Children’s online safety in Wisconsin
In 2025–26 Wisconsin funded the investigators who handle internet crimes against children and wrote new crimes for sextortion, grooming and deepfakes. The bills that would have changed how app stores, social media and AI chatbots treat minors went no further than the Assembly. The age-verification bill for adult websites was vetoed.
At a glance
Enforcement passed, platform rules did not
Every bill that would have regulated apps or platforms expired with the session. The debate returns in 2027.
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9
Acts on phones in school, sextortion, grooming, deepfakes and internet crimes investigators
2025–26 session
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58–37
Assembly votes for the app store bill, against 37. The Senate held a hearing and did not vote
AB 962, 19 Feb 2026
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19
Organizations registered to lobby on the app store bill, with technology companies on both sides
lobbying.wi.gov
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1
Veto: the age-verification bill for adult websites. The override failed in the Assembly
AB 105, 3 Apr 2026
Current as of 23 October 2026
The bottom line
Wisconsin’s 2025–26 Legislature agreed on enforcement and disagreed on regulation. Bills that fund investigators, create crimes or help victims became law, most by wide margins. Bills that would set rules for app stores, social media accounts, explicit content and AI companions passed the Assembly or got a hearing, and none reached a Senate vote before the session ended on 23 March 2026. The one regulatory bill to reach the governor, age verification for adult websites, was vetoed on privacy and data-security grounds.
Meanwhile the ground has moved. Since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Texas age-verification law in June 2025, federal appeals courts have let several state social media laws take effect, four states have enacted app store laws, and the U.S. House has passed a children’s online safety package that the Senate has not acted on. The 2027–28 Legislature, which convenes in January, will start from that record.
WDBC has taken no position on any bill in this entry. It explains what Wisconsin has tried, what other states and Congress have done, and where the courts stand.
What became law
Nine 2025–26 acts address children’s safety online or the crimes that reach children through it. Where the record shows a tally, most passed by wide margins; the investigator funding bill passed 97–0 and 33–0. The school phone law was closer, 53–45 in the Assembly.
- 2025 Wis. Act 42 (AB 2): school boards must bar phone use during instructional time.
- 2025 Wis. Act 34 (SB 33): extends the crime of sharing intimate images to synthetic “deepfake” images; applies to all ages.
- 2025 Wis. Act 48 (AB 201): creates the crime of sexual extortion.
- 2025 Wis. Act 88 (AB 677): creates a crime of grooming a child for sexual activity.
- 2025 Wis. Act 215 (AB 923): lets victims of sexual extortion sue.
- 2025 Wis. Act 216 (AB 957): funding for Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) investigators.
- 2025 Wis. Act 217 (AB 958): new ICAC positions.
- 2025 Wis. Act 218 (AB 964): administrative subpoenas in sexual extortion cases with child victims.
- 2025 Wis. Act 219 (AB 966): a Department of Justice public awareness campaign.
An earlier law already covers computer-generated abuse images: 2023 Wis. Act 224 created s. 948.125, possession of virtual child pornography, including digital or computer-generated depictions of a purported child.
What did not become law
Many of these bills were introduced together in late January 2026 and taken up on the Assembly floor on 19 February. Each one that had not passed both houses expired on 23 March 2026.
- AB 962 / SB 937. App stores and app developers: age verification and parental consent for minors. Passed the Assembly 58–37 on 19 February 2026. Senate hearing on 4 March; no vote.
- AB 963 / SB 936. Social media accounts for minors. Passed the Assembly 60–35 on 19 February 2026. Senate hearing on 4 March; no vote.
- AB 961 / SB 938. Warning labels for explicit content. Passed the Assembly 61–34 on 19 February 2026. Senate hearing on 4 March; no vote.
- AB 948 / SB 957. Phones barred for the whole school day, replacing Act 42’s class-time rule. Passed the Assembly on 19 February 2026; the Senate Education Committee recommended it 4–1. No Senate floor vote.
- AB 965 / SB 939. AI systems that simulate humanlike relationships with children (companion chatbots). Public hearing on 4 February 2026; no committee vote.
- SB 758. Social media platforms’ treatment of minors. Senate hearing on 4 March 2026; no committee vote.
- AB 960 / SB 933. Mental health warnings on social media. No hearing.
- AB 1161 / SB 978. Online services accessed by minors and minors’ personal data. No hearing.
Age verification for adult websites
AB 105 required websites that publish material harmful to minors to verify visitors’ ages. As introduced, it also required those sites to block visitors using virtual private networks (VPNs); a Senate amendment removed that requirement and added VPN providers to the list of services exempt from liability. Both houses passed the amended bill in February 2026. Governor Evers vetoed it on 3 April 2026, citing the privacy and data-security risks of ID-based verification and pointing to device-based age checks as an alternative. The Assembly’s override attempt failed on 13 May 2026. A similar bill, 2023 AB 730, passed the Assembly in 2024 and died in the Senate.
