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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
2nd Session of the 59th Legislature (2024)
HOUSE BILL 3914 By: Caldwell (Chad)
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to social media; defining terms;
requiring reasonable age verification; requiring
parental consent; establishing certain liability for
social media companies; establishing certain
liability for commercial entities and third-party
vendors; providing for codification; and providing an
effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 120 of Title 25, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
As used in this act:
1. "Account holder" means an indiv idual who creates an account
or a profile to use a social media platform;
2. "Oklahoma user" means an individual who is a resident of the
State of Oklahoma and who accesses or attempts to access a social
media platform while present in this state by acce ssing the social
media platform using an Oklahoma Internet protocol address or
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otherwise known or believed to be in this state while using the
social media platform;
3. "Commercial entity":
a. means a corporation, limited liability company,
partnership, limited partnership, sole proprie torship,
or other legally recognized entity , and
b. includes a third-party vendor;
4. "Digitized identification card" means a data file available
on a mobile device that has connectivity to the Internet through a
state-approved application that allows th e mobile device to download
the data file from the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety that
contains all of the data elements visible on the face and back of a
driver license or identification card and displays the current
status of the driver license or identification card, including
valid, expired, cancel ed, suspended, revoked, active, or inactive;
5. "Minor" means an indiv idual under eighteen (18) years of
age;
6. "Reasonable age verification" means to confi rm that a person
seeking to access a so cial media platform is at least eighteen (18)
years of age;
7. a. "Social media company" means an online forum that a
company makes available for an account holder to:
(1) create a public profile, establish an ac count, or
register as a user for the primary p urpose of
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interacting socially with other profiles and
accounts,
(2) upload or create posts or content ,
(3) view posts or content of other account holders,
and
(4) interact with other acco unt holders or users,
including without limitation establishing mutu al
connections through request and acceptance.
b. Social media company does not include a:
(1) media company that exclusively offers
subscription content in which users follow or
subscribe unilaterally and whose platforms'
primary purpose is not social interaction,
(2) social media company that allows a user to
generate short video clips of dancing, voice
overs, or other acts of entertainment in which
the primary purpose is not educational or
informative, does not meet the exclusion under
division (1) of subparagraph b of paragraph 7 of
this section,
(3) media company that exclusively offers interacting
gaming, virtual gaming, or an online service,
that allows the creation and uploading of content
for the purpose of interacting gaming,
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entertainment, or associated ente rtainment, and
the communication related to that content,
(4) company that:
(a) offers cloud storage services, enterprise
cybersecurity services, educational devices,
or enterprise collaboration tools for
kindergarten through grade twelve (K -12)
schools, and
(b) derives less than twenty-five percent (25%)
of the company's revenue from operating a
social media platform, including games and
advertising, or
(5) company that provides career development
opportunities, including professional networking,
job skills, learning certifications, and job
posting and application services;
8. a. "Social media platform" means a public or semipublic
Internet-based service or application:
(1) that has users in Oklahoma, and
(2) (a) On which a substantial function of the
service or application is to connect users in
order to allow users to interact socially
with each other within the service or
application.
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(b) A service or application that provides email
or direct messaging shall not be considered
to meet the criteria under subdivision (a)
of division (2) of this subparagraph on the
basis of that function alone.
