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To: Judiciary A
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026
By: Representatives Hood, Ford (73rd),
Mansell, Arnold, Hale
HOUSE BILL NO. 1224
(As Sent to Governor)
AN ACT TO REQUIRE THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO 1
PREPARE AND PUBLISH ON ITS WEBSITE INTERNET SAFETY RESOURCES; TO 2
REQUIRE THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO CREATE A 3
CURRICULUM FOR SOCIAL MEDIA SAFETY; TO CREATE THE "MISSISSIPPI 4
KEEPING KIDS SAFE ONLINE ACT"; TO REGULATE INTERACTIVE COMPUTER 5
SERVICE PROVIDERS FROM OFFERING CERTAIN SERVICES TO MINORS; TO 6
REGULATE CERTAIN PUBLIC PERFORMANCES IN COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES; 7
AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 8
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 9
SECTION 1. (1) For the purposes of this section, the 10
following words have the meaning herein ascribed unless the 11
context clearly requires otherwise: 12
(a) "Internet" means the combination of computer 13
facilities and electromagnetic transmission media, and related 14
equipment and software, comprising the interconnected worldwide 15
network of computer networks that employ the Transmission Control 16
Protocol/Internet Protocol or any successor protocol to transmit 17
information. 18
(b) "Department" means Department of Education. 19
(c) "Publication" means the Internet safety resource 20
publication required under this section. 21
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(2) (a) The department shall prepare and publish on its 22
website an Internet safety resource publication as a simple, 23
easy-to-use, general informational source for students, families, 24
and caregivers. The publication shall be a public resource guide 25
that provides information regarding best practices for Internet 26
safety and the safe and secure use of digital technologies for 27
children, teens, and their families. The publication may also 28
serve as a resource for educators, counselors, administrators, and 29
other state officials as well as members of the general public. 30
(b) The department may work with the Department of 31
Information Technology Services (ITS) and other relevant agencies 32
to prepare instructional materials, digital applications, guides, 33
and other useful publications based on the Internet safety 34
resource publication and related information. 35
(c) The department shall periodically update the 36
publication and any related information materials or digital 37
applications to reflect changes in technology use, emergent 38
technologies, and new threats to children, teens and their 39
families. 40
(d) Any governmental entity in the state may publish 41
the publication on its website. The department, in conjunction 42
with the Department of Information and Technology Services (ITS), 43
on an as-needed basis, shall make the publication and any updates 44
to the publication available to any governmental entity that 45
requests the publication. 46
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(3) (a) The publication shall include, but need not be 47
limited to: 48
(i) Common Internet safety protocols and 49
technologies to protect an individual's identity, personal data, 50
and online safety, common time management and healthy behaviors on 51
Internet applications and social media; 52
(ii) Potential risks of social media, including 53
effects on mental health; 54
(iii) The permanency of sharing materials online; 55
how to maintain personal security and identify cyberbullying, 56
predatory behavior and human trafficking on the Internet; and 57
(iv) How to report suspicious behavior encountered 58
on the Internet to appropriate authorities. 59
(b) The publication shall include how to safely use 60
common Internet applications and technologies, including, but not 61
limited to, maintaining personal security, preventing oversharing 62
of personal information, identifying predatory behavior and 63
reporting suspicious behavior. 64
(c) The publication shall include video and/or written 65
instruction to guide parents in setting-up and managing 66
application installation and time-of-use on minors' devices that 67
are linked to the parents' account. 68
(d) The publication shall include the benefits of the 69
Internet and digital devices and applications. Such information 70
may include career and resume building for future academic or 71
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employment opportunities, sharing information with familiar family 72
and friends and safely connecting with other users with like 73
interests. 74
(e) Nothing in this statute should be interpreted as 75
the creation of a new mandate or requirement for public school 76
district instruction. 77
(f) The department shall adopt rules and regulations to 78
effectuate the purposes of this section. 79
SECTION 2. (1) For the purposes of this section, the 80
following words have the meaning herein ascribed unless the 81
context clearly requires otherwise: 82
(a) "Internet" means the combination of computer 83
facilities and electromagnetic transmission media, and related 84
equipment and software, comprising the interconnected worldwide 85
network of computer networks that employ the Transmission Control 86
Protocol/Internet Protocol or any successor protocol to transmit 87
information. 88
(b) "Social media" means a form of interactive 89
electronic communication through an Internet website or 90
application by which a user creates a service-specific identifying 91
user profile to connect with other users of the Internet website 92
or application for the purpose of communicating and sharing 93
information, ideas, news, stories, opinions, images, videos and 94
other content. 95
