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AN ACT relating to addictive online platforms. 1
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2
SECTION 1. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 367 IS CREATED TO 3
READ AS FOLLOWS: 4
As used in Sections 1 to 7 of this Act: 5
(1) "Account holder" means a natural person who is a resident of the 6
Commonwealth of Kentucky who has an account or a profile with a unique 7
identifier on a covered social media platform during any period in which a 8
covered social media platform knows or should reasonably know the person is 9
physically located in Kentucky; 10
(2) "Addictive feature" includes: 11
(a) Infinite scrolling, including: 12
1. Continuously loading content, or content that loads as the account 13
holder scrolls down the page without the need to open a separate page; 14
or 15
2. Seamless content, or the use of pages with no visible or apparent end 16
or page breaks; 17
(b) Display of a profile-based feed; 18
(c) Push notifications, whether audible, visual, or tactile: 19
1. Designed to: 20
a. Call the attention of the account holder to newly posted content 21
or to user responses to content posted by the account holder; or 22
b. Inform the account holder abou t other specific activities or 23
events related to the account holder’s account; and 24
2. Not including notifications for the purposes of alerting the account 25
holder to incoming calls, text messages, email messages, or similar 26
messages sent by human contacts and delivered by means of any 27
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application; 1
(d) Autoplay video or video that begins to play without the account holder first 2
clicking on the video or on a play button for that video; 3
(e) Display of personal metrics that indicate the number of times other u sers 4
have clicked a button or taken other action to indicate their reaction to 5
content posted by the account holder or have shared or reposted content 6
posted by the account holder; and 7
(f) Display of awards, badges, tiers, or any form of recognition of the account 8
holder based on hours spent by the account holder on the social media 9
platform, numbers of followers, numbers of postings, frequency or 10
regularity of postings, or any other metric of usage or performance on the 11
social media platform; 12
(3) "Child" means an individual under the age of sixteen (16); 13
(4) "Covered social media platform" means a social media platform that collectively 14
generated at least one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) in advertising revenues 15
annually, worldwide, in one (1) or more of the preceding three (3) years; 16
(5) "First trigger date" means, with respect to each account holder and each covered 17
social media platform, the date upon which the account holder has been on the 18
covered social media platform for twenty -five (25) hours or m ore within a six (6) 19
month period following the effective date of this Act; 20
(6) "Matter harmful to minors" has the same meaning as in KRS 436.001; 21
(7) "Minor" means an individual under the age of eighteen (18); 22
(8) "Notice to a parent" has the same meaning as established in the Children’s 23
Online Privacy Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. sec. 6501 et seq., and 16 C.F.R. sec. 24
312.4; 25
(9) "Paid commercial advertising" is advertising: 26
(a) For which the social media platform receives any compensation in return 27
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for displaying the advertising; and 1
(b) That seeks to encourage the account holder to: 2
1. Purchase a product or service or otherwise engage in a commercial 3
transaction; or 4
2. Follow a link to a website that encourages the account holder to 5
engage in a commercial transaction; 6
(10) "Parent" includes any legal guardian of a child resident of the Commonwealth 7
of Kentucky; 8
(11) "Personal information": 9
(a) Means: 10
1. Information about an account holder collected online that comprises 11
personal information as defined in t he Children’s Online Privacy 12
Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. sec. 6501(8); 13
2. Any record of or information derived from online activity or history, 14
search history, or online communications of an account holder with 15
respect to any application, website, or social media platform; 16
3. Any photograph or biometric information that is used or could 17
reasonably be used to identify the account holder, including but not 18
limited to fingerprints, voiceprints, iris or retina imagery scans, facial 19
templates, and gait imagery or metric; or 20
4. Any geolocation information associated with an account hol der or 21
with a device of an account holder; and 22
(b) Does not include: 23
1. An express search term, request, or selection submitted by the account 24
holder during the current session on the covered social media 25
platform; 26
2. An identifier used solely for the pur pose of directing personal 27
