Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and state Sen. Dayna Polehanki held a roundtable Thursday with parents, students, physicians, and advocates pushing the state legislature to pass new restrictions on social media platforms used by children.
The event, hosted April 17 in the week after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer attended a tech accountability summit in East Lansing, centered on what supporters call the Kids Over Clicks bill package, a set of proposals from Senate Democrats that would increase regulation and limitations on how social media and AI chatbot companies can market to and interact with minors in Michigan.
Who was in the room
Polehanki, a Democrat from Livonia, and Nessel convened the session alongside members of the Michigan Parent Alliance for Safe Schools, an advocacy group whose members include parents from across the state. The group’s participation reflected a broader push to get the legislation moving through the Capitol.
Jennifer Tuksal, an Oakland County parent of teen children and a Michigan Parent Alliance for Safe Schools member, told the Michigan Advance what’s driving the effort. “We are grateful to Attorney General Dana Nessel and Michigan legislators for standing with families who simply want our children to be safe when they go online, whether to chat with friends, play games or check out fashion trends,” she said. “No child should ever be exposed to dangerous content so Big Tech can keep them glued to screens to make more profits.”
Polehanki went further, connecting the roundtable to recent court decisions. “From social media addiction and data privacy abuses to dangerous, inappropriate chatbot interactions, the harms caused to our kids by social media and AI companies are not only disturbing and unacceptable, they’re also preventable,” she said. “As courts across the nation begin to recognize the real consequences of allowing Big Tech to go unchecked, it’s more important than ever to hold these companies accountable.”
Two trials changed the legal math
The timing isn’t accidental.
In March, two separate courts ruled against Meta, Facebook’s parent company, in cases that directly challenged how its algorithms target young users. A New Mexico jury found that Meta’s social media algorithms are harmful to children’s mental health and violate state consumer protection law. A California judge, ruling in a separate case, found that both Meta and Google were negligent in allowing social media algorithms to fuel a youth mental health crisis. Those decisions gave advocates fresh ammunition, and they’re using it.
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act has governed federal baseline protections for minors online since 1998, but advocates at the roundtable argued it doesn’t go far enough. States including Michigan are moving to fill that gap.
Whitmer’s East Lansing moment
Whitmer’s appearance at the East Lansing summit on April 7 set a clear political signal. She took part in a demonstration of social media “red flags” during a panel on tech company accountability, and said the state has a real role to play even if federal action would go further. That summit and Thursday’s roundtable represent a coordinated effort to build enough public pressure to push the Kids Over Clicks package to a floor vote.
The bill package hasn’t cleared committee yet. Polehanki’s office didn’t give a timeline for that vote, and no Republican co-sponsors have been publicly named. That’s a problem in any chamber that needs bipartisan support to move quickly.
What the bills would do
The Kids Over Clicks package targets social media companies and AI chatbot providers directly, aiming to restrict data collection from minors, limit algorithmic targeting of young users, and set stricter standards for AI interactions with children. The specifics of each bill haven’t been released publicly in full, but the Michigan Legislature’s bill tracking page will carry the text once formal introduction is recorded.
Tuksal and other parents who spoke at the roundtable said they aren’t waiting for federal regulators to act.
Oakland County parents aren’t alone. The Michigan Parent Alliance for Safe Schools draws members from multiple counties, and the group has been vocal since the New Mexico and California verdicts landed. Their presence Thursday gave Nessel and Polehanki a constituency to point to as they push colleagues to schedule hearings.
Next steps sit with the Senate committee calendar. If Polehanki and Nessel can keep the March court rulings in the headlines and parents showing up at the Capitol, they’ve got a real shot at moving the package before the summer recess.