(c) "Department" means the Department of Education. 96
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(d) "School district" means a political subdivision of 97
this state with geographic boundaries organized for the purpose of 98
the administration, support and maintenance of public schools. 99
(2) (a) The department shall prepare and offer a 100
curriculum, including instructional materials, for the instruction 101
of social media safety for students in Grades 6 through 12. Such 102
instructional materials must be published on the department's and 103
each school district's websites. Each school district must notify 104
parents or guardians that such instructional materials are 105
available on the department's and each school district's websites. 106
(b) The department shall periodically update its 107
curriculum to reflect changes in social media use, emergent 108
technologies and new threats to teens using social media 109
platforms. 110
(3) (a) The social media instruction must include, but need 111
not be limited to: 112
(i) Time management and healthy behaviors on 113
social media; 114
(ii) The negative effects of social media on 115
mental health, including addiction; 116
(iii) The distribution of information on social 117
media; 118
(iv) How social media manipulates behavior; 119
(v) The permanency of sharing materials online; 120
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(vi) How to maintain personal security and 121
identify cyberbullying, predatory behavior and human trafficking 122
on the Internet; and 123
(vii) How to report suspicious behavior 124
encountered on the Internet to appropriate authorities. 125
(b) The social media safety instruction must include 126
how to safely use social media, including, but not limited to, 127
maintaining personal security, preventing oversharing of personal 128
information, identifying predatory behavior and reporting 129
suspicious behavior. 130
(c) The social media safety instruction may include the 131
benefits of social media use. Such instruction may only include 132
career and resume building for future academic or employment 133
opportunities, sharing information with familiar family and 134
friends and safely connecting with other users with like 135
interests. 136
(d) Parents or guardians shall be given the ability to 137
opt their child out of the instruction required under this 138
section. 139
(4) (a) The department and each school district shall 140
prohibit student access to social media platforms through the use 141
of Internet access provided by the school district, except when 142
expressly directed by a teacher solely for educational purposes. 143
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(b) The department and each school district shall 144
provide and adopt an Internet safety policy for student access to 145
the Internet provided by the school district which: 146
(i) Limits access by students to only 147
age-appropriate subject matter and materials on the Internet and 148
prohibits access to material harmful to minors; 149
(ii) Protects the safety and security of students 150
when using email, chat rooms and other forms of direct electronic 151
communications; 152
(iii) Prohibits access by students to certain data 153
or information, including so-called "hacking" and other unlawful 154
online activities by students; and 155
(iv) Prevents access to websites, web applications 156
or software that does not protect against the disclosure, use or 157
dissemination of students' personal information. 158
(5) The department shall adopt rules and regulations to 159
effectuate the purposes of this section. 160
SECTION 3. The following shall be codified as Section 161
11-79-1, Mississippi Code of 1972: 162
11-79-1. Sections 3 through 6 of this act shall be known and 163
may be cited as the "Mississippi Keeping Kids Safe Online Act". 164
SECTION 4. The following shall be codified as Section 165
11-79-3, Mississippi Code of 1972: 166
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11-79-3. Definitions. As used in this chapter, the 167
following terms have the meanings as defined in this section, 168
unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: 169
(a) "Broadband provider" means a provider of a 170
mass-market retail service by wire or radio that provides the 171
capability to transmit data to and receive data from all or 172
substantially all Internet endpoints, including any capabilities 173
that are incidental to and enable the operation of the 174
communications service. This term also encompasses any service 175
that is a functional equivalent of the service described in the 176
previous sentence or that is used to evade the protections set 177
forth in this act. 178
(b) "Cloud service provider" means a provider of an 179
Internet service for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand 180
network access to a shared pool of configurable computing 181
resources, such as networks, servers, storage, applications, and 182
services that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal 183
management effort or service provider interaction. 184
(c) "E-commerce platform" means any web-based or 185
smartphone application-based platform that includes features 186
primarily designed for arranging the sale, purchase, payment, or 187
shipping of physical goods, or that enables sellers not directly 188
affiliated with an operator of a web-based platform or smartphone 189
application-based platform to sell physical goods through the web 190
to consumers located in the United States. 191
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(d) "Electronic mail service" means a service for the 192
sending or receiving of electronic mail messages. 193
(e) "Electronic mail message" means a message sent or 194