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communications to or from the account holder; or 1
3. Information that comprises account holder -selected or parent-selected 2
settings relating to privacy, accessibility, or blocking of age -3
inappropriate content, or technical informa tion concerning the 4
account holder’s device; 5
(12) "Profile-based paid commercial advertising": 6
(a) Means paid commercial advertising that has been selected or prioritized for 7
display to an account holder based on personal information of the account 8
holder by or with the participation of the social media platform; and 9
(b) Does not include profile -based paid commercial advertising if that selection 10
process considers information about or an estimate of the age of the 11
account holder solely for the purpose of ex cluding advertisements which by 12
law or policy are not suitable for presentation to a child; 13
(13) "Profile-based feed": 14
(a) Means a stream of content which has been selected or prioritized by the 15
social media platform for display to an account holder base d in whole or in 16
part on the personal information of that account holder; and 17
(b) Does not include a stream of content where the selection or prioritization by 18
the social media platform is based on the personal information of the 19
account holder if: 20
1. The account holder affirmatively selected a third party's content for 21
inclusion or exclusion from the account holder's displayed feed, 22
including but not limited to following, friending, unfollowing, 23
blocking, or engaging in a similar action with respect to th e third 24
party; or 25
2. The age or any estimate of the age of the account holder is used solely 26
for the purpose of excluding content which is: 27
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a. A matter harmful to minors; or 1
b. By policy of the covered social media platform, not suitable for 2
presentation to children of that age; 3
(14) "Second trigger date" means, with respect to each account holder and each 4
covered social media platform, the date upon which the account holder has been 5
on the covered social media platform for fifty (50) hours or more within a six (6) 6
month period following the effective date of this Act; 7
(15) "Social media platform" has the same meaning as in KRS 17.544; and 8
(16) "Verifiable parental consent" has the same meaning as in 15 U.S.C sec. 6501(9) 9
and implementing regulations at 16 C.F.R sec. 312.5, with the added requirement 10
that the covered social media platform has retained documentation sufficient to 11
reasonably establish that it has obtained verifiable parental consent within the 12
meaning of those provisions. 13
SECTION 2. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 367 IS CREATED TO 14
READ AS FOLLOWS: 15
(1) (a) Within fourteen (14) days of the first trigger date, the covered social media 16
platform shall use reasonable means and efforts, taking into consideration 17
available technology and the data in the possession of the covered social 18
media platform, to estimate the age of the account holder. 19
(b) If the covered social media platform is able to conclude with eighty percent 20
(80%) confidence that the account holder is o ver fifteen (15) years of age, 21
the covered social media platform shall treat the account holder as an 22
individual other than a child. Otherwise, the covered social media platform 23
shall treat the account holder as a child for purposes of Sections 1 to 7 of 24
this Act. 25
(2) (a) Within fourteen (14) days of the second trigger date, the covered social 26
media platform shall use reasonable means and efforts to revise its estimate 27
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of the account holder's age. 1
(b) If the covered social media platform is able to conclude with ninety percent 2
(90%) confidence that the account holder is over fifteen (15) years of age, 3
the covered social media platform may treat the account holder as an 4
individual other than a child. Otherwise, the covered social media platform 5
shall treat th e account holder as a child for purposes of Sections 1 to 7 of 6
this Act. 7
(3) A covered social media platform shall update its estimate of the age of each 8
account holder after every additional one hundred (100) hours spent by the 9
account holder on the platform, or as often as the covered social media platform 10
applies any form of dat a analytics or artificial intelligence to update its estimate 11
of any other demographic characteristic of the account holder for any reason, 12
whichever period is shorter. 13
(4) This section shall not be construed to create any duty on the part of a covered 14
social media platform to request, collect, or retain any information from or about 15
any account holder. The age estimate required by this section shall be derived 16
based on information collected and retained in the ordinary course of operation 17
of the covered social media platform. 18
