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ENGROSSED HOUSE
BILL NO. 1275 By: Caldwell (Chad), Lepak,
Moore, and Kendrix of the
House
and
Seifried of the Senate
[ social media - legislative intent - minors -
account holder - social media platforms - express
consent - parent or legal guardian – verification -
third-party vendors – activities - violations -
Office of the Attorney General – notice -
enforcement action – exemptions – liability –
noncodification – codification ]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law not to be
codified in the Oklahoma Statutes reads as follows:
In recognition of the critical role social media plays in the
lives of minors and its impact on their mental well-being, this
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Legislature is committed to safeguarding the youth from accessing
platforms that have demonstrated adverse effects on their mental
health due to the addictive elements found in social media and the
targeting of minors through the use of algorithms by social media
platforms. This Legislature's intent is not to censor content found
on social media platforms, but rather to prevent access by persons
who have not yet reached an age to handle the negative aspects of
social media. Much like our historical commitment to curbing the
use of addictive substances and behaviors among minors, such as laws
regulating the use of intoxicants and gambling, this Legislature now
takes proactive measures to address the emerging challenges posed by
social media platforms.
SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 120 of Title 25, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. Nothing in this act shall be construed to limit the content
found on social media platforms or prohibit minors from posting
content on other platforms, digital or otherwise, that they legally
have access to.
B. As used in this act:
1. "Account holder" means an individual who creates an account
or a profile to use a social media platform;
2. "Commercial entity":
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a. means a corporation, limited liability company,
partnership, limited partnership, sole proprietorship,
or other legally recognized entity, and
b. includes a third-party vendor;
3. "Dark pattern" means a user interface designed or
manipulated with the substantial effect of subverting or impairing
user autonomy, decision making, or choice and includes, but is not
limited to, any practice the Federal Trade Commission refers to as a
dark pattern;
4. "Digitized identification card" means a data file available
on a mobile device that has connectivity to the Internet through a
state-approved application that allows the mobile device to download
the data file from the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety that
contains all of the data elements visible on the face and back of a
driver license or identification card and displays the current
status of the driver license or identification card, including
valid, expired, canceled, suspended, revoked, active, or inactive;
5. "Fake identification" means identification which has been
fabricated or altered to misrepresent the age of the person using it
for age verification that cannot be detected through reasonable
efforts, taking into account available technology;
6. "Minor" means an individual under eighteen (18) years of
age;
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7. "Oklahoma user" means an individual who is a resident of the
State of Oklahoma and who accesses or attempts to access a social
media platform while present in this state and whose location out of
this state is not assumed based only on the registered location of
the Internet protocol address associated with the user;
8. "Personal information" means information that is linked or
reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable minor,
including biometric information and unique identifiers to the minor;
9. "Reasonable age verification" means to confirm that a person
seeking to access a social media platform is at least eighteen (18)
years of age;
10. a. "Social media company" means an online forum, website,
or application that a company makes available for an
account holder to:
(1) create a public profile, establish an account, or
register as a user for the primary purpose of
interacting socially with other profiles and
accounts,
(2) upload or create posts or content, which may
include, but is not limited to, user-generated
short video clips of dancing, voiceovers, or
other acts of entertainment in which the primary
purpose is not educational or informative,
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(3) view posts, activity, or content of other account
holders, and
(4) interact with other account holders or users
including, without limitation, establishing
mutual connections through request and
acceptance,
b. social media company does not include a/an:
(1) media company that exclusively offers
subscription content in which users follow or
subscribe unilaterally and whose platform's
primary purpose is not social interaction,
(2) media company that exclusively offers interactive
gaming, virtual gaming, or an online service that
allows the creation and uploading of content for
the purpose of interactive gaming, entertainment,
or associated entertainment, and the
communication related to that content,
(3) online service, website, or application where the
exclusive function is email or direct messaging
consisting of text, photographs, pictures,
images, or videos shared only between the sender
and the recipients, without displaying or posting
publicly or to other users not specifically
identified as the recipients by the sender, and
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(4) company that:
(a) offers cloud storage services, enterprise
cybersecurity services, educational devices,
or enterprise collaboration tools for
kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12)
schools, and
(b) derives less than twenty-five percent (25%)
of the company's revenue from operating a
social media platform, including games and
advertising, or
(5) company that provides career development
opportunities, including professional networking,
job skills, learning certifications, and job
posting and application services;
11. a. "Social media platform" means a public or semipublic
Internet-based service or application:
(1) that has users in Oklahoma,
