A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING article 9 to chapter 5, title 39 SO AS TO PROVIDE DEFINITIONS; TO PROVIDE THAT A SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANY MAY NOT PERMIT CERTAIN MINORS TO BE ACCOUNT HOLDERS; TO PROVIDE REQUIREMENTS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES; TO PROVIDE THAT A SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANY SHALL PROVIDE CERTAIN PARENTS OR GUARDIANS WITH CERTAIN INFORMATION; TO PROVIDE THAT A SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANY SHALL RESTRICT SOCIAL MEDIA ACCESS TO MINORS DURING CERTAIN HOURS; TO PROVIDE FOR CONSUMER COMPLAINTS; TO PROVIDE THAT THE CONSUMER SERVICES DIVISION HAS AUTHORITY TO ADMINISTER AND ENFORCE CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS; TO PROVIDE FOR AN ANNUAL REPORT; TO PROVIDE FOR A CAUSE OF ACTION; and TO PROVIDE THAT CERTAIN WAIVERS AND LIMITATIONS ARE VOID.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1.  Chapter 5, Title 39 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

Article 9

South Carolina Social Media Regulation

    Section 39-5-810.   As used in this article:

       (1) "Account holder" means a person who has, or opens, an account or profile to use a social media company's platform.

       (2) "Interactive computer service" means an information service, information system, or information access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server and provides access to the Internet.  An interactive computer service includes a web service, a web system, a website, a web application, or a web portal.

       (3) "Minor" means an individual under circumstances where a social media company reasonably believes or has actual knowledge that the individual is under the age of eighteen.  A social media company shall treat an individual as a minor if the social media company verifies that the individual is under the age of eighteen as provided in this chapter.

       (4) "Office" means the South Carolina Office of Attorney General.

       (5) "Post" means content that an account holder makes available on a social media platform for other account holders or users to view.

       (6) "Social media company" means a person or entity that provides a social media platform that has at least five million account holders worldwide and is an interactive computer service.

       (7)(a) "Social media platform" means a public or semipublic Internet-based service or application that has users in South Carolina and that meets all of the following:

              (i) The service or application connects users in order to allow users to interact socially with each other within the service or application.  A service or application that provides email or direct messaging services, enterprise cloud storage services, enterprise cybersecurity services, educational devices, or enterprise collaboration tools for K-12 schools are not considered to meet this criterion on the basis of that function alone.

              (ii) The service or application allows users to do all of the following:

                  (A) construct a public or semipublic profile for the purposes of signing into and using the service or application;

                  (B) populate a list of other users with whom an individual shares a social or virtual connection within the system, including subscribing to content related to another user; and

                  (C) create or post content viewable by other users including, but not limited to, on message boards, in chat rooms, on video channels, or through a landing page or main feed that presents the user with content generated by other users.

           (b) "Social media platform" may not include an online service, website, or application where the predominant or exclusive function is any of the following:

              (i) electronic mail;

              (ii) a service that, pursuant to its terms of use, does not permit minors to use the platform and utilizes commercially reasonable age assurance mechanisms to attempt to prohibit minors from becoming an account holder or user;

              (iii) a streaming service that provides only licensed media in a continuous flow from the service, website, or application to the end user and does not obtain a license to the media from a user or account holder by agreement to its terms of service;

              (iv) news, sports, entertainment, or other content that is preselected by the provider and not user generated, and any chat, comment, or interactive functionality that is provided incidental to, directly related to, or dependent upon provisions of the content;

              (v) online shopping, electronic commerce, or self-service support if the interaction with other users or account holders is generally limited to the ability to upload a post and comment on reviews, the ability to seek support related to products or services, the ability to display lists or collections of goods for sale or wish lists, or any other function that is focused on online shopping, electronic commerce, or self-service support rather than interaction between users or account holders;

              (vi) interactive gaming, virtual gaming, or an online service that allows the creation and uploading of content and the communication related to that content for the purpose of interactive gaming, educational entertainment, or associated entertainment;

              (vii) photograph editing that has an associated photograph hosting service if the interaction with other users or account holders is generally limited to liking or commenting;

              (viii) single-purpose community groups for public safety if the interaction with other users or account holders is limited to that single purpose and the community group has guidelines or policies against illegal content;

              (ix) career development opportunities, including professional networking, job skills, learning certifications, and job posting and application services;

              (x) business-to-business software;

              (xi) a teleconferencing or videoconferencing service that allows reception and transmission of audio and video signals for real-time communication;

              (xii) cloud storage;

              (xiii) shared document collaboration;

              (xiv) cloud computing services, which may include cloud storage and shared document collaboration;

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