Holding Social Media Accountable
1 The Legislature finds that:
(1) the state has a compelling interest in safeguarding the well-being and privacy of minors in the state;
(2) the proliferation of social media services has led to the widespread collection and utilization of personal information, exposing minors to potential privacy and identity related harms;
(3) the addictive design features of certain social media services contribute to excessive use of a social media service by minors, impacting sleep patterns, academic performance, and overall health;
(4) social media services are designed without sufficient tools to allow adequate parental oversight, exposing minors to risks that could be mitigated with proper parental involvement and control;
(5) the state has enacted safeguards around products and activities that pose risks to minors, including regulations on motor vehicles, medications, and products and services targeted to children;
(6) prolonged and unregulated social media use has been linked to adverse effects on the mental health of minors, including increased rates of anxiety, depression, and social isolation;
(7) existing measures employed by social media companies to protect minors have proven insufficient; and
(8) the state should ensure that minors' personal data is given special protection, as minors may have less awareness of the risks, consequences, and safeguards related to a social media company's processing of minors' personal data.
What Social Media Companies Can and Can’t Do
S.B. 194 Social Media Regulation Amendments
Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act
Social media companies must identify minors on their platforms, and by default provide the platform’s highest data privacy settings for minors. Platforms must also provide tools to minors and their parents so they can set appropriate boundaries together. Settings that lead to excessive use must also be turned off for minors.
- Enacts an age assurance process so that social media platforms can identify minors, and thereby create a safer experience for them.
- Requires default privacy settings for a minor account holder that defaults to only allow direct messages and visibility between accounts that are connected.
- These settings can only be overridden by a parent or guardian.
- Protects the security of minor personal information by requiring reasonable security measures and encryption.
- Disables search engine indexing of minor accounts.
- Disables features that lead to excessive use, including autoplay, perpetual scrolling, and push notifications.
- Requires social media companies to offer supervisory tools to oversee minor accounts, including:
- Setting time limits
- Scheduling mandatory breaks
- Viewing total and daily average use time
- Seeing connected accounts
- Prevents social media companies from collecting and selling data on minors without consent from a verifiable parent or legal guardian.
H.B. 464 Social Media Amendments
Social media companies that use curation algorithms are responsible for the mental health problems their platforms cause. If a Utah minor (or their parent) sues a social media company for mental health harm, the platform is presumed to have caused the harm if it uses a curation algorithm. Learn more about the laws related to social media below.
- Provides a rebuttable presumption of harm to minors using social media platforms with curated algorithms and engagement-driven design features
- Gives minors and their parents or legal guardians the ability to hold social media companies liable for the harm addictive algorithms have caused children through a private right of action
- Allows social media companies to legally overcome the assumption that their products cause harm if they:
- Obtain parental consent for a minor’s use of the platform
- Remove features causing excessive use: autoplay, perpetual scrolling, and push notifications
- Display content chronologically
- Limit a minor’s time on the platform
Enforcing the Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act
The Division of Consumer Protection may take administrative or civil actions to enforce the new law. Violations can be reported to the Division starting October 1, 2024.
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