delivered to a unique destination, commonly expressed as a string 195
of characters, consisting of a unique user name or mailbox 196
(commonly referred to as the "local part") and a reference to an 197
Internet domain (commonly referred to as the "domain part"), 198
whether or not displayed. 199
(f) "Covered interactive computer service" means any 200
information service, system, or access software provider that (1) 201
provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a 202
computer server, including specifically a service or system that 203
provides access to the Internet and such systems operated or 204
services offered by libraries or educational institutions; (2) is 205
used or reasonably likely to be used by minors; and (3) that has 206
any feature or component that will encourage or increase the 207
frequency, time spent, or activity of minors on the covered 208
interactive computer service, including, without limitation, any 209
of the following features: 210
(i) Infinite scrolling or auto play; 211
(ii) Rewards or incentives based on the frequency, 212
time spent, or activity of minors on the covered platform; 213
(iii) Notifications and push alerts; 214
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(iv) Badges or other visual award symbols based on 215
the frequency, time spent, or activity of minors on the covered 216
platform; 217
(v) Personalized design features; 218
(vi) In-game purchases; or 219
(vii) Appearance altering filters. 220
(g) "Material harmful to minors" means all of the 221
following: 222
(i) Any material that the average person, applying 223
contemporary community standards, would find, taking the material 224
as a whole and with respect to minors, is designed to appeal to, 225
or is designed to pander to, the prurient interest; 226
(ii) Any of the following material that exploits, is 227
devoted to, or principally consists of descriptions of actual, 228
simulated or animated display or depiction of any of the 229
following, in a manner patently offensive with respect to minors: 230
1. Pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals or 231
nipple of the female breast; 232
2. Touching, caressing or fondling of 233
nipples, breasts, buttocks, anuses or genitals; or 234
3. Sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, 235
bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, excretory functions, 236
exhibitions or any other sexual act; and 237
(iii) The material taken as a whole lacks serious 238
literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors. 239
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(h) "Minor" means any person who is under the age of 240
eighteen (18) years. 241
(i) "News-gathering organization" means any of the 242
following: 243
(i) An employee of a newspaper, news publication 244
or news source, printed or on an online or mobile platform, of 245
current news and public interest, while operating as an employee 246
as provided in this subparagraph (i), who can provide 247
documentation of such employment with the newspaper, news 248
publication or news source; or 249
(ii) An employee of a radio broadcast station, 250
television broadcast station, cable television operator or wire 251
service while operating as an employee as provided in this 252
subparagraph (ii), who can provide documentation of such 253
employment. 254
(j) "Telephone service" means any service for making or 255
receiving voice calls using an Internet connection. 256
(k) "Text message" 257
(i) Means a message consisting of text, images, 258
sounds, or other information that is transmitted to or from a 259
device that is identified as the receiving or transmitting device 260
by means of a 10-digit telephone number or N11 service code; 261
(ii) Includes a short message service (commonly 262
referred to as "SMS") message and a multimedia message service 263
(commonly referred to as "MMS") message; and 264
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(iii) Does not include: 265
1. A real-time, two-way voice or video 266
communication; or 267
2. A message sent over an IP-enabled 268
messaging service to another user of the same messaging service, 269
except a message described in clause (ii). 270
(l) "Text message service" means a service for the 271
sending or receiving of text messages. 272
(m) "Video streaming service" means any commercial 273
service that predominantly makes video programming available 274
directly to consumers, in exchange for a subscription fee or other 275
payment, through a distribution method that uses the Internet 276
protocol, but does not include any service that is offered through 277
a website subject to the requirements of section 11-77-1 et seq. 278
SECTION 5. The following shall be codified as Section 279
11-79-5, Mississippi Code of 1972: 280
11-79-5. Prohibitions. (1) Except as provided in subsection 281
(3) of this section, a covered interactive computer service 282
provider shall not, in connection with offering covered 283
interactive computer services to a minor, or to a minor's parent 284
or legal guardian for use by the minor, knowingly make any false 285
or misleading oral or written statement, visual description or 286
other representation regarding the covered interactive computer 287
service that may, tends to, or does deceive or mislead any person, 288
including, without limitation: 289
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(a) Falsely representing that the covered interactive 290
computer service is not addictive to minor users when, in fact, it 291
contains design features that make it addictive to minor users; 292
(b) Falsely representing that the covered interactive 293
computer service is safe for minor users when, in fact, evidence 294
based data establishes it is harmful for minor users; 295
