta has said those changes could take up to a year to implement.
Until the federal government steps in, bills like Kids Over Clicks are among the few protections standing between children and Big Tech giants who critics say aim to monetize their attention.
Package faces a tougher fight in the House
Camilleri said that while the bills had bipartisan support in the Senate, the House will pose a challenge to the legislation with Republican Speaker Matt Hall at the helm. Camilleri described Hall as “hell-bent on not getting anything done, regardless of policy outcomes.”
“Big Tech is affecting all of us—it’s not one group of people or another, it is everybody,” Camilleri said. “Our job as lawmakers should be to protect everyone, and as we are talking specifically about our kids, I don’t know why we can’t all come together to make sure that we’re enacting this legislation together and actually protecting the state.”
Camilleri also said this year’s session was the least productive in the state’s history, passing fewer bills than in the year Michigan was first established.
“That’s something that (Hall) takes a lot of pride in, and that’s unfortunate because we have real problems to solve,” Camilleri said.
The ‘Gander reached out to Hall for comment, but received no response.
A patchwork approach
Ilana Beller, director of state AI governance and tech policy for Public Citizen, works with states seeking to implement protections in the absence of federal legislation.
Her team has outlined seven model bills, offering boilerplate language states can use to address the harms of deepfakes, chatbots, healthcare coverage and surveillance.
“They’re harms that need to be regulated in real time, or, you know, very obvious looming harms, and we need protections on the books now,” Beller said.
The model bills may be a piecemeal approach without help from the federal level. But they give states a way to address known and looming harms now, with room to improve down the road. And they’ve been successful, Beller said.
“All of the models that we have have had broad bipartisan support. So both Democrats and Republicans have introduced them, passed them,” she said.
Heading into the 2024 election, Public Citizen shared model bills targeting deepfake election ads, which used AI technology to depict candidates doing and saying things they never did. The model bills aimed to protect voters and alert them to AI use in videos. Through that work, the group determined states needed further help pinpointing potential harms and outlining solutions.
In Michigan, Beller said the chatbot model language she’s outlined is reflected in some of the Kids Over Clicks legislation. Michigan signed its deepfake election ads bill into law in 2023. More than 30 states have legislation either in effect or pending on the issue, according to Public Citizen’s tracker.
“The landscape would look differently if the federal government was putting meaningful protections in place on these things,” Beller said.
Until that happens, state laws are filling the gap.
“From our perspective, in a lot of these cases, there should be a combination of a private right of action and some form of attorney general enforcement,” Beller said.
What Michigan is doing to protect kids
In Michigan, polling shows parents are aware of parental controls, but say they find them difficult to use and time-consuming to monitor. More and more kids are using social platforms each year, and some spend as many as 3.5 hours a day on them.
In October 2023, Attorney General Dana Nessel and 33 other state attorneys general sued Meta over addictive features and dangerous algorithms that they alleged were harming children. Michigan withdrew from the federal case in early 2025, citing litigation costs, but is still set to receive funds under the settlement, according to Michigan Public. On Aug. 26, Nessel announced a settlement that would send Michigan at least $171 million.
“For too many years, social media platforms have traded our children’s mental health for engagement on their apps,” Nessel said in a news release. “This historic settlement holds Meta accountable and puts critical, first-of-its-kind safeguards in place to protect Michigan kids, including daily screen breaks, nighttime access blocks, and the removal of harmful features like public like counts. Now, the responsibility to protect our youth cannot end here. It is my hope that this is a turning point for the entire social media industry to prioritize the safety and well-being of children over their bottom line.”
Nessel’s office told The ‘Gander on Oct. 2 that, following the settlement’s approval by a US District Court judge, “disbursements have begun, and we expect to receive Michigan’s disbursement in the weeks ahead.”
What the state bills would do
In the meantime, the Kids Over Clicks package would bar platforms from feeding kids addictive, data-driven content without parental consent. It would also restrict kids’ use of AI companion chatbots and strengthen data and privacy protections, with tougher enforcement when Meta and other tech giants fall short.
“The algorithms are intentionally targeting these kids, and we’re seeing the effects of that,” Camilleri said. “We’ve heard from families who, unfortunately, have lost some of their kids due to depression and suicide because of the types of behaviors that take place online. And we know that if we can at least try to enact some guardrails, those types of things have a less likelihood of happening.”
Camilleri said state lawmakers are stepping in because the federal government hasn’t.
“We don’t believe that the federal government is going to do anything. And so, while they are not acting, we should do more,” he said.
He said a patchwork approach isn’t ideal, but it can work.
“Other countries have started to enact this type of policy as well, so this is not something that’s new to Meta,” he said. “They do have a patchwork of international policies to adhere to. They can do the same right here in the United States.”
What November could mean
Camilleri said he hopes major lawsuits like the one settled this year will push Meta toward “a wholesale change in the way that they approach their internal policy.”
Kids Over Clicks cleared the Senate on a close vote, and Camilleri reiterated he’s not confident it will fare as well in the House without significant change.
“At this point, I’m not so hopeful given the current dynamics,” he said. “But if things change in November, I do think that we’ve got a really good chance of getting this done.”
