| 1 | 1 | | 24 LC 56 0128 |
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| 2 | 2 | | House Bill 1365 |
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| 3 | 3 | | By: Representatives Horner of the 3 |
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| 4 | 4 | | rd |
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| 5 | 5 | | , Jasperse of the 11 |
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| 6 | 6 | | th |
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| 7 | 7 | | , Cox of the 28 |
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| 8 | 8 | | th |
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| 9 | 9 | | , and Dunahoo of |
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| 10 | 10 | | the 31 |
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| 11 | 11 | | st |
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| 12 | 12 | | |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 14 | 14 | | AN ACT |
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| 15 | 15 | | To amend Title 39 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to minors, so as to |
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| 16 | 16 | | 1 |
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| 17 | 17 | | create a civil remedy for damages against commercial entities that allow minors to access a2 |
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| 18 | 18 | | social media platform without performing reasonable age verification methods; to provide3 |
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| 19 | 19 | | for definitions; to provide for reasonable age verification requirements for commercial4 |
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| 20 | 20 | | entities; to provide for standards for liability; to provide for exceptions; to provide that age5 |
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| 21 | 21 | | verification information shall not be retained by commercial entities; to provide for the6 |
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| 22 | 22 | | Attorney General's imposition of fines; to provide for a short title; to provide for related7 |
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| 23 | 23 | | matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.8 |
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| 24 | 24 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:9 |
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| 25 | 25 | | SECTION 1.10 |
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| 26 | 26 | | This Act shall be known and may be cited as the "Protecting Children's Mental Health Act11 |
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| 27 | 27 | | of 2024."12 |
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| 28 | 28 | | SECTION 2.13 |
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| 29 | 29 | | Title 39 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to minors, is amended in14 |
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| 30 | 30 | | Chapter 5, relating to online internet safety, by adding a new Code section to read as follows:15 |
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| 31 | 31 | | H. B. 1365 |
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| 32 | 32 | | - 1 - 24 LC 56 0128 |
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| 33 | 33 | | "39-5-5.16 |
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| 34 | 34 | | (a) As used in this Code section, the term:17 |
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| 35 | 35 | | (1) 'Commercial entity' means a corporation, limited liability company, partnership,18 |
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| 36 | 36 | | limited partnership, sole proprietorship, or other legally recognized entity.19 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (2) 'Digitized identification card' means a data file available on a mobile device with20 |
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| 38 | 38 | | connectivity to the internet that contains all of the data elements visible on the front and21 |
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| 39 | 39 | | back of a driver's license or identification card and displays the current status of the22 |
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| 40 | 40 | | driver's license or identification card as being valid, expired, cancelled, suspended,23 |
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| 41 | 41 | | revoked, active, or inactive.24 |
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| 42 | 42 | | (3) 'Minor' means any individual under the age of 16 years.25 |
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| 43 | 43 | | (4) 'News-gathering organization' means:26 |
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| 44 | 44 | | (A) An employee of a newspaper, news publication, or news source that is printed or27 |
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| 45 | 45 | | published on an online or mobile platform, while acting as an employee of the28 |
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| 46 | 46 | | news-gathering organization, who can provide documentation of such employment; or29 |
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| 47 | 47 | | (B) An employee of a radio station, television station, cable television system, or wire30 |
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| 48 | 48 | | service, while acting as an employee of the news-gathering organization, who can31 |
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| 49 | 49 | | provide documentation of such employment.32 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (5) 'Reasonable age verification' means to confirm that an individual seeking to access33 |
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| 51 | 51 | | a social media platform is at least 16 years of age.34 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (6)(A) 'Social media platform' means a public or semipublic internet based service or35 |
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| 53 | 53 | | application that:36 |
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| 54 | 54 | | (i) Has users in Georgia;37 |
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| 55 | 55 | | (ii) Connects users in order to allow them to interact socially with each other within38 |
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| 56 | 56 | | the service or application; and39 |
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| 57 | 57 | | (iii) Allows users to:40 |
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| 58 | 58 | | (I) Construct a public or semipublic profile for purposes of signing into and using41 |