(c) Failing to disclose to minor users or their parents 296
or legal guardians the harmful effects to minors of using the 297
covered interactive computer service, including any failure to 298
disclose the frequency, scope, and severity of such harms; 299
(d) Falsely representing the adequacy and efficacy of 300
the covered interactive computer service's efforts to prevent 301
harms to minor users. 302
(e) Failing to warn minor users or their parents or 303
legal guardians of the harmful effects to minors of using the 304
covered interactive computer service, including any failure to 305
warn of the frequency, scope, and severity of such harms; 306
(2) A covered interactive computer service that contains 307
design features that make it addictive to a minor, or that are 308
offered to a minor or a minor's parent or legal guardian on behalf 309
of a minor in violation of the requirements of this section, are 310
considered defective products for purposes of Mississippi law. 311
(3) Exemptions. (a) The provisions of this section shall 312
not apply to any bona fide news or public interest broadcast or 313
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report and shall not be construed to affect the rights of any 314
news-gathering organization. 315
(b) A search engine or cloud service provider shall not 316
be held to have violated the provisions of this section solely for 317
providing access or connection to a covered interactive computer 318
service not under the search engine or cloud service provider's 319
control. 320
(c) The provisions of this section shall not apply to a 321
covered interactive computer service that is a broadband provider, 322
an electronic mail service, a text message service, a telephone 323
service, an e-commerce platform, or a video streaming service. 324
(d) The provisions of this section shall not apply to 325
any use or attempted use of a covered interactive computer service 326
by a minor while the minor is physically located outside the State 327
of Mississippi at the time of the use or attempted use. 328
SECTION 6. The following shall be codified as Section 329
11-79-7, Mississippi Code of 1972: 330
11-79-7. Remedies. (1) If a covered interactive computer 331
service provider knowingly and willfully violates Section 11-79-5 332
and the Attorney General finds that bringing an action against the 333
covered interactive computer service provider is in the public 334
interest, the Attorney General may bring an action in a Hinds 335
County circuit court or a circuit court in any county in which the 336
minor accessed the covered interactive computer service in 337
question in the course of conduct that constitutes the violation 338
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to enjoin the violation, recover a civil penalty, and obtain such 339
declaratory and other relief as the court considers appropriate. 340
(2) A civil penalty imposed under this section for a 341
violation of Section 11-79-5 may be in an amount equal to Ten 342
Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) per instance for each violation 343
of Section 11-79-3. 344
(3) The amount of a civil penalty imposed under this section 345
shall be based on the following factors: 346
(a) The seriousness of the violation, including the 347
nature, circumstances, extent and gravity of the violation; 348
(b) The history of previous violations; 349
(c) The amount necessary to deter a future violation; 350
(d) The economic effect of a penalty on the entity on 351
whom the penalty will be imposed; 352
(e) The entity's knowledge that the act constituted a 353
violation of Section 11-79-5; and 354
(f) Any other matter that justice may require. 355
(4) The Attorney General may recover reasonable and 356
necessary attorney's fees, costs and reasonable expenses of 357
litigation incurred in an action under this section, including, 358
but not limited to, expert witness fees and court reporter's fees. 359
(5) One-half (1/2) of any penalty recovered under this 360
section shall be payable to the Office of Consumer Protection to 361
be deposited into the Attorney General's special fund. All monies 362
collected under this section and deposited into the Attorney 363
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ST: MS Keeping Kids Safe Online Act;
General's special fund shall be used by the Attorney General for 364
consumer fraud education and investigative and enforcement 365
operations of the Office of Consumer Protection. The other 366
one-half (1/2) of the monies collected under this section shall be 367
payable to the Department of Education to fund Sections 1 and 2 of 368
this act. 369
(6) If a covered interactive computer service provider 370
knowingly and willfully violates Section 11-79-5, and such 371
violation or violations proximately causes a minor's repeated 372
exposure to material harmful to minors, as that term is defined in 373
Section 11-79-3(g), then the minor's parent or legal guardian may 374
bring an action on behalf of the minor against the covered 375
interactive computer service provider in the Circuit Court of any 376
county in which the violation or any part of it, including any 377
incidence of such exposure, occurred. In such action, the minor's 378
parent or legal guardian may recover on behalf of the minor: 379
actual damages (both economic and non-economic), reasonable and 380
necessary attorney's fees, costs and reasonable expenses of 381
litigation incurred in the action, including, but limited to, 382
expert witness fees. If the covered interactive computer service 383
provider acted with reckless disregard, then punitive damages may 384
also be awarded in the action. 385
SECTION 7. This act shall take effect and be in force from 386
and after July 1, 2026. 387