BETTER SOCIAL MEDIA FEEDS ACT

Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of SB3454

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104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
SB3454

Introduced 2/5/2026, by Sen. Sue Rezin

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act
815 ILCS 505/2MMMMM new

Creates the Better Social Media Feeds Act. Provides that a covered
online platform that deploys an algorithmic recommender system shall
prominently and conspicuously provide on its website, service, or
application: (1) a list of each algorithmic recommender system in use by
the covered online platform; (2) a description of each input to each
algorithmic recommender system; and (3) the weights used in each
algorithmic recommender system. Provides that, for all services, products,
and features where a covered online platform makes use of an algorithmic
recommender system that uses personal data, the algorithmic recommender
system shall be configured, by default, to maximize one or more long-term
user value metrics. Sets forth provisions concerning covered minors and
long-term assessments. Provides that a violation of the Act constitutes an
unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business
Practices Act. Amends the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices
Act to make a conforming change. Effective January 1, 2027.
LRB104 19087 SPS 32532 b

A BILL FOR

SB3454
LRB104 19087 SPS 32532 b
1

AN ACT concerning business.

2

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3
represented in the General Assembly:

4

Section 1.
Short title.
This Act may be cited as the
Better
5
Social Media Feeds Act.

6

Section 5.
Findings.
The General Assembly finds and
7
declares:
8

(1) Every day, billions of people scroll through
9

social media feeds, search results, and streaming
10

recommendations that shape what they see, read, and watch.
11

(2) The business interests of some tech companies
12

incentivize them to gain as much of users' time and
13

attention as possible, in order to generate more
14

advertising revenue.
15

(3) As a result, many online platforms design their
16

algorithmic systems not to optimize user satisfaction, but
17

rather to maximize predicted engagement to manipulate
18

users into spending more time on their platforms than
19

users would otherwise choose.
20

(4) This approach has been linked to a range of
21

individual and societal harms, for all consumers but
22

especially children, including problematic overuse,
23

increased rates of depression and anxiety, and increased

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LRB104 19087 SPS 32532 b
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polarization.
2

(5) Without transparency around what platform
3

algorithms are optimized for, independent experts are
4

unable to provide the information consumers need to make
5

informed decisions about what online services to use.
6

(6) Publicizing the metrics online platforms use to
7

evaluate their product teams would allow consumers to see
8

what high-level objectives platforms' algorithms are
9

designed to serve, without requiring disclosure of the
10

large number of highly technical metrics platforms may use
11

to evaluate their algorithms.
12

(7) Requiring the disclosure will incentivize
13

platforms to incorporate employee and team evaluation
14

criteria that better align with user value, resulting in
15

products that better serve consumers' interests.
16

(8) Mandating that platforms conduct, and disclose the
17

results of, assessments of the long-term effects of
18

algorithmic changes to user value and well-being is
19

important for the public to be able to determine whether
20

product changes are being made to serve their interests or
21

undermine them.
22

(9) For transparency to be meaningful, however,
23

consumers must have genuine options.
24

(10) Requiring platforms to provide users with default
25

algorithmic recommendations optimized for users' own
26

long-term value, rather than engagement, prioritizes what

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consumers value, while retaining their autonomy to choose
2

alternatives if they wish.

3

Section 10.
Definitions.
As used in this Act:
4

"Accessible user interface" means an interface that
5
requires minimal user interactions, such as clicks, or taps,
6
for a user to input data, make a choice, or take an action
7
while using a covered online platform.
8

"Algorithmic recommender system" means a computational
9
process used to determine the selection, order, rank, relative
10
prioritization, or relative prominence of items provided to a
11
user on an online platform, including search results, ranking,
12
recommendations, display, or any other method of automated
13
selection.
14

"Covered business" means a sole proprietorship, limited
15
liability company, corporation, association, or other legal
16
entity, including as a joint venture or partnership composed
17
of businesses in which each has at least a 40% interest in the
18
joint venture or partnership, that owns, operates, controls,
19
or provides a covered online platform, except that a federal,
20
State, or unit of local government in the ordinary course of
21
its operations shall not be considered a covered business.
22

