A House committee in Olympia is stalling this bill to protect kids from addictive apps

A bill in the Washington State legislature would require parental control options and limit the hours of push notifications for minors. It passed the Senate but has stalled in the House Consumer Protection & Business Committee. (Photo via Freepik.)

A strong bipartisan bill that would start protect kids from the addictive nature of algorithm-driven apps has passed the Washington State Senate but is now stalled in the House.

SB 5708, the Protecting Washington Children Online Act, would require operators of addictive online sites or applications to impose new broad protections for children and fundamentally change the way they consume online content.

The proposal would also create notification-free time periods during school hours and at night. Push notifications to minors would not be allowed during those times.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Noel Frame (D-Seattle), deems apps addictive when they use multiple pieces of media generated or shared by users to recommend, select, or prioritize other material to display.

In other words, if your child shared an image from a Disney movie on Instagram, and then other media from different Disney products were displayed in their feed based on their interest, that would constitute an addictive website or application.

That kind of personalized content would be barred for minors.

at-a-glance guide

The Transparency Coalition is supporting SB 5708 as a necessary and appropriate measure to start protecting our kids from the documented harm of social media and addictive apps.

Children’s Alliance, a statewide nonprofit that advocates for children, has led the advocacy effort for the bill this year. They published this guide to the proposal:

what the bill would do

Limited hours for push notifications: The proposal would prevent the use of push notifications for minors between midnight and 6 a.m., and on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. during the school year, unless the site or application has explicit parental consent. Software updates or security alerts would be allowed.  This portion of the bill would take effect immediately.

Parental / User access controls: The bill would also require that apps must provide—for users of all ages—the ability to limit their access to an addictive site or app to a specific length of time during the day, specified by the user.

Ability to dial down feedback: Users could also limit their ability to view the number of likes or other forms of feedback in an addictive feed. It would also require these sites and applications to provide a default feed that does not recommend or prioritize media based on the information provided to the user, or data provided by the user’s device, other than the user’s age or status as a minor.

Private mode: Users of all ages would also need to have the option to set their accounts to private mode, allowing only their direct contacts to view or comment on their content.   

Offering users a break from the addictive algorithm

All of this would be a major departure for how social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok operate. Mining user data and curating feeds, along with targeted advertising, has been a primary method for generating revenue for these sites.

House committee is holding back the bill

Rep. Amy Walen (D-Bellevue/Kirkland), shown at center, is chair of the House Consumer Protection & Business Committee, where the Protecting Washington Children Online Act is being held up.

support the bill: call these committee members today

SB 5708 can be moved by constituent support.

Every phone call in Olympia is logged by staff members. Legislators really do pay attention to which bills are receiving public support.

Currently, corporate tech lobbyists are in Olympia peddling the message that the bill is asking companies to do something that’s not technically feasible. That’s simply not true. Millions of kids in the EU are protected by these measures, and somehow social media and digital apps continue to thrive. Meanwhile, American parents and children are denied the same basic protections.

Legislators in Olympia can change that. They must have the courage to stand up to the tech lobby, and stand up for Washington’s parents and our children.

The two House members from your home district will be most responsive to your call. Find your House member with a helpful finder here, all you need is your address.

sponsor: ‘put some real protection in place for kids’

Washington State Sen. Noel Frame authored SB 5708, a measure to protect kids from the addictive nature of social media and online apps.

“I think every parent worries about what their children are up to online and the effect social media apps and their addictive content feeds have on their mental health and success at school,” Sen. Frame said in a release. “These sophisticated algorithms are so good at keeping you scrolling and scrolling. They can take our attention away from everything else going on in the world. Research shows there’s a direct link between screen time and youth mental health, and I think the Legislature has a responsibility to step in to see if we can help put some real protections in place for kids.”

Attorney General Nick Brown partnered with Frame on the legislation, as his agency requested the bill.

Under the proposal, these websites or apps would be required to estimate the age of minor users. They would not, however, be allowed to retain any personal information collected or use it for any purpose other than estimating age.

While the addictive internet-based services would not be allowed to provide addictive feeds to minors, they would be able to filter out addictive content for young users and allow them to proceed otherwise. 

If successful, the bill would take effect Jan. 1, 2026.

Read the Senate bill analysis

The full text of the bill is available here. We have the full bill analysis available below.

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