b. Social media platform does not include an online
service, a website, or an application if the
predominant or exclusive function is:
(1) email,
(2) direct messaging consisting of messages, photos,
or videos that are sent between devices by
electronic means if messages are:
(a) shared between the sender and the recipient
or recipients,
(b) only visible to the sender and the re cipient
or recipients, and
(c) are not posted publicly,
(3) a streaming service that:
(a) provides only licensed media in a continuous
flow from the service, website, or
application to the end user , and
(b) does not obtain a license to the media from
a user or account holder by agreement of the
streaming service's terms of service,
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(4) news, sports, entertainment, or other content
that is preselected by the provider and not user -
generated, including without limitation if any
chat, comment, or interactive f unctionality that
is provided is incident al to, directly related
to, or dependent upon provision of the content,
(5) online shopping or e-commerce, if the interaction
with other users or account holders is generally
limited to:
(a) the ability to post and comment on reviews,
(b) the ability to display lists or collections
of goods for sale or wish lists, and
(c) other functions that ar e focused on online
shopping or e-commerce rather than
interaction between users or account
holders,
(6) business-to-business software that is not
accessible to the general public,
(7) cloud storage,
(8) shared document collaboration,
(9) providing access to or interacting with data
visualization platforms, libraries, or hubs ,
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(10) to permit comments on a digital news website, if
the news content is posted only by th e provider
of the digital news website,
(11) for the purpose of providing or obtaining
technical support for the social media company’s
social media platform, products, or services ,
(12) academic or scholarly resear ch,
(13) other research:
(a) If:
(i) the majority of the content is posted
or created by the provider of the
online service, website, or
application, and
(ii) the ability to chat, comment, or
interact with other users is directly
related to the provider’s content,
(b) that is a classified adverti sing service
that only permits the sale of goods and
prohibits the solicitation of personal
services, or
(c) that is used by and under the direction of
an educational entity, including without
limitation a:
(i) learning management system,
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(ii) student engagement program, and
(iii) subject-specific or skill-specific
program.
c. Social media platform does not include a social media
platform that is controlled by a business entity that
has generated less than One Hundred Million Dollars
($100,000,000.00) in annual gross revenue; and
9. "User" means a person who has access to view all or some of
the posts and content on a social media platform but is not an
account holder.
SECTION 2. NEW LAW A n ew section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 121 of Title 25, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. A social media company shall not permit an Oklahoma user who
is a minor under sixteen (16) years of age to be an account holder
on the social media company's social media platform.
B. A social media company shall not permit an Oklahoma user who
is a minor sixteen (16) years of age or older to be an account
holder on the social media company's social media platform unless
the minor has the express consent of a parent or legal guardian.
C. 1. A social media company shall verify the age of an
account holder.
2. If an account holder is a minor, the social media company
shall confirm that a minor has c onsent under subsection A of this
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section to become a new account holder, at the time an Oklahoma user
opens the account.
D. 1. A social media company may use a third-party vendor to
perform reasonable age verification before allowing access to the
social media company's social media platform .
2. Reasonable age verification methods under paragraph 1 of
this subsection include providing:
a. a digitized identification card, including a digital
copy of a driver's license ,
b. government-issued identification, or
c. any commercially reasonable age verification method.
SECTION 3. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 122 of Title 25, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as fo llows:
A. 1. A social media company tha t knowingly violates this act
is liable if the social media company fails to perform a reasonable
age verification.
2. If a social media company performs a reasonable age
verification, the social media company shal l not retain any
identifying information of the individual after access to the social
media platform has been granted.
B. The Attorney General may initiate an enforcement action
against social media companies that alle gedly commit a violation of
this act.
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C. A social media company that violate s this act is liable to
an individual for:
1. A penalty of Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500.00)
per violation, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees as ordered
by the court; or
2. Damages resulting from a minor accessing a social media
platform without their parent's or custodian's consent, including
court costs and reasonable attorney fees as ordered by the court.
D. This section does not:
1. Apply to a news or public interest broadcast, website vid eo,
report, or event;
2. Affect the rights of a news-gathering organization; or
3. Apply to cloud service providers.
E. An Internet service provider, or any of its affiliates or
subsidiaries, or search engines, shall not violate this act solely
by providing access, connection to or from a webs ite, or other
information or content on the Internet, or a facility, system, or
network that is not under that Internet service provider's control,
including transmission, downloading, intermediate storage, access
software, or other service that provides access or connectivity, to
the extent the Internet service provider is not responsible for the
creation of the content or the communication on a social media
platform.
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SECTION 4. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 123 of Title 25, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. A commercial entity or third -party vendor shall not retain
any identifying information of an indiv idual after access to the
social media platform has been granted.
B. A commercial entity that is found to have knowingly retained
identifying information of an individual after access to th e
material is granted is liable to the individual for damages
resulting from the retention of the identifying information,
including court costs and reasonable attorney fees as ordered by the
court.
SECTION 5. This act shall become effective November 1, 2024.
59-2-9159 MJ 01/17/24