Requirements for social media platforms related to accounts for minors established, and enforcement mechanisms for regulations on child social media accounts established.

A bill for an act

relating to civil law; establishing requirements for social media platforms related

to accounts for minors; establishing enforcement mechanisms for regulations on

child social media accounts; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes,

chapter 325M.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

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[325M.40] STOP HARMS FROM ADDICTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA.

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Subdivision 1.

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Definitions.

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(a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have

the meanings given.

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(b) "Account holder" means a resident of the state who has an account or a profile with

a covered social media platform with a unique identifier during any period in which that

covered social media platform knows or should reasonably know the account holder is

physically located in the state.

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(c) "Addictive interface features" means:

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(1) infinite scrolling meaning either continuously loading content, content that loads as

the account holder scrolls down the page without the need to open a separate page, seamless

content, or the use of pages with no visible or apparent end or page breaks;

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(2) display of a profile-based feed;

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(3) push notifications, whether audible, visual, or tactile, designed to call the attention

of the account holder to newly posted content, user responses to content posted by the

account holder, or other specific activities or events related to the account holder's account,

but not including notifications for the purposes of alerting the account holder to incoming

calls, text messages, email messages, or similar messages sent by human contact and

delivered by means of any application;

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(4) autoplay video or video that begins to play without the account holder first clicking

on the video or on a play button for that video;

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(5) display of personal metrics that indicate the number of times other users have clicked

a button or taken other action to indicate their reaction to content posted by the account

holder or have shared or reposted content posted by the account holder; or

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(6) display of awards, badges, tiers, or any form of recognition of the account holder

based on hours spent by the account holder on the covered social media platform, numbers

of followers, numbers of postings, frequency or regularity of postings, or any other metric

of usage or performance on the covered social media platform.

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(d) "Child" means an individual who is age 15 or younger and residing in Minnesota.

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(e) "Covered social media platform" means a social media platform that earned at least

$1,000,000,000 in advertising revenues worldwide in one or more of the preceding three

years.

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(f) "Minor" means an individual who is under the age of 18.

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(g) "Paid commercial advertising" is advertising for which the covered social media

platform receives compensation of any sort in return for displaying the advertising and that

seeks to encourage the account holder to purchase a product or service or otherwise engage

in a commercial transaction or to follow a link to a website that encourages the account

holder to engage in a commercial transaction.

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(h) "Parent" means any parent under state law or any legal guardian or legal custodian

of a child who is a resident of the state.

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(i) "Personal information" means information about an account holder collected online

that comprises personal information within the meaning of the Children's Online Privacy

Protection Act, United States Code, title 15, section 6501(8), and the implementing

regulations at Code of Federal Regulations, title 16, section 312.2. Personal information

also includes any record of or derived from online activity or history, search history, or

online communications of an account holder with respect to any application, website, or

covered social media platform; any photograph or biometric information that is used or

could reasonably be used to identify the account holder, including but not limited to

fingerprints, voiceprints, iris or retina imagery scans, facial templates, or gait imagery or

metrics; and any geolocation information associated with an account holder or with a device

of an account holder. Personal information does not include an express search term, request,

or selection submitted by the account holder during the current session on the covered social

media platform; an identifier used solely for the purpose of directing personal

communications to or from the account holder; information that comprises account

holder-selected or parent-selected settings relating to privacy, accessibility, or blocking of

age-inappropriate content; or technical information concerning the account holder's device.

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(j) "Profile-based feed" means a feed in which the material presented has been selected

or prioritized by the covered social media platform for display to an account holder based

in whole or in part on personal information of that account holder, except that inclusion in

a feed of content created by a third party that is displayed to the account holder because the

account holder has taken an affirmative step to select the third party's content for inclusion

in the feed displayed to the account holder, such as by following, friending, or engaging in

similar actions in relation to the third party and not otherwise selected or prioritized for

display to the account holder based on personal information, shall not render the feed a

profile-based feed. Additionally, exclusion by a covered social media platform of certain

content from the feed of an account holder based on information about or any estimate of

the age of an account holder solely for the purpose of excluding content that (1) is obscene

as to children age 15 or younger, or (2) by policy of the covered social media platform is

not suitable for presentation to children of that age shall not render that feed a profile-based

feed.

