Protecting Kids on Social Media—Bills and New Laws

Feb. 6, 2024 -- For many legitimate reasons, social media is often high on a parent's list of digital concerns. From online predators to privacy, there's genuinely a lot of questionable; stuff for children and teens to navigate. Enjoying social media wisely can also give kids a sense of connection, fun, and creativity. If a caregiver is involved in a kid's digital life, it prepares them for how to handle negative online situations. Talks about protecting privacy and being kind can go a long way toward a more positive social media experience. And if kids can avoid endless scrolling and comparing themselves to others, and instead focus on friendship and creativity, it may actually give them a boost instead of being a downer.

Recently, U.S. lawmakers have accused Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and four other big tech bosses of having "blood on (their) hands"; allegations have surfaced that up to 100,000 children a day using Facebook and Instagram in 2022 were exposed to online sexual harassment, including pictures of adult genitalia. Lawmakers have introduced legislation to protect teens and children online. Below are some of bills that have been introduced to help parents feel better about allowing their children to use social media.

Bills

S.1418 — Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act
Introduced in House (11/01/2023)

A bill to amend the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) to strengthen protections relating to the online collection, use, and disclosure of personal information of children and teens, and for other purposes. This changes some of the language regarding what platforms are under COPPA rules to include social media and mobile apps.
Status: Senate - 12/13/2023 Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 288

S.1291 - Protecting Kids on Social Media Act
Sen. Schatz, Brian [D-HI] (Introduced 04/26/2023)
H.R.-6149 Protecting Kids on Social Media Act
Rep. James, John [R-MI-10] and Rep. Ryan, Patrick [D-NY-18] Committees: House - Energy and Commerce

This bill requires social media platforms to verify the age of account holders and limits access to such platforms by children. Specifically, social media platforms (1) must verify the age of account holders, (2) may not allow an individual to create or continue to use an account unless the individual's age has been verified, and (3) must limit access to the platform for children under the age of 13. Social media platforms may not use or retain any information collected during the age verification process for any other purpose.

Further, platforms must take reasonable steps to (1) require affirmative consent from the parent or guardian of a minor who is at least 13 years old to create an account for the minor on the platform, and (2) provide the parent or guardian with the ability to revoke such consent. Social media platforms may not use the personal data of an individual in an algorithmic recommendation system unless the individual is at least 18 years old according to the platform's age verification process.

The bill requires the Department of Commerce to establish a voluntary pilot program to provide secure digital identification credentials for individuals to use when verifying their age on social media platforms. Commerce may issue rules for social media companies to enroll in the program. The bill provides for enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general (or other authorized state officials).
Status: House - 11/03/2023 Referred to the Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce.

Text - H.R.6149 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Protecting Kids on Social Media Act. (2023, November 3). https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/6149/text

Text - S.1291 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Protecting Kids on Social Media Act. (2023, April 26). https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1291/text


Safe Social Media Act
H.R.4826 - Safe Social Media Act
S.687 - Safe Social Media Act
Rep. Bentz, Cliff [R-OR-2] (Introduced 07/24/2023) Committees: House - Energy and Commerce

This bill requires a study on the use of social media platforms among individuals under age 18. A social media platform is a public-facing website, internet application, or mobile internet application (e.g., social network, search engine, or email service) with at least 30 million active monthly users in the United States.
Status: House - 07/28/2023 Referred to the Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce.