"Covered minor" means a user who a covered business knows
23
or should have known, based on knowledge fairly implied under
24
objective circumstances, is a minor. "Covered online platform"
25
means an online platform that:

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(1) conducts business in this State; and
2

(2) uses one or more algorithmic recommender systems
3

to determine the selection, order, rank, or relative
4

prominence of items provided to a user in whole or in part
5

based on the user's personal data, unless the data is:
6

(A) based on user-selected settings or technical
7

information concerning the user's device; or
8

(B) A search query, provided that the query is not
9

associated with the user in the online platform's data
10

storage and is only processed to convey items in
11

direct response to the user's search.
12

"Default" means a preselected option adopted by a covered
13
online platform for a specific service, product, or feature.
14

"Engagement" means a user interaction with items on a
15
covered online platform, including clicks, taps, comments,
16
reshares, watching, dwelling, indications of approval or
17
disapproval, such as likes, dislikes, upvotes, or downvotes,
18
or any other form of interaction.
19

"Engagement data" means information that a covered online
20
platform collects about engagement on its platform, not
21
including user survey data.
22

"High-value data" means any user-provided data or
23
predictions from user survey data made by a covered online
24
platform.
25

"Holdout group" means a group of users of a covered online
26
platform that are exempted from the application of algorithmic

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recommender system design changes.
2

"Item" means any media eligible for display by a
3
recommender system, including individual posts, accounts,
4
groups, pages, channels, products, advertisements, text,
5
images, videos, or audio files.
6

"Long-term holdout assessment" means a process in which a
7
covered online platform maintains a holdout group for a
8
duration of at least 12 months.
9

"Long-term user value" means outcomes that align with
10
individual users' deliberative, forward-looking preferences or
11
aspirations as expressed to a covered online platform through
12
high-value data.
13

"Long-term user value metrics" means the metrics a covered
14
online platform uses to measure long-term user value.
15

"Online platform" means a website, online service, online
16
application, or mobile application.
17

"Personal data" means any information, including derived
18
data and unique identifiers, that is linked or reasonably
19
linkable, alone or in combination with other information, to
20
an identified or identifiable individual or a device that
21
identifies or is linked or reasonably linkable to an
22
individual.
23

"User" means a user of a covered online platform who is
24
located in this State. "User" does not include the operator of
25
a covered online platform or a person acting as an agent of the
26
operator of a covered online platform.

SB3454
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"User-provided data" means any of the following categories
2
of information collected by a covered online platform:
3

(1) information expressly and explicitly provided by
4

the user, including user preferences, settings, search
5

queries, prompts, and any other information expressly and
6

explicitly provided by the user that is not engagement
7

data;
8

(2) user survey data;
9

(3) indicators or ratings expressly and explicitly
10

selected by the user that are not engagement data; or
11

(4) other categories of data or more specific
12

definitions of the above categories of data as may be
13

defined by the Attorney General by rule.
14

"User survey data" means user responses to questions that
15
a covered online platform or a third party acting on the
16
covered online platform's behalf poses to users.
17

"Weights" means the individual numeric settings that
18
control the output of a recommender system at a high level
19
across a covered online platform's user base, such as the
20
relative contributions of different factors to an item's
21
ranking.

22

Section 15.
Applicability.
23

(a) The requirements of this Act are in addition to and
24
shall not limit or restrict in any way the application of any
25
other law of this State. If there is a conflict between this

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1
Act and another law, the law that affords the greatest
2
protection to consumers shall control.
3

(b) Nothing in this Act should be construed in a manner
4
inconsistent with the First Amendment to the United States
5
Constitution or 47 U.S.C. 230.

6

Section 20.
Design transparency.
7

(a) A covered online platform that deploys an algorithmic
8
recommender system shall prominently and conspicuously provide
9
on its website, service, or application:
10

(1) a list of each algorithmic recommender system in
11

use by the covered online platform;
12

(2) a description of each input to each algorithmic
13

recommender system and the source of the data of each
14

input; and
15

(3) the weights used in each algorithmic recommender
16

system, categorized into quartile groups according to each
17

weight's relative importance in contributing to the
18

system's output.
19

(b) The Attorney General shall adopt rules to further
20
clarify the information required to be disclosed under
21
subsection (a).
22

(c) On an annual basis, a covered online platform shall
23
disclose the high-level objectives, key results, and
24
performance metrics it uses to evaluate product teams
25
responsible for algorithmic recommender system design.

