[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5173 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5173
To require social media companies to use geofencing to block access to
their social media platforms on K-12 education campuses, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 8, 2025
Ms. Craig introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require social media companies to use geofencing to block access to
their social media platforms on K-12 education campuses, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``No Social Media at School Act''.
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO BLOCK ACCESS TO SOCIAL MEDIA ON K-12 EDUCATION
CAMPUSES.
(a) Requirement.--A social media company shall use geofencing to
block access to their social media platform on a K-12 education campus
during the regular school day (as determined by the local educational
agency associated with such campus), except for any push notification
that includes a weather alert, an amber alert, and other uses from
emergency responders for public safety purposes.
(b) Protections for Privacy.--Nothing in this section may be
construed to require--
(1) the affirmative collection of any personal data with
respect to the age of users by a social media company that the
company is not already collecting in the normal course of
business; or
(2) a social media company to implement an age gating or
age verification functionality.
(c) Enforcement.--
(1) Enforcement by federal trade commission.--
(A) Unfair and deceptive acts or practices.--A
violation of this section shall be treated as a
violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act
or practice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the
Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)).
(B) Powers of the commission.--
(i) In general.--The Federal Trade
Commission shall enforce this section in the
same manner, by the same means, and with the
same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though
all applicable terms and provisions of the
Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et
seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of
this section.
(ii) Privileges and immunities.--Any person
that violates this section shall be subject to
the penalties, and entitled to the privileges
and immunities, provided in the Federal Trade
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.).
(C) Authority preserved.--Nothing in this section
shall be construed to limit the authority of the
Commission under any other provision of law.
(d) Enforcement by State Attorneys General.--
(1) In general.--
(A) Civil actions.--In any case in which the
attorney general of a State has reason to believe that
a covered platform has violated or is violating this
section, the State, as parens patriae, may bring a
civil action on behalf of the residents of the State in
a district court of the United States or a State court
of appropriate jurisdiction to--
(i) enjoin any practice that violates
subsection (a);
(ii) enforce compliance with subsection
(a);
(iii) on behalf of residents of the State,
obtain damages, restitution, or other
compensation, each of which shall be
distributed in accordance with State law; or
(iv) obtain such other relief as the court
may consider to be appropriate.
(B) Notice.--
(i) In general.--Before filing an action
under subparagraph (A), the attorney general of
the State involved shall provide to the
Commission--
(I) written notice of that action;
and
(II) a copy of the complaint for
that action.
(ii) Exemption.--
(I) In general.--Clause (i) shall
not apply with respect to the filing of
an action by an attorney general of a
State under this paragraph if the
attorney general of the State
determines that it is not feasible to
provide the notice described in that
clause before the filing of the action.
(II) Notification.--In an action
described in subclause (I), the
attorney general of a State shall
provide notice and a copy of the
complaint to the Commission at the same
time as the attorney general files the
action.
(2) Intervention.--
(A) In general.--On receiving notice under
paragraph (1)(B), the Commission shall have the right
to intervene in the action that is the subject of the
notice.
(B) Effect of intervention.--If the Commission
intervenes in an action under paragraph (1), the
Commission shall have the right--
(i) to remove the action to the appropriate
United States district court;
(ii) to be heard with respect to any matter
that arises in that action; and
(iii) to file a petition for appeal.
(3) Construction.--For purposes of bringing any civil
action under paragraph (1), nothing in this section shall be
construed to prevent an attorney general of a State from
exercising the powers conferred on the attorney general by the
laws of that State to--
(A) conduct investigations;
(B) administer oaths or affirmations; or
(C) compel the attendance of witnesses or the
production of documentary and other evidence.
(4) Actions by the commission.--In any case in which an
action is instituted by or on behalf of the Commission for
violation of this section, no State may, during the pendency of
that action, institute a separate action under paragraph (1)
against any defendant named in the complaint in the action
instituted by or on behalf of the Commission for that
violation.
(5) Venue; service of process.--
(A) Venue.--Any action brought under paragraph (1)
may be brought in--
(i) the district court of the United States
that meets applicable requirements relating to
venue under section 1391 of title 28, United
States Code; or
(ii) a State court of competent
jurisdiction.
(B) Service of process.--In an action brought under
paragraph (1) in a district court of the United States,
process may be served wherever defendant--
(i) is an inhabitant; or
(ii) may be found.
(e) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal
Trade Commission.
(2) Geofencing.--The term ``geofencing'' means a virtual
boundary maintained by a social media platform.
(3) K-12 education.--The term ``K-12 education'' means an
elementary school or secondary school (as such terms are
defined in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)).
(4) Local educational agency.--The term ``local educational
agency'' has the meaning given such term in section 8101 of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
7801).
(5) Social media company.--The term ``social media
company''--
(A) means a company that runs a social media
platform; and
(B) does not include--
(i) an organization not organized to carry
on business for its own profit or that of its
members; or
(ii) an educational agency or institution
(as defined in section 444 of the General
Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C.
1232g(a)(3))).
(6) Social medial platform.--
(A) In general.--The term ``social media platform''
means a public-facing website, online service, online
application, or mobile application that--
(i) is directed to consumers;
(ii) collects personal data;
(iii) primarily derives revenue from
advertising or the sale of personal data; and
(iv) as the primary function provides a
community forum for user-generated content,
including messages, videos, and audio files
among users where such content is primarily
intended for viewing, resharing, or platform-
enabled distributed social endorsement or
comment.
(B) Limitation.--The term ``social medial
platform'' does not include a platform that, as the
primary function for consumers, provides or facilitates
any of the following:
(i) The purchase and sale of commercial
goods.
(ii) Teleconferencing or videoconferencing
services that allow reception and transmission
of audio or video signals for real-time
communication, provided that the real-time
communication is initiated by using a unique
link or identifier to facilitate access.
(iii) Crowd-sourced reference guides such
as encyclopedias and dictionaries.
(iv) Cloud storage, file sharing, or file
collaboration services, including such services
that allow collaborative editing by invited
users.
(v) The playing or creation of video games.
(vi) Content that consists primarily of
news, sports, sports coverage, entertainment,
or other information or content that is not
user-generated but is preselected by the
platform and for which any chat, comment, or
interactive functionality is incidental,
directly related to, or dependent on the
provision of the content provided by the
platform.
(vii) Business, product, or travel
information including user reviews or rankings
of such businesses, products, or other travel
information.
(viii) Educational information,
experiences, training, or instruction provided
to build knowledge, skills, or a craft,
district-sanctioned or school-sanctioned
learning management systems and school
information systems for the purposes of schools
conveying content related to the education of
students, or services or services on behalf of
or in support of an elementary school or
secondary school, as such terms are defined in
section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
(ix) An email service.
(x) A wireless messaging service, including
such a service provided through short message
service or multimedia messaging protocols, that
is not a component of, or linked to, a social
media platform and where the predominant or
exclusive function of the messaging service is
direct messaging consisting of the transmission
of text, photos, or videos that are sent by
electronic means, where messages are
transmitted from the sender to the recipient
and are not posted publicly or within a social
media platform.
(xi) A broadband internet access service
(as such term is defined for purposes of
section 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of Federal
Regulations, or any successor regulation).
(xii) A virtual private network or similar
service that exists solely to route internet
traffic between locations.
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