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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 6857
AN ACT CONCERNING THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S
RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING SOCIAL MEDIA AND MINORS.
SUMMARY
This bill generally requires platform operators that use personalized
algorithms, before allowing access to their platform, to either determine
that the user is not a minor, or if the user is a minor, to obtain consent
from the minor’s parent or legal guardian. It also sets certain conditions
where age verification is not required (e.g., media that immediately
follows another item in a preexisting sequence from the same author,
creator, or poster).
The bill also limits covered operators to only sending notifications to
a minor with any personalized algorithmic suggestions between 8:00
a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time but allows notifications outside these
times with parental or legal guardian consent. It also generally requires
operators to make the platform’s default setting, among others, one that
limits the minor’s access to any portion of the platform that uses a
personalized algorithm to one hour per day.
Under the bill, covered operators must also annually disclose certain
information for the previous calendar year. This includes providing
certain statistics about users, including the number that obtained
parental or guardian consent and used the default setting, as well as the
average amount of time users spent on the platform.
The bill makes a violation of its provisions a violation of the
Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA, see BACKGROUND).
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2026
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DEFINITIONS
Under the bill, a “covered user” is any platform user in Connecticut
who is not acting as the platform operator, or the operator’s agent or
affiliate. A “covered minor” is a covered user under age 18.
A “platform” is any Internet website, online service, online
application, or mobile application, including any social media platform.
A “social media platform” is a public or semi-public Internet-based
service or application that:
1. is used by a consumer in Connecticut;
2. is primarily intended to connect and allow users to socially
interact within the service or application; and
3. enables a user to (a) construct a public or semi-public profile for
signing into and using the service or application; (b) populate a
public list of other users with whom the user shares a social
connection within the service or application; and (c) create or post
content that is viewable by other users, including on message
boards, in chat rooms, or through a landing page or main feed
that presents the user with content generated by other users.
A social media platform is not a public or semi-public Internet-based
service or application that:
1. exclusively provides e-mail or direct messaging services;
2. primarily consists of news, sports, entertainment, interactive
video games, electronic commerce, or content preselected by the
provider, or for which any chat, comments, or interactive
functionality is incidental to, directly related to, or dependent on
providing the content; or
3. is used by and under an educational entity’s direction, including
a learning management system or a student engagement
program. 2025HB-06857-R000348-BA.DOCX
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AGE VERIFICATION
The bill generally requires platform operators (i.e. an individual or
legal entity) to verify a covered user’s age before giving the user access
to any portion of the platform that, as a significant part of the services
offered by that portion, offers, recommends, selects, or prioritizes (i.e.
uses an algorithm) displaying certain media items based on information
associated with the user or his or her device (i.e. personalized). These
media items are those generated or shared by platform users for display
either concurrently or sequentially.
The bill requires the operator to use age verification that is
commercially reasonable and technically feasible. If the covered user is
a covered minor, then the operator must obtain verifiable consent from
the minor’s parent or legal guardian to use the personalized algorithm.
If an operator has used commercially reasonable and technically
feasible methods to verify a user’s age and cannot determine if a user is
a minor, the operator may presume the user is not a minor under the
bill’s provisions. But the operator must treat a user as a minor if the
operator obtains actual knowledge that the user is a minor.
Data Retention
Unless any collected information is needed to comply with any
federal or state law or regulation, the bill prohibits information collected
for age-verification from being used for any other purpose, and requires
it to be deleted immediately after an attempt to verify the user’s age. It
similarly prohibits information collected for obtaining verifiable consent
from a minor’s parent or legal guardian from being used for any other
purpose, and requires it to be deleted immediately after an attempt to
obtain the consent.
CONDITIONS WHEN AGE VERIFICATION IS NOT REQUIRED
Under the bill, age verification is not required if the personalized
algorithm is:
1. based on information that is not persistently associated with the
covered user or his or her device, and does not concern the user’s 2025HB-06857-R000348-BA.DOCX
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previous interactions with media items generated or shared by
other platform users;
2. based on (a) privacy or accessibility settings the covered user
selects or (b) technical information concerning the covered user’s
device; or
3. needed to comply with another provision in the bill.
