New law opens child social media accounts to law enforcement surveillance

What it does

Sammy's Law requires large social media platforms (those with over 100 million monthly users or $1 billion annual revenue) to create APIs that allow parents, guardians, or teens aged 13+ to delegate account management to third-party safety software providers. These providers can monitor interactions, adjust settings, and receive user data to detect harms like cyberbullying, trafficking, and abuse. The bill establishes FTC registration and annual audits for safety providers, requires data deletion within 14 days, and permits disclosure only to law enforcement, the child/parent, or in imminent safety threats.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is a mandatory API for third-party parental monitoring, but its operative effect extends to creating a data-collection and disclosure regime that permits law enforcement access to child communications with minimal procedural protection—making it simultaneously a child-safety tool and a surveillance infrastructure.

What the text implies

• Law enforcement can obtain child communications and account data via subpoena or court order with no heightened standard or notice requirement to the child or parent, potentially enabling surveillance of political speech, activism, or protected expression by minors.
• Third-party safety providers become custodians of sensitive child data (location, contacts, messages, browsing) and are permitted to disclose it to government on demand—creating a new surveillance intermediary with minimal transparency or oversight.
• The bill preempts all state laws requiring API access for parental monitoring, eliminating state-level consumer protections or stronger privacy standards that might otherwise apply.
• Disclosure to parents is permitted for a broad list of harms including 'academic dishonesty' and 'sharing personal information'—potentially enabling parental surveillance of normal adolescent behavior and privacy.
• The 14-day data retention window for third-party providers is short, but the bill permits indefinite retention of data disclosed to law enforcement or parents, creating a permanent record of child communications.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill creates a genuine parental monitoring tool for child safety on social media, addressing real harms like trafficking and cyberbullying. However, it also creates a new surveillance infrastructure that collects sensitive child data, transfers it to third parties, and permits disclosure to law enforcement with minimal procedural safeguards—potentially chilling speech and enabling government overreach into family communications.

Who stands to gain

• third-party safety software providers (parental monitoring companies)
• large social media platforms (liability shield for data transfers)
• law enforcement agencies (access to child data without warrant requirement)

Named in the bill

Federal Trade Commission (FTC), large social media platforms, third-party safety software providers, parents and legal guardians, children under 17, law enforcement, Department of State

Where it stands

22 cosponsors: 11 Democrats, 11 Republicans.

• Apr 3, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Apr 3, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade”
• Dec 11, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

16 lobbying clients named this bill on 23 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $17,542,909 in lobbying spend. A filing names 18 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 95% of bills with at least one filing.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the sponsor, reported $768,550 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Google Client Services LLC — $6,920,000 on 2 filings
• Meta Platforms, Inc. and Various Subsidiaries — $5,990,000 on 1 filing
• Software & Information Industry Association — $1,396,909 on 1 filing
• Entertainment Software Association — $1,390,000 on 1 filing
• News Media Alliance — $475,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.