The Minnesota House of Representatives reports…

When looking at the business model for companies specializing in social media, it might be helpful to steer away from the idea that you’re a “customer” in any conventional sense. Actually, you are more the product.

Such companies make most of their money not by serving you, but rather by serving you up to others, selling what information they can collect on you.

Should the state get a piece of such transactions? Rep. Aisha Gomez (DFL-Mpls) thinks so. That’s why she’s sponsoring HF3117 that would create an excise tax on some businesses that operate social media platforms. The idea is that such companies would have to pay a tax to the state based upon how many Minnesotans use their social media sites.

On Wednesday, the House Taxes Committee laid the bill over, as amended, for possible omnibus bill inclusion.

What would that look like…

The excise tax would be based on the number of Minnesota resident consumers on which a company collects consumer data. The tax would be imposed at graduated rates between 10 and 50 cents per consumer per month based on the number of state users in a month the company collects data.

The Revenue Department estimates that the bill’s tax changes would increase the state’s General Fund by $45.5 million in fiscal year 2026, climbing to $92.7 million in fiscal year 2027. It also estimates that, for fiscal year 2026, 14 social media platforms would be subject to the tax.