Official Summary Text
HB2991 - 572R - Senate Fact Sheet
A
RIZONA
S
TATE
S
ENATE
RESEARCH STAFF
TO:����������������� MEMBERS
OF THE SENATE
JASON THEODOROU
LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH ANALYST
REGULATORY AFFAIRS &
GOVERNMENT EFFFICIENCY
COMMITTEE
Telephone: (602) 926-3171
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REGULATORY AFFAIRS & GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY COMMITTEE
DATE:����������� March
23, 2026
SUBJECT:�����
Strike
everything amendment to
H.B. 2991
, relating to social media; age
verification
Purpose
Effective one year after the general effective date, prescribes duties
for a covered company, developer or social media platform to provide for user
age verification and related online content safeguards for the protection of minors.
Outlines enforcement and penalties for a violation of the prescribed duties.
Establishes the Technology Content Protection for Minors Grant Fund (Fund).
Background
In 2025, the
Legislature enacted the requirement for a commercial entity that knowingly and
intentionally publishes or distributes material on an internet website,
including a social media platform, of which more than one-third is sexual
material that is harmful to minors to use reasonable age verification methods
to verify that an individual who attempts to access the material is 18 years of
age or older. A commercial entity or a third-party that performs the age
verification must not: 1) retain any identifying information of the individual;
or 2) cause or allow any identifying information to be directly or indirectly
transmitted to any government entity. A parent or guardian of a minor who
accesses material harmful to minors, and a person whose identifying information
was unlawfully retained or transmitted, have a right of action against the
offending entity (
Laws
2025, Ch. 193
;
A.R.S.
� 18-701
).
In 2025, the
Legislature also enacted content restrictions on digital advertising directed
towards children. Beginning January 1, 2027, a child-directed application must
take appropriate measures to prevent the display of inappropriate and mature
advertisements on child-directed applications.
Inappropriate and mature
advertisement
is an advertisement that sells or promotes: 1) violence; 2)
explicit language; 3) sexual content; or 4) alcohol or drug use. A
child-directed application that does not comply with the content restrictions
is subject to a civil penalty of up to $100,000 per violation. The Attorney
General must enforce the child-directed application content restrictions (
Laws 2025, Ch. 198
;
A.R.S.
� 44-1483
).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact
to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
Duties
for Covered Companies
1.
Requires a covered company to:
a)
take
commercially reasonable steps to determine or estimate the age for:
i.
new users, at account creation; and
ii.
existing users, within six months after the effective date;
b)
obtain
parental or guardian consent before allowing a child to either:
i.
download an application distributed or made accessible through the
covered company's application store, if the covered company provides an
application store; or
ii.
access an application pre-loaded onto a device for the first time, if
the covered company provides an operating system;
c)
if
the covered company provides an application store, connect the developer of an
application that a child downloads from the covered company's application store
with the child's approving parent or guardian to notify the parent or guardian
of the prescribed features for parents to oversee their child's use of the
application; and
d)
on
request, provide a developer, including a developer of the pre-loaded
application, with an age signal through a real-time application programming
interface on an ongoing basis regarding whether parental or guardian consent
has been provided and whether an individual is:
i.
less than 13 years of age;
ii.
at least 13 years of age but less than 16 years of age;
iii.
at least 16 years of age but less than 18 years of age; or
iv.
at least 18 years of age.
Duties of
Developers and Social Media Platforms
2.
Requires a developer to:
a)
on
an individual's account creation or first access, request from a covered
company an age signal and, if the individual is a child, a parental consent
signal for the individual and may subsequently request additional age signals;
and
b)
use
the age signal and parental consent signal from a covered company to:
i.
enforce legally required minimum age restrictions;
ii.
ensure compliance with all laws; and
iii.
provide any age-appropriate defaults, safeguards or experiences as
required by statute.
3.
Requires a developer, if it operates a social media platform, to comply
with the additional requirements prescribed for a social media platform.
4.
Requires a social media platform, if applicable and technically
feasible, to provide readily available features for a parent or guardian to
oversee the parent's or guardian's child's use of the application as
appropriate to the risks that arise from the child's use of the developer's
application.
