By Ben Szalinski
Capitol News Illinois
bszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com
Illinois governor JB Pritzker signed sweeping regulations August 1 aimed at social media companies and cracking down on “addictive algorithms” that keep kids glued to their screens.
House Bill 5511, known as the Children’s Social Media Safety Act, imposes a series of requirements on social media companies and how they are to interact with users under 18 years old. The law, which will take effect in 2028, was one of Pritzker’s top priorities during the spring legislative session and received unanimous support in both chambers.
“Big social media companies have intentionally designed their platforms to keep kids online for as long as possible,” Pritzker said before signing the bill at an event in Chicago. “Their algorithms learn what captures a child’s attention, which most often seems to be anger and euphoria, and then the algorithm keeps feeding them more of it. Why? The almighty dollar. They feed our kids an unrealistic picture of life and sell them products and agendas to achieve it.”
Under the law, social media platforms must confirm a user’s age through the device’s operating system. When devices are set up for children, parents would set the child’s age, which would automatically trigger certain restrictions required by the state.
To limit the addictive nature of social media feeds, the law prohibits companies from using a minor’s viewing history or data stored on the device to determine what shows up in their feeds. Instead, feeds for minors will only be allowed to show information the user requested or searched for or was posted by a creator the user follows. Kids will also be able to see media that is a direct, private message to them.
“These are common sense protections,” Pritzker said. “They don’t prevent young people from connecting with one another or their loved ones online. They don’t censor anyone. They take decisions about children’s online safety away from the companies and put it back in the hands of parents.”
Stronger default privacy settings are also required for minors, including shielding a minor’s precise location and limiting digital currency transactions. Social media sites and apps would also be prohibited from sending notifications to minors between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
“What we’re seeing is shrinking attention spans, rising depression rates, and in kids, sacrificing sleep to scroll long past when they should be asleep, is a real danger,” House bill sponsor Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, said.
The Illinois attorney general’s office would enforce the law. Violators would be liable for fines up to $2,500 for each child for unintentional violations and up to $7,500 per child for intentional violations.
“It is important that we balance the guardrails that keep young people safe — guardrails that technology companies should have implemented from the very beginning,” Attorney General Kwame Raoul said.
Raoul has joined lawsuits against both Meta and TikTok, alleging the companies have addictive designs that exploit children.
The law was generally opposed by tech companies. During testimony in committees this spring, lobbyists for the companies raised concerns that the bill would violate First Amendment rights and potentially trigger lawsuits against the state.
The final version of the bill was opposed by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Motion Picture Association, tech company advocacy organization TechNet, and the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Innovation and child safety are not competing interests,” bill sponsor Sen. Willie Preston, D-Chicago, said. “You do not have to choose between technological progress and protecting children. The greatest innovations solve problems; they do not create them.”
Cash payments
Most Illinois retailers will be required to accept cash payments beginning in 2028 under a bill Gov. JB Pritzker signed on Friday.
House Bill 4592 requires retailers that employ someone to process in-person consumer transactions must accept cash payments on purchases under $500, though the businesses do not have to accept bills larger than $20.
The requirement does not apply to self-checkout machines, overnight sales, if a business runs out of cash, membership-only businesses, or phone or internet purchases. Businesses that do not follow the law will have to pay fines.
“For many Illinois residents, cash remains a dependable and necessary way to pay for everyday purchases,” Sen. Christopher Belt, D-Swansea, said in a statement. “People deserve the freedom to choose how they pay.”
The measures was one of 87 bills Pritzker signed on Friday.
Jury pay
Employers will now have to pay their employees their full rate of pay while they are serving on jury duty under House Bill 4844. Businesses with 25 or fewer employees are exempt from the requirement, which begins immediately.
CPR practice
House Bill 4788 requires schools, beginning in the 2028-2029 school year, to provide breasted and non-breasted manikins for CPR practice in middle school and high school. The goal is to give students more practice with female victims, who studies show are less likely to receive help from bystanders when suffering cardiac arrest.
“When someone’s life is on the line, every second counts,” Sen. Laura Ellman, D-Naperville, said in a statement. “More inclusive, realistic CPR training helps people act quickly and save lives.”
Workload report
Senate Bill 3314 requires higher education institutions to provide more transparency about how many credits their faculty members are teaching.
The law requires the state’s colleges and universities to, beginning in Sept. 2028, report annually the number of credit hours being taught by full- and part-time faculty members. The reports would be organized by tenure status and discipline.
Lawmakers supporting the bill said the goal is to provide more transparency for students and educators about the higher education system and ensure faculty members are receiving necessary support.
“This legislation helps shine a light on who is doing the teaching in our colleges and universities by making clear how many credit hours are taught by full-time versus part-time faculty,” Illinois Education Association President Karl Goeke said in a statement. “Our students and their families deserve to know who is leading the bulk of the classes at their colleges and universities.”
Human trafficking
Drivers on Illinois interstates will soon notice more information about human trafficking at rest stops.
House Bill 4654 requires the Illinois Department of Transportation to install signs with resources for human trafficking victims in bathrooms at all rest areas, beginning immediately.
Airport noise
Senate Bill 4041 requires O’Hare and Midway airports in Chicago to conduct noise studies at least every five years beginning by the end of 2030. The study must map out how sound is distributed around the airport and forecast how noise will be distributed going forward.
Mental health treatment
House Bill 5193 allows more patients to be transported by ambulance to a mental health institution rather than a hospital emergency room beginning immediately. The law now allows people under the influence of drugs or alcohol to be transported to approved mental health facilities if EMTs determine that’s a more appropriate location and it is approved by their supervisors.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.