Actions - H.R.4826 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Safe Social Media Act. (2023, July 28). https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4826/actions

S.687 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Safe Social Media Act. (2023, March 7). https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/687


S.410 - Federal Social Media Research Act
Sponsor: Sen. Hawley, Josh [R-MO] (Introduced 02/14/2023) Committees: Senate - Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

This bill provides funding for a short-term study and a long-term study on the physical and mental health effects of using social media technologies on users who are under the age of 18. It also authorizes the Government Accountability Office to conduct the studies, including in partnership with any other federal agency. The bill specifies that the aim of the studies is to assess the relationship between patterns of social media use and suicide, anxiety, depression, and other medical conditions.
Status: Senate - 02/14/2023 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

S.410 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Federal Social Media Research Act. (2023, February 14). https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/410

H.R.821 - Social Media Child Protection Act
Sponsor:Rep. Stewart, Chris [R-UT-2] (Introduced 02/02/2023) Committees: House - Energy and Commerce

This bill limits access to social media platforms by children and requires all individuals to verify their age before accessing such platforms. Specifically, a social media platform may not permit children under the age of 16 to access the platform. In addition, a social media platform must require all individuals to verify their age by providing a valid identity document (e.g., government-issued identification) or using another reasonable verification method before accessing the platform. The platforms must also establish and maintain reasonable procedures to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of the personal information of users and prospective users.The bill provides for enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys general, and private right of action.
Status: House - 02/10/2023 Referred to the Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce.

H.R.821 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Social Media Child Protection Act. (2023, February 10). https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/821

New Laws
California

AB-1394
Beginning January 1, 2025, this law would prohibit a social media platform, as defined, from knowingly facilitating, aiding, or abetting commercial sexual exploitation, as specified. The bill would require a court to award statutory damages not exceeding $4,000,000 and not less than $1,000,000 for each act of commercial sexual exploitation facilitated, aided, or abetted by the social media platform. The bill would define “facilitate, aid, or abet” to mean to deploy a system, design, feature, or allowance that is a substantial factor in causing minor users to be victims of commercial sexual exploitation. This law was chaptered by the Secretary of State in Statutes of 2023 in October.

Commercial exploitation via Social Media (HTML)

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1394

Utah
The Utah Social Media Regulation Act states that social media platforms will have to conduct age verification for all Utah residents, ban all ads for minors and impose a curfew, making their sites off limits between the hours of 10:30 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. for anyone under the age of 18. The bill will also require social platforms to give parents access to their teens’ accounts. The legislation, which was introduced by Republican Sen. Michael McKell and passed by Republican Governor Spencer Cox, will go into effect on March 1, 2024.

Social Media Regulation Act (PDF) (HTML)

New Bills to enhance social media Regulations

California

Senate Bill No. 976 - 1/29/2024

Social Media Youth Addiction Law

The bill would make it unlawful for the operator of an addictive social media platform, between the hours of 12:00 AM and 6:00 AM, inclusive, in the user’s local time zone, and between the hours of 8:00 AM and 3:00 PM, inclusive, Monday through Friday from September through May in the user’s local time zone, to send notifications to a user who is a minor unless the operator has obtained verifiable parental consent to send those notifications. 

The bill would set forth related provisions for certain access controls determined by the verified parent.The bill would define “addictive feed” as an internet website, online service, online application, or mobile application, in which multiple pieces of media generated or shared by users are recommended, selected, or prioritized for display to a user based on information provided by the user, or otherwise associated with the user or the user’s device, as specified, unless any of certain conditions are met.

The bill would require an operator to annually disclose the number of minor users of its addictive social media platform, and of that total the number for whom the operator has received verifiable parental consent to provide an addictive feed, and the number of minor users as to whom the access controls are or are not enabled. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to adopt regulations to further the purposes of these provisions. The bill would make these provisions severable or separate.

Utah

S.B 194 and HB 464 - 2/5/2024

Sen. McKell and Rep. Teuscher are sponsoring enhanced legislation to protect minors from the harms of social media and empower families with resources to combat the negative effects of social media.
S.B. 194 and H.B. 464 address issues including platform safety, parental engagement and addictive algorithms that impact youth’s mental health. These bills build on previous landmark legislation to provide parents with enhanced tools and resources, including strict age-verification processes, default privacy settings and tools for overseeing minor accounts. The aim is to empower parents, ensure the safety of minors and stop addictive and harmful features.

New Content Policies for Teens

Instagram

Hiding inappropriate content - Instagram