Sherrill Picks Rutgers to Host New Jersey's Social Media Research Center as Kids' Online Safety Laws Face First Amendment Fights Nationwide

Gov. Mikie Sherrill and Secretary of Higher Education Margo Chaly announced Monday that Rutgers University will host New Jersey's new Social Media Research Center, which will study social media's effects on children, including whether warning labels on social media platforms could discourage compulsive use.

Rutgers "was selected through a competitive grant process," the governor's office said in a press release issued Oct. 19. The center is backed by a $500,000 grant from the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, funded in the Fiscal Year 2027 budget, according to the release.

The center was created by one of three bills Sherrill signed on Aug. 11. Another bill in that package, the New Jersey Kids Code Act, codified the New Jersey Age-Appropriate Design Code. Laws of that kind have been at the center of First Amendment lawsuits in other states.

What Sherrill Announced on the Social Media Research Center

"I promised in my campaign to take on Big Tech because it poses one of the greatest generational threats to our kids' mental health and well-being. Today, we're delivering on a major pillar of that promise in a new Social Media Research Center," Sherrill said in the release.

"Research has linked social media to depression and anxiety, fatigue and trouble sleeping, poor body image and disordered eating," she said. "This new Center will be an invaluable tool to help us better understand how technology is affecting our children, and more importantly, turn research into real solutions to protect our kids, support our families, and address the ongoing youth mental health crisis."

According to the release, the center will focus on three areas: assessment of social media's impacts, intervention to reduce "addictive and harmful social media use," and prevention. It will be directed by three Rutgers associate professors: Dr. Jessica Hamilton of the School of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Jeffrey Lane of the School of Communication and Information and Dr. Vivien Wen Li Anthony of the School of Social Work.

"Rutgers University will put this expertise to work by playing a vital role in the State's understanding of the impacts social media has on our young people," Chaly said in the release.

Rutgers President William F. Tate IV said the center "will turn the study of social media's effects on young people into practical solutions for New Jersey families and communities."

Under the law that created it, the center must also study whether warning labels and mandatory disclaimers could reduce addictive social media behaviors among children. It must issue a final report with its findings and policy recommendations within 18 months, the governor's office said when the bills were signed in August. That research is meant to support later rulemaking by the New Jersey Department of Health.

The release also noted that New Jersey will receive at least $525 million, and could receive over $752 million, under a $17.1 billion multistate settlement with Meta Platforms that Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced in August.

What New Jersey's Kids Code Requires

The Kids Code Act limits the data companies can collect and retain from children, sets safeguards around interactions between minors and adult users, requires platforms to set children's default privacy settings to the highest level, and restricts platform features designed to keep young users constantly engaged, according to the governor's office.

"Big Tech might have stopped politicians in Washington from holding them accountable, but they won't stop us here in New Jersey," Sherrill said when she signed the package on Aug. 11.

The law covers online services "reasonably likely to be accessed" by minors that meet revenue or data thresholds, according to an Aug. 20 analysis by the law firm Hunton. Violations are treated as unlawful practices under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, and the law creates a private right of action, the firm wrote. Hunton wrote that the law takes effect on the first day of the 13th month after enactment.

The First Amendment Fight Over Kids' Online Safety Laws

NetChoice, a trade association of internet companies, opposed the New Jersey bill before it passed. In June 28 testimony to the Assembly Budget Committee, NetChoice called it "the misleadingly named Kids Code Act of New Jersey" and argued that it "effectively requires that social media companies perform age-verification for every user of its services."

"An unconstitutional bill protects no one," the group wrote, citing court orders that blocked similar laws in Arkansas, California and Ohio. As of Oct. 19, NetChoice's online list of its lawsuits did not include a case against New Jersey's law, and TDFP found no lawsuit filed against it.

UPDATE: Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Gov. Sherrill referred TDFP to the governor's remarks on the subject at the August bill signing. The governor's office also said the law directs the Rutgers center to study the effects of social media use and give policymakers, families, educators and communities recommendations on addictive social media behaviors among children and minors, and that the center must submit an annual report that will be made public.

California's Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, a similar law, has been tied up in NetChoice v. Bonta since NetChoice sued before that law took effect. A federal judge blocked the entire law in September 2023. On March 12, 2026, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit narrowed the injunction, according to a summary by the law firm Cooley. The panel found that NetChoice had not justified blocking the whole law or its age-estimation requirement, but agreed that the law's data use restrictions and its ban on "dark patterns" are likely unconstitutionally vague, Cooley wrote. The case went back to the district court.

At the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in August 2025 that a Mississippi law requiring age verification for social media is "likely unconstitutional" under the court's precedents. He agreed with the court's decision not to block the law while the case continued, writing that NetChoice had not shown "the balance of harms and equities favors it at this time." In the same opinion, Kavanaugh noted that federal district courts had blocked similar laws in Ohio, Texas, Utah, California, Arkansas, Florida and Georgia.

In a separate case, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 27, 2025, that Texas can require age verification for websites with sexual material that is obscene for minors. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority that the law "only incidentally burdens the protected speech of adults" and survives intermediate scrutiny. Justice Elena Kagan wrote the dissent, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a free speech group, has argued against age-based limits on social media in a public statement. "What happens on social media is speech," FIRE wrote. The group said lawmakers "have rushed headlong toward restricting protected expression as a first response rather than as a last resort," adding, "the First Amendment prohibits the government from swinging an ax when a scalpel might suffice."

Supporters of the New Jersey package say the research center will give policymakers better evidence. "Public health policy must be grounded in the best available evidence," Health Commissioner Dr. Raynard Washington said in Monday's release.

Sources: Office of Gov. Mikie Sherrill press release, Oct. 19, 2026 (emailed by the governor's press office); https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/2026/20260811a.shtml ; https://www.hunton.com/privacy-and-cybersecurity-law-blog/new-jersey-enacts-the-kids-code-act-with-privacy-by-default-and-safety-by-design-obligations ; https://netchoice.org/netchoice-testimony-in-opposition-to-nj-s3413-a4015-censorship-of-online-speech-in-the-name-of-kids-safety/ ; https://netchoice.org/litigation/ ; https://www.cooley.com/news/insight/2026/2026-03-30-netchoice-v-bonta-ninth-circuit-narrows-injunction-against-californias-ageappropriate-design-code-act ; https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/25a97_5h25.pdf ; https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-1122_3e04.pdf ; https://www.fire.org/research-learn/fire-statement-age-based-restrictions-social-media-access