Congress orders FTC to study social media's impact on teen mental health
H.R. 6290 — Safe Social Media Act · Filed by Cliff Bentz (R-OR) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Nov 25, 2025 · Markup held
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What it does
This bill directs the Federal Trade Commission, working with the Department of Health and Human Services, to study how social media platforms collect and use personal information from teenagers under 17, including data collection practices, algorithmic use, targeted advertising, usage frequency, mental health effects, and potential harms or benefits. The FTC must report findings and policy recommendations to Congress within 3 years.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a directive to conduct a study and report findings. It creates no new regulatory authority, no restrictions, and no direct financial flows—only a fact-gathering obligation with a 3-year deadline.
What the text implies
- Study findings may form the evidentiary basis for future restrictive legislation on social media platforms, data collection, or algorithmic targeting of minors—the bill itself does not restrict, but it creates a pathway for Congress to do so.
- Exemption from Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. § 3501 et seq.) allows FTC to conduct the study without the usual notice-and-comment burden, accelerating the timeline but reducing public input into study design.
- Coordination with HHS Assistant Secretary for Mental Health signals that mental health effects on minors are the primary policy concern, potentially steering the study toward documenting harms rather than balanced assessment of benefits.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates a fact-finding mechanism with no direct restrictions on citizens' rights or access. It mandates transparency about how platforms collect and use minors' data and potential mental health harms, providing Congress and the public with evidence needed to make informed policy decisions. The study itself imposes no new costs on ordinary people.
Named in the bill
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, Social media platforms (unnamed), Congress
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Democrats.
- Nov 25, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Nov 25, 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
5 lobbying clients named this bill on 8 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $7,695,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 30 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 78% of bills with at least one filing.
Cliff Bentz, the sponsor, reported $618,750 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Google Client Services LLC — $6,920,000 on 2 filings
- News Media Alliance — $475,000 on 1 filing
- Technet — $160,000 on 2 filings
- Software & Information Industry Association (siia) — $120,000 on 2 filings
- Computer & Communications Industry Association — $20,000 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.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,062 characters) on Jul 2, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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