H.R. 5173

[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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