GoKawiilHB5511 is officially about TikTok and Instagram. Read past the press release and it’s also about your operating system.
Governor JB Pritzker’s press release on HB5511 is thick with quotes from legislators and advocacy groups, and it names Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X, Facebook, and Roblox specifically. Device setup gets one mention, framed as something a parent configures during setup. Nowhere does it explain that the law also creates a separate legal category called an operating system provider, with its own 2028 deadline and its own civil penalties, that has nothing to do with what any parent chooses to click.
TL;DR
HB5511, the Children’s Social Media Safety Act , is now Illinois Public Act 104-0664 . Pritzker signed it July 31.
, is now Illinois . Pritzker signed it July 31. The headline provisions target social platforms: no algorithmic feeds for minors by default, no notifications between 10pm and 7am, no contact from adult strangers.
A separate part of the bill defines operating system provider and covered manufacturer broadly enough to include anyone who builds an internet-connected OS, commercial or nonprofit.
and broadly enough to include anyone who builds an internet-connected OS, commercial or nonprofit. By January 1, 2028 , those providers have to build an age-declaration step and hand an age-bracket signal to any app that requests one.
, those providers have to build an age-declaration step and hand an age-bracket signal to any app that requests one. Unlike Colorado, and unlike where California is heading, Illinois added no exemption for open source software .
. Enforcement runs through the Illinois Attorney General only. The bill’s own text caps penalties at $7,500 per affected child. The governor’s press release advertises penalties of up to $50,000 per violation. Those numbers don’t obviously square with each other.
The Version Illinois Wants You to Read
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