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(k) "Social media platform" means an Internet website or application that is open to the

public, allows a user to create an account, enables an account holder to communicate with

other users for the primary purpose of posting and viewing information, comments, messages,

images, or videos, and utilizes addictive interface features, provides profile-based feeds, or

utilizes personal information to display targeted paid commercial advertising. Social media

platform does not include:

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(1) a broadband Internet access service as defined by the Federal Communications

Commission;

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(2) an online service, website, or application where the exclusive function is the support

of communications, including email, video conference capabilities, or direct messaging

consisting of text, photographs, pictures, images, or videos only between the sender and

recipients specifically identified by the sender, without displaying or posting publicly or to

other users not specifically identified as the recipients by the sender;

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(3) an online service, application, or website with content consisting primarily of

information or content that is not user generated; or

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(4) a streaming service, online video game, e-commerce, or other Internet website where

the content is not user generated but where interactive functions enable chat, comments,

reviews, or other interactive functionality that is incidental to, directly related to, or dependent

upon providing the content.

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(l) "Targeted paid commercial advertising" means paid commercial advertising that has

been selected or prioritized for display to an account holder based in whole or in part on

account activity or personal information of the account holder by or with the participation

of the covered social media platform, except that advertising selected for display to an

account holder shall not constitute targeted paid commercial advertising if that selection

process considers information about or an estimate of the age of the account holder solely

for the purpose of excluding advertisements that by law or policy of the covered social

media platform are not suitable for presentation to a child of that age.

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(m) "Verifiable parental consent" has the meaning established in the Children's Online

Privacy Protection Act, United States Code, title 15, section 6501(9), and the implementing

regulations under Code of Federal Regulations, title 16, section 312.5.

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Subd. 2.

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Age estimation; requirements.

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(a) When a new account holder has been on

the covered social media platform for 25 hours or more within a six-month period, the

covered social media platform has 14 days to estimate the age of the account holder using

reasonable efforts, taking into consideration available technology and the data in the

possession of the covered social media platform. If the covered social media platform is

able to conclude with a percentage confidence score of 80 percent or greater that the user

is 15 years old or older, or the age estimate range is an average of 15 years of age or older,

the covered social media platform may treat the account holder to be other than a child for

purposes of this section. Otherwise, the covered social media platform must treat the account

holder as a child for purposes of this section.

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(b) When a new account holder has been on the covered social media platform for 50

hours or more within a six-month period, the covered social media platform has 14 days to

use reasonable efforts to revise the covered social media platform's initial estimate of the

age of the account holder. If the covered social media platform is able to conclude with a

percentage confidence score of 90 percent or more that the account holder is over 15 years

of age, or the age estimate range is an average of 15 years of age or older, the covered social

media platform may treat the account holder to be other than a child for purposes of this

section. Otherwise, the covered social media platform must treat the account holder as a

child for purposes of this section.

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(c) A covered social media platform shall update its estimate of the age of each account

holder after every six months that the account holder is on the platform, or as often as the

covered social media platform applies any form of data analytics or artificial intelligence

to update the covered social media platform's estimate of any other demographic

characteristics of the account holder for any reason, whichever period is shorter. If the

covered social media platform is able to conclude with a percentage confidence score of 90

percent or more that the account holder is over 15 years of age, or the age estimate range

is an average of 15 years of age or older, the covered social media platform may treat the

account holder to be other than a child for purposes of this section. Otherwise, the covered

social media platform must treat the account holder as a child for purposes of this section.

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(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to create any duty on the part of a covered

social media platform to request, collect, or retain any information from or about any account

holder. The age estimate required by this section shall be derived based on information

collected and retained by the covered social media platform in the ordinary course of

operation of the covered social media platform, and a covered social media platform shall

have no obligation under this section to estimate the age of an account holder who has had

an account with the covered social media platform continuously for at least seven years or

to take any action with respect to the account.

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Subd. 3.

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Creation and maintenance of account of a child.

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(a) A covered social media

platform shall require applicants for an account to provide the month and year of their birth

date as part of the account application process, and shall not provide a default birthdate in

any form or query used to obtain that information.

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(b) A covered social media platform may not create an account for a user identified as

a child pursuant to this section, or change the terms and conditions of an account of a child,

without first obtaining verifiable parental consent. A covered social media platform that is

required to treat an account holder as a child pursuant to subdivision 2 must not maintain

an account of a child without verifiable consent consistent with the process in subdivision

6, paragraph (c). Information collected for the purpose of obtaining verifiable parental

consent shall not be used for any purpose other than obtaining verifiable parental consent

and shall not be sold, transferred, or disclosed, except to the extent necessary to comply

with any other applicable state or federal law or regulation.