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| 59 | 59 | | the service or application;42 |
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| 60 | 60 | | H. B. 1365 |
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| 61 | 61 | | - 2 - 24 LC 56 0128 |
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| 62 | 62 | | (II) Populate a list of other users with whom an individual shares a social or virtual43 |
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| 63 | 63 | | connection within the service or application, including subscribing to content related44 |
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| 64 | 64 | | to another user; and45 |
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| 65 | 65 | | (III) Create or post content viewable by other users, including, but not limited to,46 |
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| 66 | 66 | | on message boards, in chat rooms, on video channels, or through a landing page or47 |
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| 67 | 67 | | main feed that presents the user with content generated by other users.48 |
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| 68 | 68 | | (B) Such term shall not include an online service, website, or application where the49 |
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| 69 | 69 | | predominant or exclusive function is:50 |
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| 70 | 70 | | (i) Email;51 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (ii) A service that, pursuant to its terms of use, does not permit minors to use the52 |
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| 72 | 72 | | platform and utilizes commercially reasonable age assurance mechanisms to attempt53 |
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| 73 | 73 | | to prohibit minors from becoming account holders or users;54 |
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| 74 | 74 | | (iii) A streaming service that provides only licensed media in a continuous flow from55 |
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| 75 | 75 | | the service, website, or application to the end user and does not obtain a license to the56 |
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| 76 | 76 | | media from a user or account holder by agreement to its terms of service;57 |
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| 77 | 77 | | (iv) News, sports, entertainment, or other content that is preselected by the provider58 |
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| 78 | 78 | | and not user generated, and any chat, comment, or interactive functionality that is59 |
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| 79 | 79 | | provided incidental to, directly related to, or dependent upon provisions of the60 |
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| 80 | 80 | | content;61 |
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| 81 | 81 | | (v) Online shopping or ecommerce, if the interaction with other users or account62 |
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| 82 | 82 | | holders is generally limited to the ability to upload a post and comment on reviews,63 |
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| 83 | 83 | | the ability to display lists or collections of goods for sale or wish lists, and any other64 |
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| 84 | 84 | | function that is focused on online shopping or ecommerce rather than interaction65 |
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| 85 | 85 | | between users or account holders;66 |
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| 86 | 86 | | (vi) Interactive gaming, virtual gaming, or an online service that allows the creation67 |
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| 87 | 87 | | and uploading of content and the communication related to that content for the68 |
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| 88 | 88 | | purpose of interactive gaming, educational entertainment, or associated entertainment;69 |
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| 89 | 89 | | H. B. 1365 |
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| 90 | 90 | | - 3 - 24 LC 56 0128 |
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| 91 | 91 | | (vii) Photograph editing that has an associated photograph hosting service if the70 |
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| 92 | 92 | | interaction with other users or account holders is generally limited to liking or71 |
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| 93 | 93 | | commenting;72 |
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| 94 | 94 | | (viii) Single purpose community groups for public safety if the interaction with other73 |
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| 95 | 95 | | users or account holders is limited to that single purpose and the community group74 |
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| 96 | 96 | | has guidelines or policies against illegal content;75 |
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| 97 | 97 | | (ix) Career development opportunities, including professional networking, job skills,76 |
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| 98 | 98 | | learning certifications, and job posting and application services;77 |
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| 99 | 99 | | (x) Business-to-business software;78 |
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| 100 | 100 | | (xi) A teleconferencing or videoconferencing service that allows reception and79 |
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| 101 | 101 | | transmission of audio and video signals for real-time communication;80 |
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| 102 | 102 | | (xii) Cloud storage;81 |
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| 103 | 103 | | (xiii) Shared document collaboration;82 |
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| 104 | 104 | | (xiv) Cloud computing services, which may include cloud storage and shared83 |
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| 105 | 105 | | document collaboration;84 |
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| 106 | 106 | | (xv) Providing access to or interacting with data visualization platforms, libraries, or85 |
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| 107 | 107 | | hubs;86 |
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| 108 | 108 | | (xvi) Permitting comments on a digital news website if the news content is posted by87 |
