[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 821 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 821
To require providers of social media platforms to prohibit children
under the age of 16 from accessing such social media platforms, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 2, 2023
Mr. Stewart introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require providers of social media platforms to prohibit children
under the age of 16 from accessing such social media platforms, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Social Media Child Protection Act''.
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS.
(a) In General.--A provider of a social media platform--
(1) may not permit a child to access such social media
platform;
(2) may not permit any individual to access such social
media platform unless such provider has verified the age of
such individual by--
(A) requiring such individual to provide a valid
identity document issued by the Federal Government or a
State or local government, such as a birth certificate,
driver's license, or passport; or
(B) using another reasonable method of verification
(taking into consideration available technology); and
(3) shall establish and maintain reasonable procedures to
protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of the
personal information of users and prospective users of such
social media platform, which shall be consistent with the
procedures required under section 1303(b)(1)(D) of the
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C.
6502(b)(1)(D)).
(b) Enforcement.--
(1) Enforcement by federal trade commission.--
(A) Unfair or deceptive acts or practices.--A
violation of this section shall be treated as a
violation of a regulation under section 18(a)(1)(B) of
the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C.
57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or deceptive acts or
practices.
(B) Powers of commission.--The Commission shall
enforce this section in the same manner, by the same
means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and
duties as though all applicable terms and provisions of
the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.)
were incorporated into and made a part of this section.
Any person who violates this section shall be subject
to the penalties and entitled to the privileges and
immunities provided in the Federal Trade Commission
Act.
(2) Actions by states.--
(A) In general.--
(i) Civil actions.--In any case in which
the attorney general of a State has reason to
believe that an interest of the residents of
such State has been or is threatened or
adversely affected by the engagement of a
provider of a social media platform in an act
or practice that violates this section, the
State, as parens patriae, may bring a civil
action on behalf of the residents of the State
in a district court of the United States of
appropriate jurisdiction to--
(I) enjoin such act or practice;
(II) enforce compliance with this
section;
(III) obtain damages, restitution,
or other compensation on behalf of
residents of the State; or
(IV) obtain such other relief as
the court may consider to be
appropriate.
(ii) Notice.--
(I) In general.--Before filing an
action under clause (i), the attorney
general of the State involved shall
provide to the Commission--
(aa) written notice of such
action; and
(bb) a copy of the
complaint for such action.
(II) Exemption.--
(aa) In general.--Subclause
(I) shall not apply with
respect to the filing of an
action by an attorney general
of a State under this
subparagraph, if the attorney
general determines that it is
not feasible to provide the
notice described in such
subclause before the filing of
such action.
(bb) Notification.--In an
action described in item (aa),
the attorney general of a State
shall provide notice and a copy
of the complaint to the
Commission at the same time as
the attorney general files such
action.
(B) Intervention.--
(i) In general.--On receiving notice under
subparagraph (A)(ii), the Commission shall have
the right to intervene in the action that is
the subject of such notice.
(ii) Effect of intervention.--If the
Commission intervenes in an action under
subparagraph (A), it shall have the right--
(I) to be heard with respect to any
matter that arises in such action; and
(II) to file a petition for appeal.
(C) Construction.--For purposes of bringing any
civil action under subparagraph (A), nothing in this
section shall be construed to prevent an attorney
general of a State from exercising the powers conferred
on the attorney general by the laws of that State to--
(i) conduct investigations;
(ii) administer oaths or affirmations; or
(iii) compel the attendance of witnesses or
the production of documentary and other
evidence.
(3) Private right of action.--A parent of a child injured
by a violation of this section by a provider of a social media
platform may bring in a district court of the United States of
appropriate jurisdiction a civil action to--
(A) enjoin the violation;
(B) obtain compensatory damages and punitive
damages; or
(C) obtain such other relief as the court may
consider to be appropriate.
(c) Review and Report to Congress.--Not later than 18 months after
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall--
(1) review the implementation of this section, including
the effects of the implementation of this section on providers
of social media platforms, the efforts of the Commission to
ensure such providers comply with this section and the
successfulness of such efforts, any violations of this section
by such providers, and the actions taken by such providers to
verify the age and identity of users and prospective users of
the social media platforms of such providers; and
(2) submit to Congress a report on the results of the
review described in paragraph (1).
(d) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Access.--The term ``access'' means, with respect to a
social media platform--
(A) to establish an account on such social media
platform;
(B) to create a profile on such social media
platform; or
(C) to create, share, or view user-generated
content through such account or profile.
(2) Child.--The term ``child'' means an individual under
the age of 16.
(3) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal
Trade Commission.
(4) Parent.--The term ``parent'' has the meaning given such
term in section 1302 of the Children's Online Privacy
Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6501).
(5) Personal information.--The term ``personal
information'' means individually identifiable information about
an individual collected online, including--
(A) a first and last name;
(B) a home or other physical address, including
street name and name of a city or town;
(C) an email address;
(D) a telephone number;
(E) a Social Security number; or
(F) any other information the Commission determines
permits the physical or online contacting of a specific
individual.
(6) Social media platform.--
(A) In general.--The term ``social media platform''
means a website or other internet medium that does the
following:
(i) Permits a person to establish an
account or create a profile for the purpose of
allowing users to create, share, and view user-
generated content through such account or
profile.
(ii) Enables 1 or more users to generate
content that can be viewed by other users of
such medium.
(iii) Primarily serves as a medium for
users to interact with content generated by
other users of such medium.
(B) Inclusion.--The term ``social media platform''
includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and
TikTok.
(7) State.--The term ``State'' means each State of the
United States, the District of Columbia, each commonwealth,
territory, or possession of the United States, and each
federally recognized Indian Tribe.
(e) Effective Date.--This section shall take effect on the date
that is 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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