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Two bills filed in the Senate this week are designed to “mitigate harms to children online.” The legislation was filed by members of the Senate Study Committee on the Impact of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence on Children and Platform Privacy Protection as a result of meetings held during the off session.

The members heard testimony from parents, educators, mental health professionals, law enforcement and technology experts throughout the fall to prepare for the 2026 session of the General Assembly. Their final recommendations led to these two pieces of legislation which aim “to reduce online risks, ensure that technology companies are accountable for the safety of young users, provide stronger privacy protections for kids and help alleviate the burden on parents of keeping kids safe online.”

Senate Bill 495, sponsored by Sen. Sally Harrell, D–Atlanta, Study Committee Co-Chair, limits harmful design features and excessive data collection, requires strong default privacy settings and gives minors and parents greater control over personal data. The bill also requires companies to assess the risks posed by compulsive-use features and to increase transparency about how algorithms affect young users.

“Parents across Georgia are doing everything they can to keep their kids safe online, but the digital world makes that nearly impossible,” said Harrell. “This bill gets at the crux of the problem by focusing on platform design and data practices rather than speech, so it protects kids without infringing on First Amendment rights. It helps shift some of the responsibility back to the companies that build these products, instead of leaving parents to carry the entire burden on their own.”

Sen. Ed Setzler, R–Acworth, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, filed Senate Bill 488 – which clarifies that generative AI systems are products under Georgia law, allowing children harmed by these systems to pursue commonsense claims against manufacturers or sellers.

“This bill is about establishing clear responsibility, not stifling innovation,” said Setzler. “Artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly and bringing enormous opportunities, but when products cause harm, there must be basic accountability. By applying existing product-liability principles to generative AI, we can protect consumers while still allowing innovators to develop and deploy new technologies.”