Read the full stored bill text
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 1818
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBL Y
5298H.02C JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
T o amend chapter 407, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to regulation of
online content involving minors.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 407, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be
2 known as section 407.2100, to read as follows:
407.2100 . 1. As used in this section, the following terms shall mean:
2 (1) "Account holder", an individual who has opened an account on a social
3 media platform;
4 (2) "Content cr eator", any individual res iding in the state who cr eates an image,
5 audio content, or video content in exchange for compensation. A content creat or
6 includes, but is not limited to: vloggers, podcasters, social media influencers, or
7 str eamers;
8 (3) "Minor", any person under eighteen years of age;
9 (4) "Restricted material", any material that is obscene, as defined in section
10 573.010, or depicts:
11 (a) Explicit sexual material, as defined in section 573.010;
12 (b) Nudity , as defined in section 573.010; or
13 (c) Sexually explicit conduct, as defined in section 573.010;
14 (5) "Social graph", a list of people that an account holder is connected to using a
15 friending function, or a similar function, on a social media platform. Subscribing to
16 content fr om another account holder does not constitute a friending function;
EXPLANA TION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is
intended to be omitted from the law . Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language.
17 (6) "Social media platform", an internet-based service or application that has
18 account holders in the state and that meets all of the following criteria with r espect to
19 account holders:
20 (a) The service or application connects account holders to allow them to interact
21 socially with each other within the service or application;
22 (b) The service or application permits public posting of content generated by
23 account holders without visibility being limited to a particular social graph; and
24 (c) The service or application permits interaction with other account holders'
25 content outside a limited social graph, including content recomm ended fr om any person
26 an account holder has not subscribed to or does not follow;
27 (7) "Uniquely identifiable", any information, including but not limited to, an
28 image, voice rec ording, video r ecording, or a photograph that can be used to distinguish
29 or trace an individual's identity .
30 2. A minor shall be consider ed engaged in the work of content creat ion when the
31 following criteria have been met at any time during the previ ous twelve-month period:
32 (1) At least thirty per cent of the content cre ator's compensated image, audio
33 content, or video content pr oduced within a thirty-day period includes the likeness,
34 name, voice, or a photograph of such minor . Content percen tage shall be measur ed by
35 the perce ntage of time the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor visually appears
36 or the minor is the subject of or a participant in a segment of audio or video content
37 compar ed to the total length of the segment;
38 (2) The number of views receiv ed per image, audio segment, or video segment on
39 any social media platform met the social media platform's thr eshold for the generation
40 of compensation or the content cr eator r eceived actual compensation per image, audio
41 segment, or video segment equal to or gr eater than ten cents per view; and
42 (3) The content crea tor recei ved actual compensation for image, audio segment,
43 or video content of at least twenty-five thousand dollars during the prior twelve-month
44 period.
45 3. A minor who is thirteen years of age or older may prod uce, creat e, and
46 publish his or her own content and shall be entitled to all compensation for his or her
47 content creat ion.
48 4. (1) Any content creat or whose content featur es a minor engaged in the work
49 of content crea tion, as described in subsection 2 of this section, shall maintain the
50 following record s and shall ret ain such re cords until the minor r eaches twenty-one years
51 of age:
52 (a) The name and documentary proof of age of the minor engaged in the work of
53 content creat ion at the time the content was cr eated;
HCS HB 1818 2
54 (b) The total number of social media posts that generated compensation during
55 the repo rting period;
56 (c) The total number of minutes of the social media posts that the content creat or
57 r eceived compensation for during the re porting period;
58 (d) The total number of minutes each minor was featur ed in social media posts
59 during the reporting period;
60 (e) The total compensation generated from social media posts featuring the
61 minor during the r eporting period; and
62 (f) The amount deposited in the trust account for the benefit of the minor
63 engaged in content cr eation pursuant to the pro visions of subsection 5 of this section.
64 (2) The reco rds requ ired under subdivision (1) of this subsection shall be readi ly
65 available to the minor . The content cr eator shall pro vide notice to the minor of the
66 existence of such record s.
67 5. (1) A minor who is engaged in the work of content cre ation under this section
68 shall be compensated by the content crea tor . The content creat or shall set aside gr oss
69 earnings on any content including, but not limited to, the likeness or name of the minor
70 in a trust account to be pr eserved for the benefit of the minor upon the minor reachi ng
71 eighteen years of age, as follows:
72 (a) Wher e only one minor meets the content thr eshold pursuant to subsection 2
73 of this section, the percen tage of the total gr oss earnings on any content including, but
74 not limited to, the likeness or name of the minor that is equal to or gr eater than half of
75 the content percen tage that includes the minor , shall be paid into the minor's trust
76 account; or
77 (b) Wher e mor e than one minor meets the content thr eshold pursuant to
78 subsection 2 of this section and the content includes mor e than one of such minors, the
79 per centage described in paragraph (a) of this subdivision for all minors shall be equally
80 divided between the minors paid into a separate trust account for each minor .