(2) that employs algorithms that analyze user data or
information on users to select content for users,
(3) that features infinite scrolling, which means
either:
(a) continuously loading content or content
that loads as the user scrolls down the
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page without the need to open a separate
page, or
(b) seamless content, or the use of pages with
no visible or apparent end or page breaks,
and
(4) which a substantial function of the service or
application is to connect users in order to allow
users to interact socially with each other within
the service or application,
b. a service or application that provides email or direct
messaging shall not be considered to meet the criteria
under division (4) of subparagraph a of this paragraph
on the basis of that function alone,
c. social media platform does not include an online
service, a website, or an application if the
predominant or exclusive function is:
(1) email,
(2) direct messaging consisting of messages, photos,
or videos that are sent between devices by
electronic means if messages are:
(a) shared between the sender and the recipient
or recipients,
(b) only visible to the sender and the recipient
or recipients, and
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(c) not posted publicly,
(3) a streaming service that:
(a) provides only licensed media in a continuous
flow from the service, website, or
application to the end user, and
(b) does not obtain a license to the media from
a user or account holder by agreement of the
streaming service's terms of service,
(4) news, sports, entertainment, or other content
that is preselected by the provider and not user-
generated including, without limitation, if any
chat, comment, or interactive functionality that
is provided is incidental to, directly related
to, or dependent upon provision of the content,
(5) online shopping or e-commerce, if the interaction
with other users or account holders is generally
limited to:
(a) the ability to post and comment on reviews,
(b) the ability to display lists or collections
of goods for sale or wish lists, and
(c) other functions that are focused on online
shopping or e-commerce rather than
interaction between users or account
holders,
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(6) business-to-business software that is not
accessible to the general public,
(7) cloud storage,
(8) shared document collaboration,
(9) providing access to or interacting with data
visualization platforms, libraries, or hubs,
(10) to permit comments on a digital news website, if
the news content is posted only by the provider
of the digital news website,
(11) providing or obtaining technical support for the
social media company's social media platform,
products, or services,
(12) academic or scholarly research,
(13) other research:
(a) if:
(i) the majority of the content is posted
or created by the provider of the
online service, website, or
application, and
(ii) the ability to chat, comment, or
interact with other users is directly
related to the provider's content,
(b) that is a classified advertising service
that only permits the sale of goods and
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prohibits the solicitation of personal
services, or
(c) that is used by and under the direction of
an educational entity including, without
limitation, a:
(i) learning management system,
(ii) student engagement program, and
(iii) subject-specific or skill-specific
program, or
(iv) an interactive gaming platform that
complies with the requirements of the
Children's Online Privacy Protection
Act, 15 U.S.C., Section 6501, and the
regulations, rules, guidance, and
exemptions pursuant to said act.
d. social media platform does not include a social media
platform that is controlled or owned by a business
entity that has generated less than One Hundred
Million Dollars ($100,000,000.00) globally from users
in the United States of America in annual gross
revenue;
12. "Substantial harm or privacy risk to minors" means the
processing of personal information in a manner that may result in
any reasonably foreseeable substantial physical injury, economic
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injury, or offensive intrusion into the privacy expectations of a
reasonable minor under the circumstances, including:
a. mental health disorders or associated behaviors,
including the promotion or exacerbation of self-harm,
suicide, eating disorders, and substance abuse
disorders,
b. patterns of use that indicate or encourage addictive
behaviors,
c. physical violence, online bullying, and harassment,
and
d. sexual exploitation, including enticement, sex
trafficking, and sexual abuse and trafficking of
online sexual abuse material; and
13. "User" means a person who has access to view all or some of
the posts and content on a social media platform but is not an
account holder.
SECTION 3. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 121 of Title 25, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. A social media company shall not permit an Oklahoma user who
is a minor less than sixteen (16) years of age to be an account
holder on a social media company's social media platform.
B. A social media company shall not permit an Oklahoma user who
is a minor of sixteen (16) or seventeen (17) years of age to be an
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account holder on the social media company's social media platform
unless the minor has the express consent of a parent or legal
guardian.
C. 1. A social media company shall verify the age of an
account holder.
2. If an account holder is a minor of sixteen (16) or seventeen
(17) years of age, the social media company shall confirm that the
minor has consent under subsection B of this section to become a new
account holder at the time the Oklahoma user opens the account.
D. 1. A social media company may use a third-party vendor to
perform reasonable age verification before allowing access to the
social media company's social media platform.
2. Reasonable age verification methods under paragraph 1 of
this subsection include providing:
a. a digitized identification card, including a digital
copy of a driver license,
b. government-issued identification,
c. any commercially reasonable age verification method,
or
d. confirmation from a platform from which social media
applications are downloaded that the platform has
verified the age of the user.
