This feels like the opening move, not the end goal.
Democrats just rolled out the first piece of their Project 2029 agenda called Kids Over Clicks.
The proposal would narrow Section 230 protections, ban social media accounts for children under 16, and require platforms to redesign products around stricter child safety rules.
Child safety is an argument almost everyone agrees with.
The real fight is usually over what gets built in its name.
“Democrats’ First ‘Project 2029’ Proposal: More Government Control Over Social Media”
Democrats are gearing up for the 2028 election and preparing a list of policy priorities—dubbed “Project 2029″—should they retake the White House. The first Project 2029 proposal is not about affordability, healthcare, or foreign policy. No, the Democrats’ first proposal concerns children’s online safety: the issue fueling lawmakers’ bipartisan push to impose greater government control over the internet.
Semafor’s Nicholas Wu first reported on the “Kids Over Clicks” proposal on Monday. The proposal, Wu wrote, advocates for “narrowing protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that shield platforms from some liability,” banning social media accounts for kids under 16, “designing safer internet platforms,” and more.
Supporters of the proposal include the author and social scientist Jonathan Haidt, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, Sen. Cory Booker (D–N.J.), and New Jersey Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill, according to the outlet. Sherrill’s involvement comes as no surprise, as she has made online safety a main focus of her gubernatorial agenda. The first-term governor has proposed creating both an Office of Youth Online Mental Health Safety and a Social Media Research Center in New Jersey. The Kids Over Clicks proposal was written by Rishi Bharwani, the U.S. director of Reset Tech, a group dedicated to “countering digital threats to society.” Bharwani previously co-chaired Sherrill’s children’s online safety policy team and led Booker’s tech policy team.
The proposal claims that America is witnessing a “tobacco moment,” this time for social media and AI companies, and the government must intervene as it did with the tobacco industry to prevent harm. But this is a fraught comparison, as Reason has pointed out, because tobacco is a physical product with measurable side effects, and social media is a vehicle for speech. The distinction matters because any policy regulating speech should be evaluated based on First Amendment grounds, not on its potential to reduce harm.
🚨#BREAKING: Democratic Project 2029 unveils plan to ban social media for children under 16 and tighten tech safety rules.
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) July 6, 2026