81 (2) A trust account under this subsection shall be structured, at a minimum, as
82 follows:
83 (a) The funds in the account shall be available only to the minor or minors
84 engaged in the work of content creat ion;
85 (b) The account shall be held by a bank, financial institution, corporate
86 fiduciary , or trust company authorized to do business in the state;
87 (c) The funds in the account shall become available to each minor engaged in the
88 work of content cr eation upon the minor reachi ng eighteen years of age or upon a
89 declaration that the minor is emancipated; and
HCS HB 1818 3
90 (d) The account shall meet the requ irem ents of sections 404.005 to 404.094, the
91 Missouri transfers to minors law .
92 6. (1) After August 28, 2026, any individual who was featur ed in a content
93 cr eator's social media post as a minor may request that the content cr eator delete the
94 post from the social media platform or edit the social media post to re move any content
95 involving the minor . The content creat or shall delete or edit the social media post if the
96 individual pr oves his or her identity with uniquely identifiable information.
97 (2) Social media platforms shall pr ovide an easily accessible mechanism thr ough
98 which an individual under subdivision (1) of this subsection can submit a req uest to the
99 social media platform for the content creat or to delete or edit any social media post
100 described under subdivision (1) of this subsection.
101 (3) Social media platforms shall notify the content creat or within a reas onable
102 time period, but no longer than thirty days, after r eceiving a r emoval requ est under this
103 subsection.
104 (4) The content crea tor shall delete or edit the social media post featuring the
105 individual as a minor fr om the social media platform within seventy-two hours after
106 r eceiving notice of a r emoval request fr om the social media platform under this
107 subsection.
108 (5) If the content creat or fails to delete or edit a social media post under this
109 subsection within thirty days after receiving notice of a rem oval requ est fr om the social
110 media platform, the social media platform shall take all reas onable steps to delete or edit
111 the content involving the minor , unless:
112 (a) The individual who was featur ed in the content cre ator's post as a minor does
113 not submit sufficient uniquely identifiable information; or
114 (b) The social media platform finds that the post is sufficiently newsworthy or of
115 other public interes t to outweigh the privacy interes ts of the minor .
116 7. It shall be unlawful to financially benefit from intentionally or knowingly
117 pr oducing or distributing on social media any visual depiction of a minor with the intent
118 to sexually gratify or elicit a sexual res ponse in the viewer or any other person, or any
119 other res tricted material involving a minor , except:
120 (1) In the case of an individual acting in good faith to rep ort unlawful activity or
121 in pursuance of a legal or profes sional or other lawful obligation;
122 (2) In the case of a document pro duction or filing in connection with a legal
123 pr oceeding;
124 (3) In the case of any lawfully authorized investigative, protecti ve, or intelligence
125 activity of a law enforcem ent agency of the United States, this state, a political
126 subdivision of this state, or of an intelligence agency of the United States; or
HCS HB 1818 4
127 (4) In the case of a social media platform with regard to online content pr ovided
128 by content creat ors unless the social media platform intentionally solicits, or knowingly
129 and pred ominantly distributes, such content.
130 8. This section shall not be construed to impose liability in a manner that is
131 inconsistent with the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. sec. 230.
132 9. A social media platform shall develop and implement a strategy to help
133 mitigate risks rel ated to monetization of res tricted material involving minors. Such
134 strategy shall be documented and re assessed annually and may include:
135 (1) Policies that govern content and rel ated monetization;
136 (2) Restrictions on content featuring minors;
137 (3) Use of any commer cially re asonable system to identify and implement
138 r estrictions on any r estricted material involving minors; and
139 (4) Any information informing content crea tors of their legal obligations under
140 this section and any information explaining the steps to pr otect minors fr om appearing
141 in r estricted material under this section.
142 10. Any individual may report violations of this section to the attorney general.
143 If the attorney general finds that pro visions of this section have been violated, the
144 attorney general shall bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction. If the
145 court finds that pr ovisions of this section have been violated, the court may award
146 damages, injunctive re lief, attorney's fees, and any such other rel ief the court finds
147 appr opriate. Nothing in this section shall preclu de an individual fr om bringing a
148 private civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction for any violations of this section.
✔
HCS HB 1818 5