5.
Requires the features to include:
a)
the
ability to view metrics reflecting the amount of time that the child is using
the application and set daily time limits on the child's use;
b)
the
ability to see which individuals or accounts are affirmatively linked to the
child's account, including the child's friends, followers or accounts that the
child is following;
c)
the
ability to determine whether the child has limited the public visibility of the
child's account or information and content that is uploaded to the application;
d)
the
ability to see which individuals the child has blocked;
e)
the
ability to submit a report to the application concerning a potential violation
of the developer's terms and policies; and
f)
the
ability to disable the display of personalized recommendation systems for a
child.
6.
Requires a social media platform to implement minor account default
settings for a user that the developer knows is a minor.
7.
Allows only the child's parent or guardian, for a minor user who is a
child, to modify the minor account default settings.
8.
Allows the minor user or the minor's parent, for a minor user who is at
least 16 years of age, to modify the minor account default settings.
9.
Requires the minor account default settings to:
a)
display
a notification to a user whom the social media platform knows is a minor if the
user has spent one cumulative hour on the application during one calendar day
and that informs the minor user of the cumulative daily time spent on the
application;
b)
limit
the visibility of a minor's account or profile to connected users other than
the minor's name, username and primary display picture;
c)
maintain
reasonable policies addressing exposure to sexually or violently explicit
material on the platform;
d)
silence
notifications between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. local time;
e)
prohibit
an unconnected user from sending private or direct messages to a minor user,
including through video, voice, text or other messaging;
f)
prohibit
a minor user from sharing the minor user's real-time precise geolocation with
any other user and establish a feature for the minor's parent or guardian to
allow the minor to share the minor's precise geolocation with connected users
and users who are approved by the parent; and
g)
disable
the automatic playing of video content without user action in a personalized
recommendation system.
Age
Signal Conflicts
10.
Allows
a developer, if it determines that an internal age signal conflicts with the
age signal from a covered company, to rely on the age signal from the covered
company unless the developer has clear and convincing evidence that an internal
age signal is more accurate.
11.
Requires
a developer, if it has clear and convincing evidence that the developer's
internal age signal is more accurate, including if the user provided proof of
age to the developer, to use the developer's internal signal.
12.
Requires
a developer, if applicable and technically feasible, to transmit the
conflicting internal age signal back to a covered company through a mechanism
that is provided by the covered company if the developer has clear and convincing
evidence that an internal age signal is more accurate.
13.
Requires a covered company,
on receipt of a conflicting internal age signal from a developer, to take steps
to reverify the user's age and update the age signal to provide developers with
the newly verified age.
Material
That is Harmful to Minors
14.
Requires
a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes
material that is harmful to minors on application, if the application contains
a substantial portion of material that is harmful to minors, to do all of the
following:
a)
use
either anonymous age verification or standard age verification to verify that
the person attempting to access the material that is harmful to minors is at
least 18 years of age;
b)
prevent
access to the material that is harmful to minors by a person who is less than
18 years of age;
c)
offer
anonymous age verification and standard age verification and allow a person
attempting to access the material that is harmful to minors to select which
method will be used to verify the person's age; and
d)
ensure
that a third party conducting anonymous age verification:
i.
does not retain personal identifying information used to verify age when
the age of a person seeking access has been verified;
ii.
does not use personal identifying information that is used to verify age
for any other purpose;
iii.
keeps anonymous any personal identifying information used to verify age
and does not share or otherwise communicate the information to any person; and
iv.
protects
personal identifying information used to verify age from unauthorized or
illegal access, destruction, use, modification or disclosure through reasonable
security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the personal
information.
Civil
Action
15.
Allows a minor or the
minor's parent who has been harmed by a violation of the technology content
protection for minors requirements to bring a civil action against the covered
company, developer or commercial entity.
16.
Allows a court of competent jurisdiction to award
a prevailing plaintiff any or all of the following:
a)
actual
damages or $1,000 for each violation, whichever is greater;
b)
punitive
damages if the violation was egregious;
c)
reasonable
attorney fees; and
d)
litigation costs.
17.