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SECTION 4. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 122 of Title 25, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. A social media platform that is accessed by minors shall
not:
1. Process the personal information of any minor if the social
media platform has actual knowledge of or willfully disregards that
the processing may result in substantial harm or is a privacy risk
to minors;
2. Profile a minor unless both of the following criteria are
met:
a. the social media platform can demonstrate it has
appropriate safeguards in place to protect minors, and
b. (1) profiling is necessary to provide the online
service or feature requested for the aspects of
the online service or feature with which the
minor is actively and knowingly engaged, or
(2) the social media platform can demonstrate a
compelling reason that profiling does not pose
substantial harm or is a privacy risk to minors;
3. Collect or retain any personal information that is not
necessary to provide an online service or feature with which a minor
is actively and knowingly engaged unless the online platform can
demonstrate a compelling reason that collecting or retaining the
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personal information does not pose substantial harm or is a privacy
risk to minors;
4. Use the personal information of a minor for any reason other
than the reason for which the personal information was collected
unless the online platform can demonstrate a compelling reason that
the use of the personal information does not pose substantial harm
or is a privacy risk to minors;
5. Collect any precise geolocation data of minors unless the
collection of the precise geolocation data is strictly necessary for
the online platform to provide the service, product, or feature
requested and then only for the limited time that the collection of
the precise geolocation data is necessary to provide the service or
feature;
6. Collect any precise geolocation data of a minor without
providing an obvious sign to the minor for the duration of the
collection that the precise geolocation data is being collected;
7. Use dark patterns to lead or encourage minors to provide
personal information beyond what personal information would
otherwise be reasonably expected to be provided for that online
service or feature, to forego privacy protections, or to take any
action that the online platform has actual knowledge of or willfully
disregards that may result in substantial harm or is a privacy risk
to minors;
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8. Use any personal information collected to estimate the age
or age range for any other purpose or retain that personal
information longer than necessary to estimate age. The age estimate
must be proportionate to the risks and data practice of an online
service or feature; or
9. Sell or share any personal information or any geolocation
data of minors.
B. Violations of this section may be reported to the Office of
the Attorney General.
C. If the Attorney General determines that there has been a
violation of this section, the Attorney General shall send notice to
the social media platform.
D. The social media platform shall have a forty-five-day period
to cure the violation of this section.
SECTION 5. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 123 of Title 25, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. 1. A social media company that knowingly violates this act
is liable if the social media company fails to perform a reasonable
age verification or fails to comply with Section 4 of this act.
2. If a social media company performs a reasonable age
verification, the social media company shall not retain any
identifying information of the individual after access to the social
media platform has been granted.
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B. The Attorney General may initiate an enforcement action
against social media companies that allegedly commit a violation of
this act.
C. A social media company that violates this act is liable to
an individual for:
1. A penalty of Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500.00)
per violation, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees as ordered
by the court; or
2. Damages resulting from a minor accessing a social media
platform without the consent of his or her parent or custodian,
including court costs and reasonable attorney fees as ordered by the
court.
D. This section does not:
1. Apply to a news or public interest broadcast, website video,
report, or event;
2. Affect the rights of a news-gathering organization; or
3. Apply to cloud service providers.
E. No social media platform shall be liable under this act if,
after performing reasonable age verification, a minor manages access
to the platform through means of fraud including, but not limited
to, the use of fake identification by the minor or an individual
claiming to be the parent or legal guardian of the minor.
F. An Internet service provider, or any of its affiliates or
subsidiaries, or search engines will not violate this act solely
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when providing access, connection to or from a website, or other
information or content on the Internet, or a facility, system, or
network that is not under that Internet service provider's control,
including transmission, downloading, intermediate storage, access
software, or other service that provides access or connectivity, to
the extent the Internet service provider is not responsible for the
creation of the content or the communication on a social media
platform.
SECTION 6. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 124 of Title 25, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. A commercial entity or third-party vendor shall not retain
any identifying information of an individual supplied for the
purpose of age verification, except if required for audit and
testing purposes, and in any case for no longer than thirty (30)
days after access to the social media platform has been granted.
B. A commercial entity that is found to have knowingly retained
identifying information of an individual after access to the
material is granted, except as provided for in subsection A of this
section, is liable to the individual for damages resulting from the
retention of the identifying information, including court costs and
reasonable attorney fees as ordered by the court.
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Passed the House of Representatives the 24th day of March, 2025.
Presiding Officer of the House
of Representatives
Passed the Senate the _____ day of __________, 2025.
Presiding Officer of the Senate