[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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