Requires a civil action for
a claim to be brought within one year after the date that the complainant knew
or reasonably should have known of the violation.
Enforcement
and Penalties
18.
Allows
the Attorney General, in addition to any other remedy available under state
law, to bring an action against a covered company, developer or commercial
entity to:
a)
recover
a civil penalty of no more than $75,000 for each violation;
b)
restrain
or enjoin the covered company, developer or commercial entity from violating
the technology content protection for minors requirements;
c)
seek
injunctive relief;
d)
recover
reasonable attorney fees; and
e)
recover
litigation costs and reasonable costs for investigating the violation.
19.
Requires
the Attorney General to deposit monies collected from an action brought by the
Attorney General in the Fund.
Immunity from
Liability
20.
Grants
a developer or covered company immunity from liability for a violation of the
technology content protection for minors requirements if the developer or
covered company demonstrates that the developer or covered company:
a)
relied
in good faith on both:
i.
the applicable age signal and, age signal indicates that the user is a
child and the parental or guardian consent information received through the
covered company's data sharing methods; and
ii.
the
notification provided by the covered company that verifiable parental or
guardian consent was obtained if the age signal indicated that the user is a
child; and
b)
if a
developer, complied with the default account settings requirements.
21.
States
that a developer, in determining an application's age rating and content
description, is not liable for a violation of the technology content protection
for minors requirements if the developer uses widely adopted industry standards
to determine the application's age category and content description and applies
those standards consistently and in good faith.
22.
States
that a developer is not liable for transmitting an internal age signal to a
covered company for the purposes of reconciling conflicting age signals.
23.
States
that the immunity from liability both:
a)
applies
only to actions brought under the technology content protection for minor
statutes; and
b)
does
not limit a developer or covered company's liability under any other applicable
law.
24.
States
that the immunity from liability does not replace any other available remedy or
right in state or federal law.
Compliance and
Nondiscrimination
25.
States
that the technology content protection for minors requirements do not modify,
impair or supersede the operation of any antitrust laws, unless otherwise
specified.
26.
Requires
a covered company to comply with the technology content protection for minors
requirements in a nondiscriminatory manner, including by complying with both of
the following:
a)
a
covered company must impose the same restrictions and obligations on its own
applications and application distribution as the covered company imposes on
third-party applications and application distributors; and
b)
a
covered company may not use data that is collected from third parties, or
consent mechanisms deployed for third parties, in the course of compliance with
the technology content protection for minors requirements to compete against
those third parties, give the covered company's services preference relative to
those of third parties or to otherwise use this data or consent mechanism in an
anticompetitive manner.
The Fund
27.
Establishes
the Fund consisting of monies from civil penalties, attorney fees and
litigation costs that are recovered by the Attorney General from action against
a covered company, developer or commercial entity for violation of the
technology content protection for minors requirements.
28.
Requires
the Attorney General to administer the Fund.
29.
States
that monies in the Fund are continuously appropriated and are exempt from
lapsing.
30.
Prohibits
monies in the Fund from being transferred to or otherwise made available to any
other state fund or account or from being used for operating expenses of the
Attorney General's Office or staff salaries.
31.
Requires the Attorney
General to use the monies in the Fund solely to award grants to nonprofit
organizations for the following:
a)
outreach programs that provide education to parents, guardians and
minors about online safety, digital literacy and the effects of social media on
the mental health of minors;
b)
programs that provide resources or services to minors who have
experienced harm as a result of violations of the technology content protection
for minors requirements;
c)
research on the effects of social media on the mental and physical
health of minors;
d)
law enforcement programs that investigate violations of the technology
content protection for minors requirements and technology-facilitated harm to
minors;
e)
programs that provide mental health counseling, treatment or support
services to minors who have experienced psychological or emotional harm as a
result of using social media and violations of the technology content
protection for minors requirements; and
f)
programs
that provide prevention education, victim services or law enforcement support
related to the human trafficking or sexual exploitation of minors facilitated
through social media platforms.
32.
Requires
the Attorney General to establish grant eligibility criteria, application
procedures and reporting requirements for recipients of grants awarded subject
to Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) approval.
33.
