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ENGROSSED HOUSE
BILL NO. 3914 By: Caldwell (Chad), Schreiber,
Lepak, Sneed, and Newton of
the House
and
Seifried of the Senate
[ social media - legislative intent - definitions -
reasonable age verification - parental consent -
third-party vendors - social media companies -
reporting of violations to the Office of the
Attorney General – notice - period to cure
violations - liability for social media com panies -
liability for commercial entities and third-party
vendors – noncodification – codification -
effective date –
emergency ]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new sect ion of law not to be
codified in the Oklahoma Statutes reads as follows:
In recognition of the critical role social media plays in the
lives of minors and its imp act on their mental well-being, this
Legislature is committe d to safeguarding the youth from accessing
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platforms that have dem onstrated adverse effects on their mental
health due to the addictive elements found in social media and the
targeting of minors through the use of algorithms by social media
platforms. This Legislature's intent is not to censor content found
on social media platfor ms, but rather to prevent access by perso ns
who have not yet reached an age to handle the neg ative aspects of
social media. Much like our historical commitment to curbing the
use of addictive substances and behaviors among minors, such as laws
regulating the use of intoxicants and gambling, this Legislature now
takes proactive measures to address the emerging challenges posed b y
social media platforms.
SECTION 2. 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 fol lows:
A. Nothing in this act shall be construed to limit the content
found on social media platforms or prohibit mino rs from posting
content on other platforms, digital or otherwise, that they legally
have access to.
B. 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 a ttempts to access a social
media platform while present in this state by acce ssing the social
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media platform using an Oklahoma Internet protocol address or is
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. "Dark pattern" means a user inter face designed or
manipulated with the substantial effect of subverting or impairing
user autonomy, decision making, or choice and includes, but is not
limited to, any practice the Federal Trade Comm ission refers to as a
dark pattern;
5. "Digitized identification card" means a data file available
on a mobile device that has connec tivity 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, canceled, suspended, revoked, active, or inactive;
6. "Minor" means an indiv idual under eighteen (18) years of
age;
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7. "Personal information" means information that is linked or
reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable minor,
including biometric information and unique identifiers to the minor;
8. "Reasonable age verification" means to confirm that a person
seeking to access a so cial media platform is at least eighteen (18)
years of age;
9. a. "Social media company" means an online forum , website,
or application that a company makes available for an
account holder to:
(1) create a public profile, establish an account, or
register as a user for the primary p urpose of
interacting socially with other profiles and
accounts,
(2) upload or create post s or content, which may
include, but is not limited to, user-generated
short video clips of dancing, voiceovers, or
other acts of entertainment in which the primary
purpose is not educatio nal or informative,
(3) view posts, activity, or content of other ac count
holders, and
(4) interact with other a ccount holders or users
including, without limitation, establishing
mutual connections through request and
acceptance.
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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 platform's
primary purpose is not social interaction,
(2) media company that exclusively offers interactive
gaming, virtual gaming, or an online service that
allows the creation and uploading of content for
the purpose of interacti ve gaming, entertainment,
or associated entertainment, and the
communication related to that content,
(3) an online service, website, or application whe re
the exclusive function is email or direct
messaging consisting of text, photographs,
pictures, images, or videos shared only between
the sender and the recipients, without displaying
or posting publicly or to other users not
specifically identified as the recipients by the
sender, and
(4) company that:
(a) offers cloud storage services, enterprise
cybersecurity services, educational dev ices,
or enterprise collaboration tools for
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kindergarten through grade twelve (K -12)
schools, and
(b) derives less than twenty-five percent (25%)
of the company's revenue fro m 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;
10. a. "Social media platform" means a public or semipublic
Internet-based service or applic ation:
(1) that has users in Oklahoma,
(2) that employs algorithms that analyze user data or
information on users to select content for user s,
(3) that features infinite scrolling, which means
either:
(a) continuously loading co ntent or content
that loads as the user scrolls down the
page without the need to open a separate
page, or
(b) seamless content, or the use of pages with
no visible or apparent end or page breaks ,
and
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(4) which a substantial function of the service or
application is to connect users i n order to allow
users to interact socially with each other within
the service or applica tion.
b. A service or applicat ion that provides email or direct
messaging shall not be considered to meet the criteria
under division (4) of subparagraph a of this paragraph
on the basis of that function alone.
c. 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 recipient
or recipients, and
(c) 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
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(b) does not obtain a license to the media from
a user or account holder by agreement of th e
streaming service's terms of service,
(4) news, sports, entertainment, or other content
that is preselected by the provider and no t user-
generated including, without limitation, if any
chat, comment, or interactiv e functionality that
is provided is incidental 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 a nd 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,
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(9) providing access to or interacting with data
visualization platforms, libraries, or hu bs,
(10) to permit comments on a digital news websi te, if
the news content is posted only by the provider
of the digital news website,
(11) providing or obtaining technical support for the
social media company’s social media platform,
products, or services,
(12) academic or scholarly res earch,
(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 adver tising service
that only permits the sale of goods and
prohibits the solicitatio n of personal
services, or
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(c) that is used by and unde r the direction of
an educational entity including, without
limitation, a:
(i) learning management system,
(ii) student engagement program, and
(iii) subject-specific or skill-specific
program.