Additionally, age verification is not required if the media item based
on a personalized algorithm is:
1. a direct and private communication;
2. exclusively in response to a specific search inquiry the covered
user made; or
3. displayed exclusively because it immediately follows another
item in a preexisting sequence and is from the same author,
creator, poster, or source.
Personalized algorithms can also be used if a covered user expressly
and unambiguously requests that certain media he or she subscribes to
be displayed, blocked, prioritized, or deprioritized. This includes any
specific media items, including items the user subscribes to such as from
an author, creator, or poster or those shared by users to pages or groups.
QUALITY REDUCTION OR PRICE INCREASE PROHIBITION
The bill prohibits covered operators from withholding, degrading,
reducing the quality, or increasing the price of any product, service, or
feature due to the bill’s personalized algorithm restrictions, unless it is
needed for the operator to comply with the bill’s provisions.
CONTENT RESTRICTIONS
The bill specifies that it does not prohibit a covered operator from
restricting access to, or the availability of, any media item that the
operator in good faith considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy,
excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, regardless of
whether the item is constitutionally protected. 2025HB-06857-R000348-BA.DOCX
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NOTIFICATIONS
The bill prohibits covered operators from sending any notification to
a covered minor with any personalized algorithmic suggestion unless
(1) it is sent between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time or (2) the
operator has verifiable consent from the covered minor’s parent or legal
guardian to send notifications outside this timeframe.
DEFAULT SETTINGS
The bill requires each covered operator to make the platform’s
default setting, unless allowed by the covered minor’s parent or legal
guardian (see below), one that:
1. prevents the minor from accessing or receiving any notification
with any personalized algorithmic suggestion outside of the
allowable time frame,
2. limits the minor’s access to any portion of the platform that uses
a personalized algorithm to one hour per day, and
3. sets the minor’s platform account to a mode that only allows
users connected to the minor to view or respond to content the
minor posts.
The operator must also establish and maintain a mechanism that a
minor’s verified parent or legal guardian can use for alternative settings
to (1) set a different timeframe for accessing or receiving these
notifications or using the platform and (2) enable the restricted mode
described above.
PUBLIC DISCLOSURE
The bill requires each covered operator, starting by March 1, 2027, to
annually disclose certain information for the previous calendar year in
an attorney general-prescribed form and manner. This public disclosure
includes the:
1. total number of platform users during the year;
2. portion of the total number of covered users (a) for whom the 2025HB-06857-R000348-BA.DOCX
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operator obtained verifiable consent from a parent or legal
guardian, (b) that had the default settings enabled, and (c) that
did not have the default settings enabled; and
3. the average amount of time per day that covered users used the
platform, broken down by user age and hour of day.
APPLICABILITY
The bill specifies that it does not:
1. require a covered operator to give a covered minor’s parent or
legal guardian access to, or control over, the minor’s platform
account or any data associated with it, unless the access or control
is specifically required by the bill, or
2. impose liability for any commercial activity or action by an
operator subject to the federal Children’s Online Privacy
Protection Act (COPPA) that is inconsistent with how COPPA
treats commercial activity or action (15 U.S.C. § 6501).
BACKGROUND
CUTPA
By law, CUTPA prohibits businesses from engaging in unfair and
deceptive acts or practices. It allows the Department of Consumer
Protections commissioner, under specified procedures, to issue
regulations defining an unfair trade practice, investigate complaints,
issue cease and desist orders, order restitution in cases involving less
than $10,000, impose civil penalties of up to $5,000, enter into consent
agreements, ask the attorney general to seek injunctive relief, and accept
voluntary statements of compliance. It also allows individuals to sue.
Courts may issue restraining orders; award actual and punitive
damages, costs, and reasonable attorney’s fees; and impose civil
penalties of up to $5,000 for willful violations and up to $25,000 for a
restraining order violation.
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COMMITTEE ACTION
General Law Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 22 Nay 0 (03/12/2025)