Requires
the Attorney General, by January 15, April 15, July 15 and October 15 of each
year, to compile a report that includes an accounting of all the monies spent
from the Fund, including:
a)
receipts;
b)
disbursements;
c)
the
current balance of the Fund;
d)
the
name of each grant recipient;
e)
the
amount awarded to each grant recipient; and
f)
the
purpose for each grant awarded.
34.
Requires
the Attorney General to submit the report to all of the following:
a)
the
Governor;
b)
the
President of the Senate;
c)
the
Speaker of the House of Representatives;
d)
the
Minority Leader of the Senate;
e)
the
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives;
f)
the
JLBC Director; and
g)
the
Secretary of State.
Definitions
35.
Defines
anonymous age verification
as a commercially reasonable method that is
used by a government agency or a business for the purpose of age verification
that is conducted by a nongovernmental, independent third party that is
organized under the laws of any state of the United States that both:
a)
has
its principal place of business in any state of the United States; and
b)
is
not owned or controlled by a company that is formed in a foreign country, a
government of a foreign country or any other entity formed in a foreign
country.
36.
Defines
application
as a software application or electronic service that a user
may run or direct on a computer, a mobile device or any other general purpose
computing device.
37.
Defines
application store
as a publicly available website, software application,
electronic service or platform that distributes and facilitates the download of
applications from third-party developers to users of a computer, a mobile
device or any other general purpose computing device.
38.
Defines
child
as an individual who is less than 16 years of age.
39.
Defines
commercial entity
as including a corporation, a limited liability
company, a partnership, a limited partnership, a sole proprietorship and any
other legally recognized entity.
40.
Defines
covered company
as a person that owns, controls or operates an
application store or operating system that services customers in Arizona.
41.
Defines
daily active users
as the number of unique users in the United States
who used the social media platform at least 80 percent of the days during
either:
a)
the
previous 12-month period; or
b)
the
previous one-month period if the social media platform did not exist during the
previous 12-month period.
42.
Defines
developer
as a person that creates, owns or controls a public-facing
website, online service, online application or mobile application.
43.
Defines
distribute
as issuing, selling, giving, providing, delivering,
transferring, transmitting, circulating or disseminating by any means.
44.
Defines
harmful to minors
as that quality of any description or representation,
in whatever form, of nudity, sexual activity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement
or sadomasochistic abuse, when both:
a)
to
the average adult applying contemporary state standards with respect to what is
suitable for minors, it both:
i.
appeals to the prurient interest, when taken as a whole; and
ii.
portrays the description or representation in a patently offensive way;
and
b)
taken
as a whole does not have serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific
value for minors.
45.
Defines
infinite scrolling
as content that is continuously loading or content
that loads as the user scrolls down the webpage without the need to open a
separate webpage.
46.
Defines
operating system
as an entity that develops, maintains or distributes an
operating system on a computer, a mobile device or any other general purpose
computing device.
47.
Defines
personalized recommendation system
as a fully or partially automated
system used to suggest, promote or rank a feed of a user-generated content
based on the user's activity on the covered platform, excluding a
recommendation system that suggests, promotes or ranks content based solely on
the user's language, city or town or age.
48.
Defines
precise geolocation
as information derived from technology, including
global positioning system level latitude and longitude coordinates or other
mechanisms, that directly identifies the specific location of a natural person
with precision and accuracy within a radius of 1,750 feet.
49.
Excludes
from the definition of
precise geolocation
, the content of
communications or any data generated by or connected to advanced utility
metering infrastructure systems or equipment for use by a utility.
50.
Defines
publish
as communicating or making information available to another
person on a publicly available website or application.
51.
Defines
social media platform
as an online forum, website or application that
satisfies each of the following criteria:
a)
allows
a user to upload content or view the content or activity of other users;
b)
employs
algorithms that analyze user data or information on users to select content for
users;
c)
has
infinite scrolling or seamless content or the use of webpages with no visible
or apparent end or page breaks;
d)
has
push notifications or alerts sent by an online forum, website or application to
inform a user about specific activities or events related to the user's
account;
e)
displays
personal interactive metrics that indicate the number of times other users have
clicked a button to indicate the users' reactions to content or have shared or
reposted the content;
f)
has
auto-play video or video that begins to play without the user first clicking on
the video or on a play button for that video; and
g)
has
live-streaming or has a function that allows a user or advertiser to broadcast
live video content in real-time.
