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