A 2738 New Jersey General Assembly · 2026-2027 Regular Session

Creates penalty for child endangerment via use of social media.

New Jersey bill A 2738 amends the state's child endangerment law to create penalties for using social media to endanger children. It specifically targets individuals who knowingly share or distribute content via electronic communication (including social media platforms) that harms a child's physical, mental, or moral welfare under age 18. The law defines "child endangerment" through electronic communication as actions likely to cause harm, with penalties ranging from a third-degree crime for most people to a second-degree crime if the person has legal care responsibility for the child. The bill excludes Section 230 providers (like social media platforms themselves) from liability under this provision.

Issues: ✗ Criminal Justice

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 13, 2026 Last action Feb 19, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Technical Review Of Prefiled Bill → Introduced · 3 edits · Jan 13, 2026

MINOR

This is a procedural transition from a prefilled technical review version to the formally introduced version of Assembly Bill 2738. The substantive bill text creating a child endangerment penalty for harmful social media use of children remains unchanged. A new STATEMENT section was added providing legislative context and explaining the penalties, and co-sponsor information was removed pending formal introduction.

TECHNICAL

Bill status changed from 'As reported by the Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee with technical review' to 'Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel,' indicating the bill moved from committee report to formal introduction.

Co-sponsor listing (Assemblywomen Morales, Sweeney and Bagolie) was removed, likely because co-sponsors are formally added after introduction.

SCOPE

A new STATEMENT section was added explaining that the bill targets child endangerment via electronic communication (social media), specifies penalties of second degree crime (5-10 years, up to $150,000 fine) for those with a legal duty of care and third degree crime (3-5 years, up to $15,000 fine) for others, and cites concerns about predators exploiting children's social media content posted by parents.

Floor votes

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No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 19, 2026

Committee

Reported and Referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee

lower

Jan 13, 2026

Introduced

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee

lower

3 primary · 3 co-sponsors