Vermont 2025 2025-2026 Regular Session

Vermont House Bill H0210 Introduced / Bill

Filed 02/12/2025

                    BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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VT LEG #378939 v.1 
H.210 1 
Introduced by Representatives Priestley of Bradford, Marcotte of Coventry, 2 
Arsenault of Williston, Austin of Colchester, Berbeco of 3 
Winooski, Bos-Lun of Westminster, Bosch of Clarendon, 4 
Boutin of Barre City, Boyden of Cambridge, Brown of 5 
Richmond, Burke of Brattleboro, Burrows of West Windsor, 6 
Campbell of St. Johnsbury, Carris-Duncan of Whitingham, 7 
Casey of Montpelier, Chapin of East Montpelier, Cina of 8 
Burlington, Cole of Hartford, Cordes of Bristol, Donahue of 9 
Northfield, Duke of Burlington, Eastes of Guilford, Goldman of 10 
Rockingham, Graning of Jericho, Greer of Bennington, Harple 11 
of Glover, Headrick of Burlington, Holcombe of Norwich, 12 
Krasnow of South Burlington, Lalley of Shelburne, Lipsky of 13 
Stowe, Masland of Thetford, McCann of Montpelier, McGill of 14 
Bridport, Micklus of Milton, Mihaly of Calais, Minier of South 15 
Burlington, Mrowicki of Putney, Nugent of South Burlington, 16 
O’Brien of Tunbridge, Ode of Burlington, Olson of Starksboro, 17 
Pezzo of Colchester, Pouech of Hinesburg, Rachelson of 18 
Burlington, Satcowitz of Randolph, Sibilia of Dover, Stevens of 19 
Waterbury, Surprenant of Barnard, Tomlinson of Winooski, 20  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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VT LEG #378939 v.1 
Torre of Moretown, Waszazak of Barre City, and White of 1 
Bethel 2 
Referred to Committee on  3 
Date:  4 
Subject: Commerce and trade; protection of personal information; privacy of 5 
minors 6 
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced:  This bill proposes to require that 7 
any covered business that develops and provides online services, products, or 8 
features that children are reasonably likely to access must not use abusive or 9 
privacy-invasive design features on children. 10 
An act relating to an age-appropriate design code 11 
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont:  12 
Sec. 1.  9 V.S.A. chapter 62, subchapter 6 is added to read: 13 
Subchapter 6.  Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code Act 14 
§ 2449a.  DEFINITIONS 15 
As used in this subchapter: 16 
(1)(A)  “Affiliate” means a legal entity that shares common branding 17 
with another legal entity or controls, is controlled by, or is under common 18 
control with another legal entity.   19  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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VT LEG #378939 v.1 
(B)  As used in subdivision (A) of this subdivision (1), “control” or 1 
“controlled” means: 2 
(i)  ownership of, or the power to vote, more than 50 percent of the 3 
outstanding shares of any class of voting security of a company; 4 
(ii)  control in any manner over the election of a majority of the 5 
directors or of individuals exercising similar functions; or 6 
(iii)  the power to exercise controlling influence over the 7 
management of a company. 8 
(2)  “Age assurance” encompasses a range of methods used to determine, 9 
estimate, or communicate the age or an age range of an online user. 10 
(3)  “Algorithmic recommendation system” means a system that uses an 11 
algorithm to select, filter, and arrange media on a covered business’s website 12 
for the purpose of selecting, recommending, or prioritizing media for a user. 13 
(4)(A)  “Biometric data” means data generated from the technological 14 
processing of an individual’s unique biological, physical, or physiological 15 
characteristics that allow or confirm the unique identification of the consumer, 16 
including: 17 
(i)  iris or retina scans; 18 
(ii)  fingerprints; 19 
(iii)  facial or hand mapping, geometry, or templates; 20 
(iv)  vein patterns; 21  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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VT LEG #378939 v.1 
(v)  voice prints or vocal biomarkers; and 1 
(vi)  gait or personally identifying physical movement or patterns. 2 
(B)  “Biometric data” does not include: 3 
(i)  a digital or physical photograph; 4 
(ii)  an audio or video recording; or 5 
(iii)  any data generated from a digital or physical photograph, or 6 
an audio or video recording, unless such data is generated to identify a specific 7 
individual. 8 
(5)  “Business associate” has the same meaning as in HIPAA. 9 
(6)  “Collect” means buying, renting, gathering, obtaining, receiving, or 10 
accessing any personal data by any means.  This includes receiving data from 11 
the consumer, either actively or passively, or by observing the consumer’s 12 
behavior. 13 
(7)  “Compulsive use” means the repetitive use of a covered business’s 14 
service that materially disrupts one or more major life activities of a minor, 15 
including sleeping, eating, learning, reading, concentrating, communicating, or 16 
working.  17 
(8)(A)  “Consumer” means an individual who is a resident of the State. 18 
(B)  “Consumer” does not include an individual acting in a 19 
commercial or employment context or as an employee, owner, director, officer, 20 
or contractor of a company, partnership, sole proprietorship, nonprofit, or 21  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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government agency whose communications or transactions with the covered 1 
business occur solely within the context of that individual’s role with the 2 
company, partnership, sole proprietorship, nonprofit, or government agency. 3 
