This bill creates a new chapter in Title 19 RCW to regulate "addictive internet-based services or applications" and "addictive feeds." It prohibits operators from providing an addictive feed to a user who the operator actually knows is a minor (effective immediately until July 1, 2027) and, beginning July 1, 2027, prohibits providing an addictive feed unless the operator has reasonably determined the user is not a minor. It restricts sending push notifications to minors (or users not reasonably determined to be not minors) during specified overnight and school hours unless verifiable parental consent is obtained, with limited exceptions for software updates, security alerts, and account maintenance. The bill requires operators to provide user controls to limit daily time on an addictive feed, hide counts of likes/feedback, allow a default non-recommendation feed (except for age/status), and enable private account mode; it forbids giving parents additional or special access to a minor’s data or accounts and bars using or retaining information collected solely to determine age for other purposes except retaining age or age range as necessary. The bill also states that compliance with these requirements is not a defense to claims by minors about harm to mental health or well-being. Violations are declared to be unfair or deceptive acts in trade or commerce under the Washington Consumer Protection Act (chapter 19.86 RCW). The act includes a severability clause and will be null and void unless specific funding referencing the act is included in the omnibus appropriations act by June 30, 2026. Sections 1–9 are codified as a new chapter in Title 19 RCW. The bill defines key terms used in the chapter (including "addictive feed," "addictive internet-based service or application," "media," "minor" as a Washington resident under 18, "operator," and "parent") and identifies affected parties such as operators, users including minors, parents or guardians, and third parties acting on behalf of operators to determine age. The extracted text does not specify precise legal or technical standards for terms like "actual knowledge," "reasonably determined," or "verifiable to a reasonable level of certainty," does not define "push notifications" or the methods operators must use to determine age or verify parental consent, and does not set out enforcement procedures or technical/UI implementation details beyond invoking chapter 19.86 RCW.

If enacted, Washington social media companies and other services that rely on recommendation feeds will need to change how they treat Washington users who are minors: they will likely stop showing algorithmic recommendation feeds to users they know or cannot reasonably show are adults, limit push notifications during overnight and school hours unless parents give verifiable consent, and add controls for users to set daily time limits, hide like counts, pick a non-recommendation default feed, and make accounts private. The immediate effects for families are fewer algorithm-driven recommendations and fewer disruptive notifications for Washington minors, and parents will not be given special backend access to a child’s account or data. For operators and vendors this creates development, compliance, and legal costs to build age-determination and consent processes, update notification systems, and change interfaces, and it exposes them to enforcement under the state consumer protection law; third-party age-verification providers would also be directly affected. Key implementation details—what level of proof satisfies “actual knowledge,” “reasonably determined,” or “verifiable parental consent,” plus the exact scope of “push notifications” and enforcement remedies—are not specified here, and the act itself only takes effect if specific funding is included in the 2026 omnibus appropriations by June 30, 2026.