Sponsored by:
Assemblyman HERB CONAWAY, JR.
District 7 (Burlington)
Assemblyman DANIEL R. BENSON
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Concerns social media privacy and data management for children and establishes New Jersey Childrens Data Protection Commission.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning social media privacy and data management standards for children, establishing the New Jersey Childrens Data Protection Commission, and supplementing Title 56 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
Child or children means a consumer or consumers who are under 18 years of age.
Data Protection Impact Assessment means a systematic survey to assess and mitigate any risks that arise from the data management practices of a social media platform related to an online service, product, or feature that is likely to be accessed by children.
Likely to be accessed by children means it is reasonable to expect, based on any of the following indicators, that the online service, product, or feature would be accessed by children:
a. the online service, product, or feature is directed to children;
b. the online service, product, or feature is determined, based on competent and reliable evidence regarding audience composition, to be routinely accessed by a significant number of children;
c. the online service, product, or feature includes advertisements marketed to children;
d. the online service, product, or feature has design elements that are known to be of interest to children, including, but not limited to, games, cartoons, music, and celebrities who appeal to children; or
e. a significant amount of the audience of the online service, product, or feature is determined, based on internal company research, to be children.
Online service, product, or feature does not mean any of the following:
a. a broadband telecommunications service, as defined in section 1 of P.L.2007, c.191 (C.40:9D-1);
b. a telecommunications service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. s.153; or
c. the delivery or use of a physical product.
Personal information means individually identifiable information about an individual that is collected online, including, but not limited to:
a. first and last name;
b. home or other physical address, including street name and name of a city or town;
c. online contact information;
d. any screen or user name that functions in the same manner as online contact information;
e. telephone number;
f. Social Security number;
g. persistent identifier that can be used to recognize a user over time and across different Internet websites or online services. Such persistent identifier includes, but is not limited to, a customer number held in a cookie, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a processor or device serial number, or unique device identifier;
h. any photograph, video, or audio file that contains a child's image or voice;
i. geolocation information sufficient to identify street name and name of a city or town; or
j. information concerning the child or the parents of the child that the operator collects online from the child and combines with an identifier.
Profile or profiling means any form of automated processing of personal information that uses personal information to evaluate certain aspects relating to a natural person, including analyzing or predicting aspects concerning a natural persons performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location, or movements.
Social media platform or platform means a public or semi-public internet-based service or application that has users in this State, which service or application:
a. allows users to construct a public or semipublic profile for the purposes of using the platform, populate a list of other users with whom the user shares a social connection through the platform, and post content viewable by other users of the platform; and
b. is designed to connect users within the platform to facilitate social interactions, except that a service or application that provides email or direct messaging services shall not be considered to meet this criterion solely based on the existence of that functionality.
User means a person who has an account on a social media platform, regardless of whether the person posts or has posted content or material to the social media platform.
2. Before a new online service, product, or feature is offered to users residing in the State, which online service, product, or feature is likely to be accessed by children, the social media platform that offers the online service, product, or feature shall take all of the following actions:
a. complete a Data Protection Impact Assessment for the online service, product, or feature and maintain documentation of this assessment as long as the online service, product, or feature is likely to be accessed by children;
b. document any risk of material detriment to children that arises from the data management practices of the social media platform identified in the Data Protection Impact Assessment and create a timed plan to mitigate or eliminate those risks before the online service, product, or feature is accessed by children;
c. estimate the age for which the use of the service, product, or feature is appropriate for child users based on the risks that arise from the data management practices of the social media platform or apply the privacy and data protections afforded to children to all consumers;
d. configure all default privacy settings provided to children by the online service, product, or feature to settings that offer a high level of privacy, unless the social media platform can demonstrate a compelling reason that a different setting is in the best interests of children;
e. provide any privacy information, terms of service, policies, and community standards concisely, prominently, and using clear language suited to the age of children likely to access that online service, product, or fe