Sammy’s Law
Current understanding
Sammy’s Law is proposed federal legislation that would require large social media platforms to expose interoperable interfaces allowing FTC-registered third-party child-safety software providers to monitor minors’ accounts, manage settings, and access relevant data to detect harms such as suicidal ideation, eating disorders, and sexual abuse. For platforms, it would impose new API and data-access obligations toward vetted safety vendors; for developers of safety tools, it establishes an FTC registration pathway; for users (parents and minors), it introduces a third-party-mediated oversight channel distinct from platform-native parental controls. Status: introduced.
Evidence log
- 2023-12-13 — Kids Online Safety Act: cross-connection with kids-online-safety-act: Both address platform safety for minors — Sammy’s Law focuses on third-party parental monitoring interoperability while KOSA imposes direct duty-of-care and parental tool requirements on platforms. (novelty: 3)
- 2025-06-26 — STOP CSAM Act of 2025: cross-connection with stop-csam-act: Both target platform child-safety obligations; STOP CSAM focuses on CSAM reporting and hosting bans while Sammy’s Law targets third-party safety tool access. (novelty: 3)
- 2026-07-28 — A bill to establish protections for minors who use companion artificial intelligence chatbots, and for other purposes.: cross-connection with companion-ai-chatbots-minors-protection-s5154: Both address online-platform child-safety duties; Sammy’s Law focuses on parental monitoring tools on social platforms while S5154 targets minor-user protections on companion AI chatbots. (novelty: 3)