HF4138

Purpose

This bill creates new rules for social media platforms to protect minors in Minnesota. It aims to stop harms from addictive interfaces and targeted advertising by requiring age checks, parental involvement, stronger privacy protections for kids, and clear enforcement mechanisms.

Key terms and definitions (how the bill describes its scope)

• Account holder: A Minnesota resident with a social media account that the platform knows or should know is located in Minnesota.
• Addictive interface features: Things that encourage heavy use, such as infinite scrolling, profile-based feeds, push notifications, autoplay videos, and showing personal metrics or recognition (badges, follower counts, etc.).
• Child: A person age 15 or younger.
• Covered social media platform: A platform with at least $1,000,000,000 in worldwide advertising revenue in one or more of the prior three years.
• Minor: A person under age 18.
• Parent: A legal parent or guardian of a child resident of Minnesota.
• Personal information: Data collected about an account holder that can identify them, including online activity, search history, biometric data, geolocation, and more, as defined under federal COPPA rules.
• Profile-based feed: A feed selected or prioritized by the platform based on personal information, with some exceptions for content the user directly chooses.
• Verifiable parental consent: Legally recognized consent from a parent that a platform must obtain before creating or maintaining a child’s account, with documentation retained by the platform.

Main provisions and what the bill seeks to accomplish

• Scope and definitions: Establishes what counts as a social media platform, what is considered addictive, what constitutes a child account, and when platforms are subject to these rules.
• Age estimation (how platforms determine if a user is a child):
  • After a child account holder has accumulated 25 hours on the platform within six months, platforms have 14 days to attempt an age estimate using reasonable methods.
  • If the platform can be 80% confident the user is over 15, it may treat the user as not a child; otherwise, the user remains treated as a child.
  • After 50 hours within six months, platforms again have 14 days to update the age estimate; at 90% confidence, they may treat the user as not a child; otherwise, they remain a child.
  • The platform must update age estimates after every additional 100 hours or as it applies data analytics or AI updates other demographics.
  • There is no legal obligation to estimate the age of a user who has had an account for seven continuous years.
• Creation and maintenance of child accounts:
  • Platforms must require birth dates when creating accounts for minors.
  • They may not create or maintain a child account or change child account terms without verifiable parental consent.
  • Information collected to obtain consent must be used only for consent purposes and deleted after consent is attempted (unless required by other laws).
  • Platforms must provide clear, easy-to-find information about creating or maintaining a child account.
• Privacy and parental controls for child accounts:
  • Privacy settings for child accounts must default to the most private level.
  • Changes to a child’s privacy settings require verifiable parental consent while the account remains a child.
  • When obtaining consent, platforms must offer parents a password option to monitor time spent, set daily/weekly limits, and set allowed access times.
• Prohibition on addictive interfaces and targeted ads for child accounts:
  • Addictive interface features cannot be displayed in a child account.
  • Targeted paid advertising cannot be shown in the display or feed of a child account.
• Termination and dispute processes:
  • Platforms must terminate a child account if they determine, or receive reliable information, that the account holder is a child without verifiable parental consent.
  • Termination must occur within 7 days after a user (account holder) requests termination, or within 14 days after a parent requests termination, with verification of the parent’s right to request termination.
  • If an account is to be terminated due to age classifications, platforms must notify the account holder (and provide the reasons) and offer 30 days to dispute the age or provide consent. The platform may use commercially reasonable age-verification methods to resolve disputes, and must decide within 30 days of completing verification. If termination is required after a dispute, it must occur within seven days of the final determination.
• Exclusions:
  • The rules do not limit what parents may show their children, and do not constrain the results an online search engine may return for a child.
• Enforcement and remedies:
  • Contracts made in violation of these provisions are invalid.
  • Private rights of action exist for children or parents to seek declaratory or injunctive relief, damages, costs, attorney fees, and other relief for violations.
  • If a platform permits a child to open or continue an account without proper parental consent, such contracts are invalid.
  • If a platform’s violation is reckless or knowing, the child or parent may recover up to $10,000 in statutory damages in addition to actual damages; punitive damages may be awarded for a pattern of reckless or knowing conduct.
  • A platform is not liable if it used reasonable efforts to comply with the statute.
  • The statute of limitations for damages is three years from when the violation was known or should have been known, but this period is tolled until the child account holder turns 18.
• Deceptive trade practices:
  • Knowing or reckless violations can be treated as deceptive trade practices, enforceable under existing deceptive-trade-practices laws.
  • The Minnesota attorney general has enforcement authority to enforce these provisions.
• Net effect on existing law:
  • The bill creates a new section (325M.40) implementing these protections and enforcement mechanisms, adding a comprehensive framework focused on minors and social media use.

Notable changes to existing law

• Establishes a new targeted regime for minor and child social media accounts, including age-estimation requirements, verifiable parental consent, and time-use monitoring.
• Prohibits addictive interface features and targeted advertising for child accounts.
• Introduces a private right of action and significant damages for violations.
• Sets specific timelines for termination of child accounts and processes for disputes over age and consent.
• Elevates parental control and oversight as a central component of platform design and operation for minors.

Exclusions and limitations

• The bill does not restrict content that parents show to their children or online search results for children beyond standard applicable laws.
• Certain types of communication services and non-user-generated content platforms are excluded from the definition of “social media platform” for the purposes of these provisions.

What this means in practice

• Social media platforms with large advertising revenues would need to implement automatic age-estimation and parental-consent safeguards for Minnesota users under 18.
• Platforms would need to limit or remove certain features in child accounts (e.g., infinite scrolling, push notifications, and certain ads) and provide parental controls.
• Violations could lead to private lawsuits, statutory damages, and potentially punitive damages for patterns of misconduct.

Relevant Terms addictive interface features; profile-based feed; targeted paid commercial advertising; child account; age estimation; verifiable parental consent; covered social media platform; personal information; private right of action; termination; parent; account holder; minor; COPPA; notice to a parent; time limits; privacy settings; deadly platform features; deceptive trade practices; 80 percent confidence; 90 percent confidence; six-month period; seven years; 14 days; 30 days; 7 days; 3 years; interstate enforcement.