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Section 25.
User choice and defaults.
2

(a) For all services, products, and features where a
3
covered online platform makes use of an algorithmic
4
recommender system that uses personal data, the algorithmic
5
recommender system shall be configured, by default, to
6
maximize one or more long-term user value metrics.
7

(b) A covered online platform shall provide an accessible
8
user interface that enables users to expressly and
9
unambiguously communicate their preferences about the types of
10
items to be recommended and to be blocked in the output of the
11
covered online platform's algorithmic recommender systems. The
12
covered online platform shall take all reasonable steps to
13
ensure that the output of its algorithmic recommender systems
14
is consistent with those preferences.
15

(c) A covered online platform shall not withhold, degrade,
16
lower the quality, or increase the price of any product,
17
service, or feature, other than as necessary for compliance
18
with the provisions of this Act or any rules or regulations
19
promulgated pursuant to this Act, to a user due to the user's
20
exercise of any rights contained in this Act, including the
21
user's selection of any algorithmic recommender system option
22
or expressed preferences about types of items to be
23
recommended or blocked.

24

Section 30.
Covered minors.
Any algorithmic recommender

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1
system that uses personal data and is provided by a covered
2
online platform to a covered minor shall be configured, by
3
default, to maximize one or more long-term user value metrics
4
applicable to minors.

5

Section 35.
Long-term assessments.
6

(a) Subject to the rules adopted under subsection (c), a
7
covered online platform shall maintain at least one holdout
8
group and make all changes to the design of an algorithmic
9
recommender system subject to a long-term holdout assessment.
10

(b) On an annual basis, a covered online platform shall
11
make publicly available, in a location that is easily
12
accessible, a long-term holdout assessment disclosure that
13
includes:
14

(1) the covered online platform's long-term user value
15

metrics;
16

(2) the aggregate, anonymized measurements of each
17

metric across the holdout group;
18

(3) the aggregate, anonymized measurements of each
19

metric across the rest of the user base of the covered
20

online platform.
21

(c) The Attorney General shall, on or before January 1,
22
2028, adopt rules for the operation of long-term holdout
23
assessments as required under this Section, including:
24

(1) the construction of holdout groups when carrying
25

out long-term holdout assessments under this Section;

SB3454
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(2) the requirements for long-term holdout assessment
2

disclosures as required under subsection (b); and
3

(3) in the Attorney General's discretion, exempting
4

from the long-term holdout assessment requirements in this
5

Section any change to the design of an algorithmic
6

recommender system that serves to reduce or prevent direct
7

and immediate harms to users without increasing user
8

engagement or revenue for the covered business.
9

(d) A covered business operating a covered online platform
10
shall, at its own expense and at least once a year, obtain an
11
independent audit of the long-term holdout assessments on its
12
platform and the long-term holdout assessment disclosure. To
13
comply with the requirements of this subsection:
14

(1) the independent auditor preparing reports under
15

this subsection shall follow inspection and consultation
16

practices designed to ensure that reports are
17

comprehensive and accurate; and
18

(2) the covered online platform shall provide to the
19

independent auditor full and complete cooperation and
20

access to information and operations required to ensure
21

that the report is comprehensive and accurate.

22

Section 40.
Enforcement.
A violation of this Act
23
constitutes an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and
24
Deceptive Business Practices Act. All remedies, penalties, and
25
authority granted to the Attorney General by the Consumer

SB3454
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LRB104 19087 SPS 32532 b
1
Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act shall be available
2
to the Attorney General for the enforcement of this Act.

3

Section 90.
The Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business
4
Practices Act is amended by adding Section 2MMMMM as follows:

5

(815 ILCS 505/2MMMMM new)
6

Sec. 2MMMMM.
Violations of the Better Social Media Feeds
7
Act.
Any person who violates the Better Social Media Feeds Act
8
commits an unlawful practice within the meaning of this Act.

9

Section 97.
Severability.
The provisions of this Act are
10
severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.

11

Section 99.
Effective date.
This Act takes effect January
12
1, 2027.

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