(5) A covered social media platform shall not have any obligation under Sections 1 to 19
7 of this Act to estimate the age of an account holder or take any action with 20
respect to any account if the account holder had the account with the covered 21
social media platform continuously for at least seven (7) years prior to the 22
effective date of this Act. 23
SECTION 3. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 367 IS CREATED TO 24
READ AS FOLLOWS: 25
(1) A covered social media platf orm shall require any applicant for an account to 26
provide his or her birth date as part of the account application process, and may 27
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not provide any default birth date when requesting that information. 1
(2) A covered social media platform shall not create a n account for a user identified 2
as a child pursuant to subsection (1) of Section 3 of this Act, maintain an account 3
for a user required to be treated as a child pursuant to Section 7 of this Act, or 4
change the terms and conditions of an account for a child , without first obtaining 5
verifiable parental consent. Information collected for the purpose of obtaining 6
verifiable parental consent shall not be used for any purpose other than obtaining 7
verifiable parental consent and shall be deleted immediately after an attempt to 8
obtain verifiable parental consent, except to the extent necessary to comply with 9
any other applicable state or federal law or regulation. 10
(3) An account for a child shall have all privacy settings set by default at the most 11
private level. A covered social media platform shall not change the privacy 12
settings of an account of a child without first obtaining verifiable parental 13
consent for the change until the account holder is no longer a child. 14
(4) In the course of obtaining verifiable parenta l consent for the establishment or 15
continuation of an account for a child, a covered social media platform shall 16
prominently provide and explain an option for a parent to make his or her 17
consent conditional on receipt by the parent of a separate password t hat enables 18
the parent to: 19
(a) Monitor the amount of time the child spends using the covered social media 20
platform; 21
(b) Set daily and weekly time limits on use of the covered social media platform; 22
and 23
(c) Set limits on the time of day when the covered soc ial media platform can be 24
accessed by the child. 25
(5) A covered social media platform shall not present addictive features in the display 26
or feed of any child. 27
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(6) A covered social media platform shall not present profile -based paid commercial 1
advertising in the display or feed of any child. 2
SECTION 4. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 367 IS CREATED TO 3
READ AS FOLLOWS: 4
(1) A covered social media platform shall terminate an account if it concludes, or 5
obtains information from which it should reasonably conclude pursuant to its 6
obligations under Section 2 of this Act, that the account holder is a child, unless 7
verifiable parental consent has been obtained for the account. 8
(2) A covered social media platform shall terminate an ac count of a child within 9
seven (7) days after a request for termination from the account holder. 10
(3) A covered social media platform shall terminate the account of a child within 11
fourteen (14) days after receipt of a request for termination from a parent of the 12
minor. Upon receipt of a request for termination, the covered social media 13
platform shall verify that the requesting party is a parent of the account holder by 14
the verification means used by the covered social media platform for ascertaining 15
the validity of the verifiable parental consent. 16
(4) A covered social media platform shall provide clear, simple, and efficient means 17
for the parent of any child to request termination of any account of a child. 18
(5) If a covered social media platform makes a deter mination that it must terminate 19
an account because the account holder has been classified as a child and 20
verifiable parental consent has not been obtained, the covered social media 21
platform shall notify the account holder of its intent to terminate the acc ount 22
within seven (7) days of making the determination and shall provide the reason 23
for the termination. The account holder shall have thirty (30) days from the date 24
of the notice to dispute the age classification and complete an age verification 25
process, or to provide verifiable parental consent to the covered social media 26
platform. 27
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(6) If an account holder disputes his or her classification as a child, a covered social 1
media platform may rely on any commercially reasonable age verification process 2
to resolve the dispute. A covered social media platform shall make a reasonable 3
determination within thirty (30) days of the completion of the age verification 4
