PRIOR PRINTER'S NOS. 2597, 2746 PRINTER'S NO. 3072
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 2017
Session of
2024
INTRODUCED BY MUNROE, DONAHUE, BOROWSKI, PROBST, DELLOSO,
SHUSTERMAN, CEPEDA-FREYTIZ, GERGELY, FRIEL, MADDEN, DALEY,
WAXMAN, HOHENSTEIN, O'MARA, GALLAGHER, PARKER, KENYATTA,
HILL-EVANS, KIM AND KAZEEM, FEBRUARY 20, 2024
AS AMENDED ON SECOND CONSIDERATION, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
MAY 7, 2024
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 50 (Mental Health) of the Pennsylvania <--
2 Consolidated Statutes, providing for protection of minors on
3 social media; and imposing penalties.
4 AMENDING TITLE 50 (MENTAL HEALTH) OF THE PENNSYLVANIA <--
5 CONSOLIDATED STATUTES, PROVIDING FOR PROTECTION OF MINORS ON
6 SOCIAL MEDIA; AND IMPOSING PENALTIES.
7 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
8 hereby enacts as follows:
9 Section 1. Title 50 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated <--
10 Statutes is amended by adding parts to read:
11 PART I
12 PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
13 (Reserved)
14 PART II
15 MINORS
16 Chapter
17 10. Preliminary Provisions (Reserved)
18 11. Protecting Minors on Social Media
 1 CHAPTER 10
2 PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
3 (Reserved)
4 CHAPTER 11
5 PROTECTING MINORS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
6 Subchapter
7 A. General Provisions
8 B. Notice of Flagged Content
9 C. Consent to Open an Account
10 D. Data
11 E. Unlawful Activity
12 SUBCHAPTER A
13 GENERAL PROVISIONS
14 Sec.
15 1101. Scope of chapter.
16 1102. Legislative intent.
17 1103. Definitions.
18 § 1101. Scope of chapter.
19 This chapter relates to protecting minors on social media.
20 § 1102. Legislative intent.
21 The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
22 (1) Social media use among American teenagers is nearly
23 universal. According to the Pew Research Center, 95% of teens
24 report using YouTube and 67% of teens have used TikTok, with
25 16% using it almost constantly.
26 (2) According to the Pew Research Center, 54% of teens
27 say it would be difficult to give up social media entirely.
28 (3) Social media use is linked to negative feelings
29 among teens. A growing body of research, described in the
30 International Journal of Adolescence and Youth and elsewhere,
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 1 has found that increased social media use is associated with
2 greater rates of depression and anxiety in teens. Additional
3 research published in the Children and Youth Services Review
4 describe a trend in which social media use can trigger and
5 accelerate offline violence.
6 (4) Rates of suicide and self-harm among American
7 teenagers have grown dramatically in recent years. The
8 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found that,
9 in 2021, three in five girls felt persistently sad and
10 hopeless, while more than one in four girls reported
11 seriously considering attempting suicide. These rates have
12 increased significantly since 2011.
13 (5) Federal and State policymakers are beginning to
14 recognize the risks that social media use place on American
15 youth. A number of recent policy proposals provide parents
16 and guardians of teenagers with greater oversight over their
17 children's social media use.
18 (6) In May 2023, the United States Surgeon General
19 released a health advisory finding that "more research is
20 needed to fully understand the impact of social media;
21 however, the current body of evidence indicates that while
22 social media may have benefits for some children and
23 adolescents, there are ample indicators that social media can
24 also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and
25 well-being of children and adolescents." The advisory
26 recommends a range of policies to consider, including
27 "policies that further limit access - in ways that minimize
28 the risk of harm - to social media for all children,
29 including strengthening and enforcing age minimums."
30 (7) In addition to empowering parents and guardians to
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 1 protect children against these risks, policymakers are
2 establishing mechanisms to hold social media companies
3 accountable for harms to children and youth.
4 (8) Greater oversight of social media platforms will
5 enable families in this Commonwealth to use online tools in a
6 more productive and healthy fashion.
7 § 1103. Definitions.
8 As used in this chapter, the following words and phrases
9 shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
10 context clearly indicates otherwise:
11 "Account." Any means of registration by which an individual
12 may engage in one or more functions of a social media platform.
13 "Chats." Instant, electronic messages exchanged on a social
14 media platform.
15 "Delete." To remove personal information such that the
16 information is not retrievable by anyone and cannot be retrieved
17 in the normal course of business.