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(c) A covered social media platform shall provide clear, simple, and easy-to-locate

information through a link about the creation or maintenance of an account of a child and

include that information in the terms and services agreement.

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Subd. 4.

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Privacy and parental limitations for account of a child.

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(a) An account for

a child shall have all privacy settings set by default at the most private levels.

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(b) A covered social media platform may not change the privacy settings of an account

of a child without first obtaining verifiable parental consent for the change so long as the

account holder remains a child.

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(c) In the course of obtaining verifiable parental consent for the establishment or

continuation of an account of a child, a covered social media platform shall prominently

provide and explain an option for the parent to:

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(1) monitor the amount of time the child spends using the covered social media platform;

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(2) set daily and weekly time limits on use of the covered social media platform; and

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(3) set limits on times of day when the covered social media platform can be accessed

by the child.

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Subd. 5.

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Prohibition on addictive interface; presentation of paid commercial

advertising.

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(a) A covered social media platform may not present addictive interface features

in the display or feed of any account of a child.

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(b) A covered social media platform may not present targeted paid commercial advertising

in the display or feed of any account of a child.

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Subd. 6.

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Termination of an account of a child.

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(a) A covered social media platform

shall terminate an account of a child within no more than seven days after receipt of a request

for termination from the account holder.

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(b) A covered social media platform shall terminate the account of a child within 14

days of the receipt of a request for termination from a parent of the account holder. Upon

receipt of the parent's request, the covered social media platform shall verify that the

requesting party is a parent of the account holder by whatever means of verification the

covered social media platform uses for purposes of ascertaining the validity of verifiable

parental consent. A covered social media platform shall provide clear, simple, and

easy-to-locate means for the parent of any child to request termination of any account of a

child.

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(c) A covered social media platform must terminate an account if it concludes, consistent

with the age estimation requirements in subdivision 2, that an account holder is a child

unless verifiable parental consent is obtained for the account. The covered social media

platform shall provide 30 days from the date of the notice for the account holder to dispute

the age classification and complete an age verification process or to provide verifiable

parental consent. If an account holder disputes his or her classification as a child, a covered

social media platform may rely on any commercially reasonable age verification process

to resolve the dispute. A covered social media platform shall make a reasonable determination

of the dispute within 30 days of the completion of the age verification. In the event a covered

social media platform concludes after considering a dispute and the result of any age

verification that the covered social media platform is obligated to terminate an account, it

shall terminate that account within seven days of making that determination.

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Subd. 7.

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Enforcement; remedies.

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(a) Contracts formed in violation of this section are

void and unenforceable. No part of this section may be waived in a contract or terms of

service agreement.

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(b) A child or parent shall have a private right of action for a violation of this section.

The court may award declaratory or injunctive relief, general and special damages, court

costs and fees, reasonable attorney fees, and any other appropriate relief as a result of any

violation of this section.

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(c) If a covered social media platform permits a child to open or continue an account on

the platform in the absence of parental consent sufficient for the formation of a binding

contract with a minor under ordinary principles of contract law under the laws of this state,

any purported contract pertaining to the account is void and unenforceable as contrary to

public policy, including but not limited to any arbitration provision, limitation of liability,

or limitation of remedies, without regard to whether the covered social media platform had

actual or constructive knowledge that the account holder was a child.

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(d) If a covered social media platform's violation was reckless or knowing, a child or

parent who prevails on a claim based on any violation of this section shall be entitled to

recover $10,000 in statutory damages in addition to actual damages established at trial.

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(e) If a covered social media platform's violation was part of a consistent pattern of

reckless or knowing conduct, punitive damages may be awarded.

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(f) A covered social media platform shall not be liable for any violation of this section

if it has used reasonable efforts, taking into consideration available technology and the data

in possession of the covered social media platform, to comply with the requirements of this

section.

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(g) A civil action for damages for a violation of this section must be brought within three

years of the date the plaintiff knew, or reasonably should have known, of the alleged

violation. However, this limitation period for the action shall be tolled until the holder of

an account of a child reaches the age of 18.

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Subd. 8.

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Deceptive trade practices.

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Any knowing or reckless violation of this section

shall constitute a deceptive trade practice and a violation of section 325D.44. The attorney

general shall have enforcement authority under section 8.31.

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EFFECTIVE DATE.

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This section is effective July 1, 2027, and applies to accounts

created before, on, or after that date.

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