process. If a covered social media platform concludes it is obligated to terminate 5
an account, it shall terminate that account within seven (7) days of that 6
determination. 7
SECTION 5. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 367 IS CREATED TO 8
READ AS FOLLOWS: 9
Sections 1 to 7 of this Act shall not be construed to limit in any way beyon d any limits 10
imposed by other law the: 11
(1) Content parents may show their children; or 12
(2) Results an online search engine may return in response to a query by a child. 13
SECTION 6. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 367 IS CRE ATED TO 14
READ AS FOLLOWS: 15
A covered social media platform shall not be liable for any violation of Sections 1 to 7 16
of this Act if it has used reasonable means and efforts, taking into consideration 17
available technology and any data in possession of the cove red social media platform, 18
to comply with the requirements of Sections 1 to 7 of this Act. 19
SECTION 7. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 367 IS CREATED TO 20
READ AS FOLLOWS: 21
(1) Any waiver or limitation of any prohibition, limitation, requirement, or right to 22
remedies established by Sections 1 to 7 of this Act is unlawful, contrary to public 23
policy, void ab initio, and of no effect, and a court or arbitrator shall not enforce 24
or g ive effect to any waiver, notwithstanding any choice of law provision in a 25
contract. 26
(2) If any provision of Sections 1 to 7 of this Act or the application thereof to any 27
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person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other 1
provisions or applications of Sections 1 to 7 of this Act that can be given effect 2
without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of 3
Sections 1 to 7 of this Act are severable. 4
Section 8. KRS 367.3627 is amended to read as follows: 5
(1) The Attorney General shall have exclusive authority to enforce violations of KRS 6
367.3611 to 367.3629 and Sections 1 to 7 of this Act . The Attorney General may 7
enforce KRS 367.3611 to 367.3629 and Sections 1 to 7 of t his Act by bringing an 8
action in the name of the Commonwealth of Kentucky or on behalf of persons 9
residing in this Commonwealth. The Attorney General shall have all powers and 10
duties granted to the Attorney General under KRS Chapter 15 to investigate and 11
prosecute any violation of KRS 367.3611 to 367.3629 and Sections 1 to 7 of this 12
Act. The Attorney General may demand any information, documentary material, or 13
physical evidence from any controller or processor , or covered social media 14
platform as defined in Section 1 of this Act, believed to be engaged in, or about to 15
engage in, any violation of KRS 367.3611 to 367.3629 or Sections 1 to 7 of this 16
Act. 17
(2) Prior to initiating any action for violation of KRS 367.3611 to 367.3629 or Sections 18
1 to 7 of this Act , the Attorney General shall provide a controller or processor or 19
covered social media platform as defined in Section 1 of this Act thirty (30) days' 20
written notice identifying the specific provisions of KRS 367.3611 to 367.3629 or 21
Sections 1 to 7 of this Act[,] the Attorney General alleges have been or are being 22
violated. If within the thirty (30) days the controller or processor or covered social 23
media platform as defined in Section 1 of this Act cures the noticed violation and 24
provides the Attorney Gener al an express written statement that the alleged 25
violations have been cured and that no further violations shall occur, no action for 26
damages under subsection (3) of this section shall be initiated against the controller 27
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or processor, or covered social media platform as defined in Section 1 of this Act. 1
(3) If a controller or processor, or covered social media platform as defined in Section 2
1 of this Act, continues to violate KRS 367.3611 to 367.3629 or Sections 1 to 7 of 3
this Act following the cure period in subsection (2) of this section or breaches an 4
express written statement provided to the Attorney General under subsection (2) of 5
this section, the Attorney General may initiate an action and seek damages for up to 6
seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7 ,500) for each continued violation under 7
KRS 367.3611 to 367.3629 or Sections 1 to 7 of this Act. 8
(4) Nothing in KRS 367.3611 to 367.3629 and Sections 1 to 7 of this Act or any other 9
law, regulation, or the equivalent shall be construed as providing the ba sis for, or 10
give rise to, a private right of action for violations of KRS 367.3611 to 367.3629 11
and Sections 1 to 7 of this Act. 12
(5) The Attorney General may recover reasonable expenses incurred in investigating 13
and preparing the case, court costs, attorney 's fees, and any other relief ordered by 14
the court of any action initiated under KRS 367.3611 to 367.3629 and Sections 1 to 15
7 of this Act. 16