18 "Flagged content." Chats, posts, videos and images that are
19 deemed sensitive or graphic by users on a social media platform
20 and for which the social media company has taken action to limit
21 according to the social media company's terms of use policy.
22 "Mine." The activity or process of searching through large
23 amounts of information for specific data or patterns.
24 "Minor." Except as provided in section 1131 (relating to
25 definitions), an individual who is under 16 years of age.
26 "Personal information." As defined in 15 U.S.C. § 6501
27 (relating to definitions).
28 "Personalized recommendation system." A fully or partially
29 automated system that is based on a user's historical activity
30 data and which suggests, promotes or ranks information that is
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 1 presented or displayed to users.
2 "School entity." A school district, intermediate unit, area
3 career and technical school, charter school or private
4 residential rehabilitative institution.
5 "Social media company." A person that owns or operates one
6 or more social media platforms.
7 "Social media platform." A public or semipublic Internet-
8 based service or application that has users in this Commonwealth
9 and that meets all of the following criteria:
10 (1) A primary function of the service or application is
11 to connect users in order to allow users to interact socially
12 with each other within the service or application, provided
13 that a service or application that provides email or direct
14 messaging services, cloud computing or commercial
15 transactions shall not be considered to meet this criterion
16 solely on the basis of that function.
17 (2) The service or application allows users to do all of
18 the following:
19 (i) Construct a public or semipublic profile for
20 purposes of signing into and using the service or
21 application.
22 (ii) Populate a list of other users with whom an
23 individual shares a social connection within the system.
24 (iii) Create or post content viewable by other
25 users, including, but not limited to, on message boards,
26 in chat rooms or through a landing page or main feed that
27 presents the user with content generated by other users.
28 SUBCHAPTER B
29 NOTICE OF FLAGGED CONTENT
30 Sec.
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 1 1110. Monitor chats of minors.
2 1111. Notice of flagged content.
3 § 1110. Monitor chats of minors.
4 A social media company shall monitor chats between two or
5 more minors for flagged content.
6 § 1111. Notice of flagged content.
7 (a) Notice.--A social media company shall send a notice to a
8 parent or legal guardian of a minor of flagged content on the
9 minor's chats.
10 (b) Form.--A social media company shall provide the notice
11 under subsection (a) via chat message to the parent or legal
12 guardian's account and by email to the email address associated
13 with the parent or legal guardian's account.
14 (c) Opt out.--A social media company shall provide a parent
15 or legal guardian of a minor the option to opt out at any time
16 of the requirement for the social media company to monitor and
17 send a notice of flagged content on the minor's chats.
18 SUBCHAPTER C
19 CONSENT TO OPEN AN ACCOUNT
20 Sec.
21 1121. Applicability.
22 1122. Age assurance.
23 1123. Duties.
24 1124. Revocation of consent.
25 1125. Violations.
26 § 1121. Applicability.
27 This subchapter shall apply to accounts opened on or after
28 the effective date of this section.
29 § 1122. Age assurance.
30 Utilizing commercially available best practices, a social
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 1 media platform shall make commercially reasonable efforts to
2 verify the age of users upon the creation of an account, with a
3 level of certainty appropriate to the risks that arise from the
4 information management practices of the social media company, or
5 apply the accommodations afforded to minors under this chapter
6 to all account holders.
7 § 1123. Duties.
8 (a) General rule.--A social media company may not permit a
9 minor residing in this Commonwealth to become an account holder
10 on a social media platform unless the minor has the express
11 consent of the minor's parent or legal guardian. A social media
12 platform may obtain express consent from a minor's parent or
13 legal guardian through any of the following means:
14 (1) By providing a completed form, developed by the
15 Attorney General, from a minor's parent or legal guardian to
16 sign and return to the social media platform via mail or
17 electronic means.
18 (2) Through a toll-free telephone number for a minor's
19 parent or legal guardian to call.
20 (3) Through a call with a minor's parent or legal
21 guardian over video conferencing technology.
22 (4) By collecting information related to the government-
23 issued identification of a minor's parent or legal guardian,
24 shared by the parent or legal guardian. A social media
25 platform shall delete the information related to the
26 government-issued identification of a minor's parent or legal
27 guardian after confirming the identify of a minor's parent or
28 legal guardian.
29 (5) Allowing a minor's parent or legal guardian to
30 provide consent by responding to an email and taking
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 1 additional steps to verify the identity of a minor's parent
2 or legal guardian.