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| 109 | 109 | | only the provider of the digital news website;88 |
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| 110 | 110 | | (xvii) Providing or obtaining technical support for a platform, product, or service;89 |
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| 111 | 111 | | (xviii) Academic, scholarly, or genealogical research;90 |
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| 112 | 112 | | (xix) Internet access and broadband service;91 |
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| 113 | 113 | | (xx) A classified advertising service in which the user is limited to providing the92 |
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| 114 | 114 | | ability to chat, comment, or interact with other users only if it is directly related to the93 |
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| 115 | 115 | | sale of goods; and94 |
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| 116 | 116 | | (xxi) An online, service, website, or application that is used by or under the direction95 |
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| 117 | 117 | | of an educational entity, including a learning management system, a student96 |
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| 118 | 118 | | H. B. 1365 |
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| 119 | 119 | | - 4 - 24 LC 56 0128 |
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| 120 | 120 | | engagement program, or a subject or skill-specific program, where the majority of the97 |
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| 121 | 121 | | content is created or posted by the provider of the online service, website, or98 |
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| 122 | 122 | | application and the ability to chat, comment, or interact with other users is directly99 |
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| 123 | 123 | | related to the provider's content.100 |
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| 124 | 124 | | (b) Before allowing access to a social media platform, a commercial entity shall use a101 |
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| 125 | 125 | | reasonable age verification method, which may include, but not be limited to:102 |
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| 126 | 126 | | (1) The submission of a digitized identification card;103 |
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| 127 | 127 | | (2) The submission of government issued identification; or104 |
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| 128 | 128 | | (3) Any commercially reasonable age verification method that meets or exceeds an105 |
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| 129 | 129 | | Identity Assurance Level 2 standard, as defined by the National Institute of Standards and106 |
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| 130 | 130 | | Technology.107 |
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| 131 | 131 | | (c)(1) A commercial entity that operates a social media platform is liable if the108 |
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| 132 | 132 | | commercial entity fails to perform reasonable age verification of any individual109 |
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| 133 | 133 | | attempting to access the social media platform.110 |
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| 134 | 134 | | (2) A commercial entity that violates this Code section is liable to an individual for111 |
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| 135 | 135 | | damages resulting from a minor accessing a social media platform, including court costs112 |
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| 136 | 136 | | and reasonable attorneys' fees as ordered by the court.113 |
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| 137 | 137 | | (3) A commercial entity that violates this Code section shall be subject to a fine of up to114 |
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| 138 | 138 | | $10,000.00 for each violation, the amount of which shall be determined by the superior115 |
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| 139 | 139 | | court in the county in which any affected minor resides. The Attorney General shall116 |
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| 140 | 140 | | institute proceedings to impose such fine within one year of the violation.117 |
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| 141 | 141 | | (d)(1) When a commercial entity or third party performs reasonable age verification,118 |
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| 142 | 142 | | such entity or third party shall not retain any identifying information after access to the119 |
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| 143 | 143 | | social media platform has been granted.120 |
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| 144 | 144 | | (2) A commercial entity that is found to have knowingly retained identifying information121 |
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| 145 | 145 | | of an individual after access to the social media platform has been granted is liable to122 |
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| 146 | 146 | | H. B. 1365 |
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| 147 | 147 | | - 5 - 24 LC 56 0128 |
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| 148 | 148 | | such individual for damages resulting from retaining the identifying information,123 |
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| 149 | 149 | | including court costs and reasonable attorney's fees as ordered by the court.124 |
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| 150 | 150 | | (e) This Code section shall not:125 |
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| 151 | 151 | | (1) Apply to a news or public interest broadcast, public website video, report, or event;126 |
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| 152 | 152 | | (2) Affect the rights of a news-gathering organization; or127 |
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| 153 | 153 | | (3) Apply to cloud computing service providers."128 |
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| 154 | 154 | | SECTION 3.129 |
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| 155 | 155 | | All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.130 |
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| 156 | 156 | | H. B. 1365 |
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| 157 | 157 | | - 6 - |
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