52.
Excludes,
from the definition of
social media platform
, an online service, website
or application where the exclusive function is email or direct messaging
consisting of text, photographs, pictures, images or videos that are shared
only between the sender and the recipients and that are not displayed or posted
publicly or to other users that are not specifically identified by the sender
as the recipients.
53.
Defines
standard age verification
as any commercially reasonable method of age
verification that is approved by the commercial entity.
54.
Defines
substantial portion
as more than 33 and one-third percent of the total
material on a website or application.
Miscellaneous
55.
Contains
a severability clause.
56.
Becomes
effective one year after the general effective date.
Current Bill Text
Read the full stored bill text
HB2991 - 572R - H Ver
House Engrossed
social media; online
content; minors
State of Arizona
House of Representatives
Fifty-seventh Legislature
Second Regular Session
2026
HOUSE BILL 2991
AN
ACT
amending title 44, Arizona Revised Statutes,
by adding chapter 42; relating to minors access to technology content.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it
enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 44, Arizona Revised Statutes,
is amended by adding chapter 42, to read:
CHAPTER
42
technology
content protection for minors
ARTICLE
1. social media
START_STATUTE
44-8041.
Definitions
In this article, UNLESS the context otherwise
requires:
1. "Account holder" means a
resident who opens an account or creates a profile or who is identified by a
social media platform by a unique identifier while using or accessing the
social media platform when the social media platform knows or has reason to
believe the resident is located in this state.
2. "Daily active users"
means the number of unique users in the United States who used the SOCIAl media
platform at least eighty percent of the days during either:
(
a
) The
previous twelve-month period.
(
b
) The
previous one month period if the SOCIAl media platform did not exist during the
previous twelve-month period.
3. "Infinite scrolling"
means content that is continuously loading or content that loads as the user
scrolls down the webpage without the need to open a separate webpage.
4. "Resident" means a
person who lives in this state for more than six months of the year.
5. "Social media platform":
(
a
) means an
online forum, website or application that satisfies each of the following
criteria:
(
i
) Allows a
user to upload content or view the content or activity of other users.
(
ii
) Ten
percent or more of the daily active users who are less than sixteen years of
age spent on average at least two hours per day on the online forum, website or
application on the days when using the online forum, website or application
during the previous twelve months or, if the online forum, website or
application did not exist during the previous twelve months, during the
previous one-month period.
(
iii
) Employs
algorithms that analyze user data or information on users to select content for
users.
(
iv
) Has
infinite scrolling or Seamless content or the use of webpages with no visible
or apparent end or page breaks, has Push notifications or alerts sent by an
online forum, website or application to inform a user about specific activities
or events related to the user's account, displays personal interactive metrics
that indicate the number of times other users have clicked a button to indicate
the users' reactions to content or have shared or reposted the content, has
auto-play video or video that begins to play without the user first clicking on
the video or on a play button for that video or has live-streaming or has a
function that allows a user or advertiser to broadcast live video content in
real-time.
(
b
) Does not
include an online service, website or application where the exclusive FUNCTION
is email or direct messaging consisting of text, photographs, pictures, images
or videos that are shared only between the sender and the recipients and that
are not displayed or posted PUBLICLY or to other users that are not
specifically identified by the sender as the recipients.
END_STATUTE
START_STATUTE
44-8042.
Account holder contracts; duties; unfair practice; statute of
limitations
A. A social media platform may not
enter into an account holder contract with a minor who is less than fourteen
years of age unless the minor's parent or guardian provides consent for the
minor to become an account holder.� For the purposes of this subsection, if a
social media platform allows an account holder to use the social media
platform, the social media platform and the account holder have entered into an
account holder contract.