d. Social media platform does not include a social media
platform that is controlled by a b usiness entity that
has generated less than One Hundred Million Dollars
($100,000,000.00) in annual gross revenue;
11. "Substantial harm or privacy risk to mi nors" means the
processing of personal information in a manner that m ay result in
any reasonably foreseeable substantial ph ysical injury, economic
injury, or offensive intrusion into the privacy expectations of a
reasonable minor under the circumstances, including:
a. mental health disorders or associated behaviors,
including the promotion or exacerbation of self -harm,
suicide, eating disorders, and substance abuse
disorders,
b. patterns of use that indi cate or encourage addicti ve
behaviors,
c. physical violence, online bullying, and harassment,
and
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d. sexual exploitation, including enticement, se x
trafficking, and sexual abuse and trafficking of
online sexual abuse material; and
12. "User" means a person w ho has access to view all or some of
the posts and content on a social media platform but is not an
account holder.
SECTION 3. 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 a 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 sh all verify the age of an
account holder.
2. If an account holder is a minor, the social media company
shall confirm that the minor has consent under subsection B of this
section to become a new account holder at the time the Oklahoma user
opens the account.
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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 platf orm.
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 license,
b. government-issued identification,
c. any commercially reasonable age verification method,
or
d. confirmation from a platform from which social media
applications are downloaded that the platf orm has
verified the age and identity of th e user.
SECTION 4. 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 follows:
A. A social media platform that is accessed by minors shal l
not:
1. Process the personal information of any minor if the social
media platform has actual knowledge of or willfully disregards that
the processing may result in substantial harm or is a privacy risk
to minors;
2. Profile a minor unless both of the following criteria are
met:
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a. the social media platform can demonstrate it has
appropriate safeguards in place to protect minors , and
b. (1) profiling is necessary to provide the online
service or feature requested for the aspects of
the online service or feature with which the
minor is actively and know ingly engaged, or
(2) the social media platform can demonstrate a
compelling reason that pro filing does not pose
substantial harm or is a privacy risk to minors;
3. Collect, sell, share, or retain any personal information
that is not necessary to provide an online service or feature with
which a minor is actively and know ingly engaged unless the online
platform can demonstra te a compelling reason that collecting,
selling, sharing, or retaining the personal informati on does not
pose substantial harm or is a privacy risk to minors ;
4. Use the personal information of a minor for any reason other
than the reason for which the perso nal information was colle cted
unless the online platform can demonstrate a compelling reason that
the use of the personal information does not pose substantial harm
or is a privacy risk to minors;
5. Collect, sell, or share any precise geolocation data of
minors unless the collec tion of the precise geolocation data is
strictly necessary for the online platform to pr ovide the service,
product, or feature requested and then only for the limited time
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that the collection of the precise geolocation data is ne cessary to
provide the service or feature;
6. Collect any precise geolocation data of a minor without
providing an obvious sign to the minor for the duration of the
collection that the precise geolocation data is being collected;
7. Use dark patterns to le ad or encourage minors to provide
personal information beyon d what personal information would
otherwise be reasonably expected to be provided for that online
service or feature, to forego privacy protections, or to take any
action that the online platform h as actual knowledge of o r willfully
disregards that may result in substantial harm or is a privacy risk
to minors; or
8. Use any personal informatio n collected to estimate the age
or age range for any other purpose or retain that personal
information longer th an necessary to estimate age. The age estimate
must be proportionate to the risks and data practice of an online
service or feature.
B. Violations of this section may be reported to the Office of
the Attorney General.
C. If the Attorney General determines that there has been a
violation of this section, the Attorney General shall send notice to
the social media platform.
D. The social media platform shall h ave a forty-five-day period
to cure the violation of this section.
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SECTION 5. 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. 1. A social media company that knowingly violates this act
is liable if the social media com pany fails to perform a reasonable
age verification or fails to comply with Section 4 of this act .
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 allegedly commit a violation of
this act.
C. A social media company that violates 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 reasona ble attorney fees as ordered
by the court; or
2. Damages resulting from a minor accessing a social media
platform without the consent of his or her parent or custodian,
including court costs and reasonable attorney fees as ordered by the
court.
D. This section does not:
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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. No social media platform shall be liable under this a ct if,
after performing reasonable age verification , a minor manages access
to the platform through means of fraud including, but not limited
to, the use of fake identification by the minor or an individual
claiming to be the parent or legal guard ian of the minor.
F. An Internet service provider, or any o f its affiliates or
subsidiaries, or search engines will not violate this act solely
when providing access, connection to or from a webs ite, or other
information or content on the Internet, or a facility, syst em, or
network that is not under that Internet service provider's control,
including transmission, downloading, intermediate s torage, 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.
SECTION 6. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 124 of Title 25, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
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A. A commercial entity or third -party vendor shall not retain
any identifying information of an individual after access to the
social media platform has been granted.
B. A commercial entity that is found to have kn owingly 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 7. This act shall become effective July 1, 2024.
SECTION 8. It being immediately necessary for the preservation
of the public peace, health or safety, an emergency is hereby
declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and
be in full force from and after its pa ssage and approval.
Passed the House of R epresentatives the 14th day of March, 2024.
Presiding Officer of the House
of Representatives
Passed the Senate the ___ day of __________, 2024.
Presiding Officer of the Senate