Who registered
The state lobbying record shows the industry split by business model. On the app store bill (AB 962), Meta registered in favor, while Apple, Google, NetChoice, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, TechNet, the Entertainment Software Association and the Motion Picture Association registered against. On the social media accounts bill (AB 963) the positions reversed: Meta, NetChoice, CCIA and TechNet registered against, and Google and the Entertainment Software Association listed “other.” Roblox listed “other” on both and registered in favor of the investigator funding bill that became Act 216.
Wisconsin Family Action registered in favor of both platform bills and the adult-website bill, joined on that bill by the Wisconsin Catholic Conference. The ACLU of Wisconsin registered against all three. On the AI companion bill (AB 965), TechNet and the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council registered against, the council objecting to its private right of action. Details for each bill are public at lobbying.wi.gov.
Game companies are also part of this debate; see Video games and esports in Wisconsin.
Elsewhere
What other states have done
Four lines of state law, each at a different point in the courts.
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App stores
Four states, one in force
Utah, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama have enacted laws requiring app stores to verify age categories and get parental consent before minors download apps. Texas’s law is in effect after the Fifth Circuit stayed a lower-court injunction and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to lift the stay on 6 July 2026; the appeal is pending. Utah moved its start date to May 2027. California chose a different model: an age signal from the device’s operating system.
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Social media
Courts are shifting
Through mid-2025 most state laws requiring age checks or parental consent for social media were blocked on First Amendment grounds. Since then, the Eleventh Circuit sided with Florida and lifted the injunction against Georgia’s law (October 2026), the Sixth Circuit ordered judgment for Ohio (June 2026), and Mississippi’s law remains enforceable. Arkansas, Utah and Louisiana remain blocked on appeal. The Supreme Court has not ruled on the merits of any of them.
Eleventh Circuit, Florida, 14 Oct 2026 · Sixth Circuit, Ohio
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AI companions
Disclosure and crisis rules
New York’s safeguards for AI companions took effect in November 2025: crisis referrals and reminders that the user is not talking to a human. California enacted SB 243 in 2025 and stricter child-specific rules in September 2026. Washington’s law takes effect 1 January 2027 with a private right of action.
Adult websites: in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton (June 2025, 6–3) the Supreme Court upheld Texas’s age-verification law under intermediate scrutiny and noted that at least 21 other states had similar laws. Among Wisconsin’s neighbors, Iowa’s took effect on 1 July 2026. Minnesota enacted rules for minors’ social media accounts in May 2026 and Illinois a digital age assurance law in July 2026; Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan all have school phone laws.
In Washington
- Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act (H.R. 7757). The House package passed 267–117 on 29 June 2026 and is in Senate committee. It combines age verification for adult sites, a House version of the Kids Online Safety Act without a duty of care, rules for game chat tools and AI chatbots, and COPPA 2.0. It preempts state laws only where they conflict, and keeps state laws that give minors greater protection.
- Kids Online Safety Act (S. 1748). Approved by the Senate Commerce Committee on 5 August 2026; no floor vote.
- COPPA 2.0 (S. 836). Passed the Senate by unanimous consent on 5 March 2026; held at the House desk.
- TAKE IT DOWN Act (Public Law 119-12). Signed 19 May 2025. Platforms have had to remove nonconsensual intimate images, including AI-generated ones, within 48 hours of a valid request since 19 May 2026.
- FTC. The compliance date for amendments to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule was 22 April 2026. They require separate parental consent before sharing children’s data with third parties. In September 2025 the FTC ordered seven companies to report on AI companion chatbots and children.
- Federal preemption. An executive order of December 2025 set up a Justice Department task force to challenge state AI laws, but directed that the administration’s proposal to Congress not preempt state AI laws on child safety.
Bill status is from the congressional record as last updated in September 2026. Bills not enacted by 3 January 2027 expire with the 119th Congress.
Questions for 2027
- Who checks age? The app store, the device, or each app and website. Wisconsin’s registrations split along exactly this line, and the governor’s veto pointed to device-based checks.
- How does a state law fit federal action? If Congress passes the House package, its conflict-preemption clause and savings clause for stronger state protections would shape what a Wisconsin law can add.
- Content or design? Recent appeals rulings treat some laws as content-neutral design rules. How a Wisconsin bill is drafted may decide how a court reviews it.
- Who enforces, and how? The 2026 bills relied on the Department of Justice and DATCP, and some added private lawsuits, which drew registered opposition.
- Where do AI companions fit? Other states have chosen disclosure and crisis protocols; AB 965 would have limited children’s access.
Sources: 2025–26 and 2023–24 bill histories, acts, amendments and the AB 105 veto message at docs.legis.wisconsin.gov; Wisconsin Ethics Commission lobbying records at lobbying.wi.gov; court opinions and orders, state legislature and governor sites, congress.gov, govinfo.gov, the Federal Register and ftc.gov, as linked above. This entry reports and explains public policy; it is not legal advice. Corrections are welcome at team@wdbc.io.
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