B. A social media platform shall:
1. Terminate any account held by an
account holder who is less than fourteen years of age, including accounts that
the social media platform treats or categorizes as belonging to an account
holder who is probably less than fourteen years of age for the purpose of
targeting content or advertising, and provide ninety days for an account holder
to dispute the termination.� Termination is effective on the expiration of the
ninety days if the account holder fails to effectively dispute the termination.
2. Allow an account holder who is
less than fourteen years of age to request to terminate the account.�
Termination is effective within five business days after the request.
3. Allow the confirmed parent or
guardian of an account holder who is less than fourteen years of age to request
that the account be terminated.� Termination is effective within ten business
days after the request.
4. Permanently delete all personal
information held by the social media platform relating to the terminated
account, unless there are legal requirements to maintain the information.
5. Terminate an account held by an
account holder who is fourteen or fifteen years of age, including an account
that the social media platform treats or categorizes as belonging to an account
holder who is probably fourteen or fifteen years of age for the purpose of
targeting content or advertising, if the account holder's parent or guardian
has not provided consent for the minor to create or maintain the account.� An
account holder has ninety days after the termination to dispute the termination.�
The termination is effective on the expiration of the ninety days if the
account holder fails to effectively dispute the termination.
6. Allow an account holder who is
fourteen or fifteen years of age to request to terminate the account.�
Termination is effective within five business days after the request.
7. Allow the confirmed parent or
guardian of an account holder who is fourteen or fifteen years of age to
request that the minor's account be terminated.� Termination must be effective
within ten business days after the request.
8. Permanently delete all personal
information held by the social media platform relating to a terminated account,
unless there are legal requirements to maintain the information.
C. A knowing or reckless violation of
subsection B, paragraph 2, 3 or 4 of this section is an unlawful practice
pursuant to section 44-1522.
D. Notwithstanding any other law, a
civil action for a claim under this section must be brought within one year
after the date that the complainant knew or reasonably should have known of the
violation.�
END_STATUTE
ARTICLE
2. online age verification
START_STATUTE
44-8051.
Definitions
In this article, UNLESS the context otherwise
requires:
1. "Anonymous age
verification" means a commercially reasonable method that is used by a
government agency or a business for the purpose of age verification that is
conducted by a nongovernmental, independent third party that is organized under
the laws of a state of the United States that both:
(
a
) Has its
principal place of business in a state of the United States.
(
b
) Is not
owned or controlled by a company formed in a foreign country, a government of a
foreign country or any other entity formed in a foreign country.
2. "Commercial entity"
includes a corporation, a limited liability company, a partnership, a limited
partnership, a sole proprietorship and any other legally recognized entity.
3. "Distribute" means to
issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, transfer, transmit, circulate or
disseminate by any means.
4. "Harmful to minors" has
the same meaning prescribed in section 13-3501.
5. "Publish" means to
communicate or make information available to another person on a publicly
available website or application.
6. "Standard age
verification" means any commercially reasonable method of age verification
that is approved by the commercial entity.
7. "Substantial portion"
means more than 33.3 percent of total material on a website or application.
END_STATUTE
START_STATUTE
44-8052.
Material that is harmful to minors; age verification; personal
identifying information protection
A commercial
entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material that
is harmful to minors on a website or application, if the website or application
contains a substantial portion of material that is harmful to minors shall do
all of the following:
1. Use either anonymous age
verification or standard age verification to verify that the person attempting
to access the material that is harmful to minors is at least eighteen years of
age.
2. Prevent access to the material
that is harmful to minors by a person who is less than eighteen years of age.
3. Offer anonymous age verification
and standard age verification and allow a person attempting to access the
material harmful to minors to select which method will be used to verify the
person's age.
4. Ensure that a third party
conducting anonymous age verification pursuant to this article:
(
a
) Does not
retain personal identifying information used to verify age once the age of an
account holder as defined in section 44-8041 or a person seeking an account has
been verified.
(
b
) Does not
use personal identifying information that is used to verify age for any other
purpose.
(
c
) Keeps
anonymous any personal identifying information used to verify age and does not
share or otherwise communicate the information to any person.
(
d
) Protects
personal identifying information used to verify age from unauthorized or
illegal access, destruction, use, modification or disclosure through reasonable
security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the personal information.
END_STATUTE