3 (6) Any other commercially reasonable methods of
4 obtaining consent in light of available technology.
5 (b) Attorney General.--The Office of Attorney General shall
6 develop and make available on their publicly accessible Internet
7 website a form that may be used by a parent or legal guardian to
8 provide consent for a minor to open a social media account. The
9 Attorney General shall transmit a copy of the form to each
10 social media company.
11 (c) Documentation.--A social media platform shall maintain
12 documentation as to the manner in which the social media company
13 has obtained express consent from a minor's parent or legal
14 guardian. The social media platform may delete the documentation
15 when the minor is no longer a minor or within the established
16 time frame by the social media company for maintaining data.
17 (d) Social media company.--Each social media company shall
18 post in a conspicuous place on each of their social media
19 platforms notice that express consent by the minor's parent or
20 legal guardian shall be required prior to opening an account.
21 Any electronic consent included in a social media platform must
22 include the same information as required by the form developed
23 by the Attorney General's office under subsection (b).
24 (e) Failure to obtain consent.--To the extent possible, if a
25 minor opens a social media account without express consent by
26 their parent or legal guardian, the social media company shall,
27 within a reasonable time after discovery of the failure to
28 obtain the express consent:
29 (1) suspend the social media account; and
30 (2) notify the minor's parent or legal guardian that the
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 1 minor has attempted to open a social media account without
2 their consent.
3 (f) Social media access.--To the extent possible, a social
4 media company shall provide a minor's parent or legal guardian
5 who has given express consent for the minor to become an account
6 holder with a means for the minor's parent or legal guardian to
7 initiate account supervision. Account supervision may include:
8 (1) allowing the minor's parent or legal guardian the
9 ability to view privacy settings of the minor's account;
10 (2) allowing a minor's parent or legal guardian to set
11 daily time limits for the minor's account;
12 (3) allowing a minor's parent or legal guardian to
13 schedule breaks for the minor's account; and
14 (4) allowing a minor the option of providing
15 notifications to the minor's parent or legal guardian if the
16 minor reports a person or an issue to the social media
17 platform.
18 (g) Notification.--A social media platform shall provide
19 clear notice to the minor on the features of the minor's account
20 to which the minor's parent or legal guardian may have access.
21 (h) No account required.--A social media platform may not
22 require a parent or legal guardian to have their own account as
23 a condition of a minor being able to open an account.
24 (i) Notice of alleged violation.--A social media company
25 shall develop and post notice on its publicly accessible
26 Internet website of the methods, such as electronic and
27 telephonic means, by which a minor's parent or legal guardian
28 may notify the social media company that the minor has opened a
29 social media account on its social media platform without the
30 required consent.
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 1 § 1124. Revocation of consent.
2 (a) Time.--A minor's parent or legal guardian who has
3 provided express consent under this subchapter may revoke the
4 consent at any time.
5 (b) Social media platform.--A social media platform shall
6 take reasonable steps to provide a parent or legal guardian who
7 has provided express consent for a minor to open a social media
8 account with the ability to revoke the consent.
9 (c) Effect of revocation.--A social media platform that
10 receives a revocation of consent under subsection (a) shall, to
11 the extent possible, within a reasonable time frame from receipt
12 of the revocation, suspend, delete or disable the account of the
13 minor for whom consent was revoked.
14 § 1125. Violations.
15 (a) Action.--The Attorney General shall have jurisdiction to
16 bring an action against a social media company that knowingly,
17 intentionally or negligently allows for a minor to open a social
18 media account without express consent of the minor's parent or
19 legal guardian. The Attorney General may bring multiple cases at
20 one time against a social media company for violations of this
21 chapter.
22 (b) Penalty.--
23 (1) For a first offense for an action brought on behalf
24 of a single minor, a civil penalty not to exceed $2,500.
25 (2) For a second offense for an action brought on behalf
26 of the same single minor under paragraph (1), a civil penalty
27 not to exceed $5,000.
28 (3) For a third or subsequent offense for an action
29 brought on behalf of the same single minor under paragraph
30 (1), a civil penalty not to exceed $50,000.
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 1 (4) For a first offense for an action brought on behalf
2 of multiple minors, a civil penalty not to exceed the greater
3 of $5,000,000 or the total number of violations multiplied by
4 the maximum civil penalty under paragraph (1).
5 (5) If a court of competent jurisdiction determines that
6 there have been repeated intentional violations of this
7 chapter by a social media company, the court may enter