Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
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State of Arkansas 1
95th General Assembly A Bill 2
Regular Session, 2025 HOUSE BILL 1283 3
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By: Representative J. Mayberry 5
By: Senator J. English 6
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For An Act To Be Entitled 8
AN ACT TO REQUIRE THE DIVISION OF ELEMENTARY AND 9
SECONDARY EDUCATION TO ESTABLISH KINDERGARTEN THROUGH 10
GRADE TWELVE DIGITAL MEDIA STANDARDS; AND FOR OTHER 11
PURPOSES. 12
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Subtitle 15
TO REQUIRE THE DIVISION OF ELEMENTARY 16
AND SECONDARY EDUCATION TO ESTABLISH 17
KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE TWELVE 18
DIGITAL MEDIA STANDARDS. 19
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 21
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SECTION 1. Arkansas Code Title 6, Chapter 16, Subchapter 1, is amended 23
to add an additional section to read as follows: 24
6-16-163. Digital media standards — Required — Definitions. 25
(a) The General Assembly finds that: 26
(1) There is an urgent need to address the potentially harmful 27
effects of social media on children and adults; and 28
(2) It is crucial that the General Assembly establish a means by 29
which students in the State of Arkansas can learn to be digitally literate 30
and responsible in order to protect against the potentially harmful effects 31
of social media. 32
(b) As used in this section: 33
(1)(A) "Artificial intelligence" means a machine -based system 34
that can make decisions, recommendations, or predictions based on a set of 35
objectives. 36 HB1283
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(B) "Artificial intelligence" includes a machine -based 1
system that uses human and machine inputs in order to perceive environments, 2
analyze environments, and formulate opinions; 3
(2) "Digital citizenship" means the application of the standards 4
of appropriate, responsible, and healthy online behavior, including the 5
ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act on all forms of digital 6
communication; 7
(3) "Digital wellness" means the physical and emotional health 8
impacts of media use, with attention to the development of conscious, 9
balanced usage of media that aligns with an individual's goals for his or her 10
health and well-being; 11
(4)(A) "Information literacy" means a subdomain of media 12
literacy that ensures an individual is able to recognize when information is 13
needed and locate, evaluate, and effectively utilize the needed information. 14
(B) "Information literacy" includes learning to ask 15
questions regarding whether a source is legitimate and appropriate based on 16
the information that is needed; 17
(5)(A) "Media literacy" means the ability to: 18
(i) Decode media messages, including the systems in 19
which media messages exist; 20
(ii) Assess the influence of media messages on 21
thoughts, feelings, behaviors, perceptions, beliefs, health, and society; and 22
(iii) Use and create media messages to provide 23
information, send a message, or tell a story in a way that is thoughtful, 24
conscientious, safe, and responsible. 25
(B) "Media literacy" includes digital citizenship, digital 26
wellness, information literacy, news literacy, and social media literacy; 27
(6)(A) "News literacy" means a subdomain of media literacy that 28
emphasizes knowledge of journalistic practices and the news media industry. 29
(B) "News literacy" includes the ability to determine the 30
credibility and reliability of news and other information and to recognize 31
the standards of fact -based journalism to know what to trust, share, and act 32
on; and 33
(7) "Social media literacy" means the application of digital 34
citizenship and digital wellness to address physical and mental health 35
implications of social media use, including positive and negative mental and 36 HB1283
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emotional health implications of viewing certain social media content and all 1
aspects of safety and wellness related to the use of social media. 2
(c)(1) By the 2026-2027 school year, the Division of Elementary and 3
Secondary Education shall establish kindergarten through grade twelve (K -12) 4
digital media standards. 5
(2)(A) Digital media standards shall be embedded into existing 6
English language arts and library media standards. 7
(B) The division shall consider whether to embed digital 8
media standards into other existing content standards. 9
(d) The digital media standards required under this section shall 10
include instruction on: 11
(1) Digital citizenship, including media literacy instruction, 12
internet safety instruction, and artificial intelligence usage instruction; 13
(2) Digital wellness, including without limitation information 14
on the: 15
(A) Positive effects of social media, including 16
communicating, researching, and collaborating with others and building 17
businesses and relationships; 18
(B) Negative effects of social media on mental health, 19
including addiction; 20
(C) Distribution of misinformation on social media; 21
(D) Potential of social media to manipulate behavior; and 22
(E) Permanency of sharing materials and information 23
online; 24
(3) Internet safety, including best practices to: 25
(A) Maintain personal security; and 26
(B) Identify cyberbullying, predatory behavior, and human 27
trafficking on the internet; 28
(4) Social media literacy; and 29
(5) The proper use of artificial intelligence. 30
(e) The division shall: 31
(1) Create or endorse a curriculum to implement kindergarten 32
through grade twelve (K -12) digital media standards required under this 33
section; and 34
(2) Establish or endorse parental resources that support the 35
implementation of kindergarten through grade twelve (K -12) digital media 36 HB1283
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standards required under this section. 1
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