TRENTON – New Jersey Kids Code Coalition advocates celebrated as the New Jersey Kids Code (A4015) secured final passage by the state legislature alongside bills to create social media mental health warning labels and a new state social media research observatory, sending the bills to Governor Mikie Sherrill’s desk.
“Critical protections are on the way for New Jersey families,” said parent advocate Erin Popolo of South Brunswick, who lost her daughter Emily to online harms and testified and advocated for the Kids Code throughout the legislative session. “Advocates fought hard for this moment, and Big Tech’s lobbyists fought just as hard to stop us. We didn’t back down – we won these protections in the hope that no other family has to endure the pain mine has experienced. Thank you to Assemblywoman Katz and Senator Mukherji for their leadership in introducing and championing this legislation with Assembly members Sweeney, Peterpaul, Karabinchak, Morales, Kearney, and Singh as well as Senators Greenstein, Bucco, Beach, Moriarty, and McKnight. And my heartfelt gratitude to Speaker Coughlin for prioritizing this legislation and to Governor Sherrill, who promised to secure these protections for our kids and delivered.”
The New Jersey Kids Code would require online products and services to provide safety-by-design and privacy-by-default protections and uphold a duty of care to prevent compulsive use for known minors. New Jersey joins a growing number of states in embracing its design-centered legislative approach and leading with strong dual enforcement of the Act via the Attorney General and a private right of action.
The Kids Code passed as part of a broader youth online safety package alongside companion measure A4014, a bill to establish a state social media research center to study how online platforms affect our kids’ mental health, and S3412, which will require the social media research center to help develop requirements for social media platforms to display black box mental health warnings alerting users to the documented risks of heavy social media use.
Community advocates including young people, parents, educators, and medical professionals shared powerful testimony in support of the New Jersey Kids Code. An audio recording of this month’s Senate committee hearing on the Kids Code (S3413) may be found here, and an audio recording of February’s Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology committee hearing where companion Kids Code bill A4015 passed unanimously may be found here.
To learn more about the New Jersey Kids Code Coalition, visit https://kidscodecoalition.org/new-jersey/.
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