Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday praised a state bill passed this month that will force social media companies to verify users’ ages to deter predators seeking to take advantage of kids.
The Democrat has said he will sign the bill, known as the Children’s Online Social Media Safety Act, into law. He said it’s aimed at curbing the harm that social media use can have on children, both with respect to their mental health and families’ finances.
The legislation requires age verification for social media users, specifically adding protections for those under age 18. For instance, a social media company would be required to not display a minor’s account and content to adult users who don’t have express permission to see it.
“It gives parents tools to limit what their children are able to access, and importantly, what we don't want is for children to be taken advantage of online,” either financially, or otherwise, Pritzker said at an event Tuesday in Chicago hosted by the media outlet Punchbowl News. “There are predators.”
The issue is a salient one as fraud surges across social media platforms, such as Facebook.
The Federal Trade Commission tallied the toll on consumers in an April report: $2.1 billion in losses in 2025 for consumers who said they were victimized by a scam that started on social media. Consumers reported losing more money to scams that originated on Facebook than on any other social media platform, the report said.
While Facebook includes older users, younger ones are not immune to the financial schemes being deployed there by fraudsters, with all age groups being affected, according to the FTC report. The social media company’s parent, Meta, has taken steps to curb fraud on its sites.
The bill, driven by Democratic legislators, is broadly focused on keeping kids from becoming addicted to social media or becoming dependent on it in ways that negatively affects their mental health. Still, it also generally seeks to block adult predators from connecting with kids.
The bill passed the legislature unanimously June 1, and is scheduled to take effect July 1, 2028. The governor didn’t say when he plans to sign the bill.
Pritzker used the speaking occasion to take a swipe at the federal government for not implementing more safeguards on the social media front, and with respect to new vulnerabilities created by artificial intelligence.
“We've got to start with ‘let's protect our children from the damage that technology and social media can do,’” the governor said. “We're modernizing the way we're regulating in the state of Illinois, and across the country, because the federal government has done nothing.”
Australia is one country that has made similar legal moves to protect kids. Last year, it became the first nation to ban access to social media for children under 16, and other countries, including the United Kingdom, are exploring such restrictions.
Ultimately, it’s up to the federal government to act in this area to ensure safety across the country, Pritzker said. “It needs to happen at the federal level,” he said. “The federal government's got to step up here.”
Pritzker's name has surfaced as a potential presidential candidate for 2028. When asked Tuesday about that possibility, he sidestepped the question and said he's focused on seeking re-election to the Illinois governor's office this year.