(9)  “Consumer health data” means any personal data that a controller 4 
uses to identify a consumer’s physical or mental health condition or diagnosis, 5 
including gender-affirming health data and reproductive or sexual health data. 6 
(10)  “Controller” means a person who, alone or jointly with others, 7 
determines the purpose and means of processing personal data. 8 
(11)  “Covered business” means a sole proprietorship, partnership, 9 
limited liability company, corporation, association, other legal entity, or an 10 
affiliate thereof, that conducts business in this State and whose online products, 11 
services, or features are reasonably likely to be accessed by a minor and that: 12 
(A)  collects consumers’ personal data or has consumers’ personal 13 
data collected on its behalf by a processor; and 14 
(B)  alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of 15 
the processing of consumers personal data. 16 
(12)  “Covered entity” has the same meaning as in HIPAA. 17 
(13)  “Covered minor” is a consumer who a covered business actually 18 
knows is a minor or labels as a minor pursuant to age assurance methods in 19 
rules adopted by the Attorney General. 20  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(14)  “Default” means a preselected option adopted by the covered 1 
business for the online service, product, or feature. 2 
(15)  “De-identified data” means data that does not identify and cannot 3 
reasonably be used to infer information about, or otherwise be linked to, an 4 
identified or identifiable individual, or a device linked to the individual, if the 5 
covered business that possesses the data: 6 
(A)(i)  takes reasonable measures to ensure that the data cannot be 7 
used to reidentify an identified or identifiable individual or be associated with 8 
an individual or device that identifies or is linked or reasonably linkable to an 9 
individual or household; and 10 
(ii)  for purposes of this subdivision (A), “reasonable measures” 11 
shall include the de-identification requirements set forth under 45 C.F.R. 12 
§ 164.514 (other requirements relating to uses and disclosures of protected 13 
health information); 14 
(B)  publicly commits to process the data only in a de-identified 15 
fashion and not attempt to reidentify the data; and 16 
(C)  contractually obligates any recipients of the data to comply with 17 
all provisions of this subchapter. 18 
(16)  “Derived data” means data that is created by the derivation of 19 
information, data, assumptions, correlations, inferences, predictions, or 20  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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conclusions from facts, evidence, or another source of information or data 1 
about a minor or a minor’s device. 2 
(17)  “Genetic data” means any data, regardless of its format, that results 3 
from the analysis of a biological sample of an individual, or from another 4 
source enabling equivalent information to be obtained, and concerns genetic 5 
material, including deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA), ribonucleic acids (RNA), 6 
genes, chromosomes, alleles, genomes, alterations or modifications to DNA or 7 
RNA, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), epigenetic markers, 8 
uninterpreted data that results from analysis of the biological sample or other 9 
source, and any information extrapolated, derived, or inferred therefrom. 10 
(18)  “Identified or identifiable individual” means an individual who can 11 
be readily identified, directly or indirectly, including by reference to an 12 
identifier such as a name, an identification number, specific geolocation data, 13 
or an online identifier. 14 
(19)  “Known adult” is a consumer who a covered business actually 15 
knows is an adult or labels as an adult pursuant to age assurance methods in 16 
rules adopted by the Attorney General. 17 
(20) “Minor” means an individual under 18 years of age who is a 18 
resident of the State. 19 
(21)  “Neural data” means information that is collected through 20 
biosensors and that could be processed to infer or predict mental states. 21  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(22)  “Online service, product, or feature” means a digital product that is 1 
accessible to the public via the internet, including a website or application, and 2 
does not mean any of the following: 3 
(A)  telecommunications service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 153; 4 
(B)  a broadband internet access service as defined in 47 C.F.R. 5 
§ 54.400; or 6 
(C)  the sale, delivery, or use of a physical product. 7 
(23)(A)  “Personal data” means any information, including derived data 8 
and unique identifiers, that is linked or reasonably linkable to an identified or 9 
identifiable individual or to a device that identifies, is linked to, or is 10 
reasonably linkable to one or more identified or identifiable individuals in a 11 
household. 12 
(B)  Personal data does not include de-identified data or publicly 13 
available information. 14 
(24)(A)  “Precise geolocation data” means information derived from 15 
technology that reveals the past or present physical location of a consumer or 16 
device that identifies or is linked or reasonably linkable to one or more 17 
consumers with precision and accuracy within a radius of 1,850 feet. 18 
(B)  “Precise geolocation data” does not include: 19 
(i)  the content of communications; 20  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(ii)  data generated by or connected to an advanced utility metering 1 
infrastructure system; 2 
(iii)  a photograph, or metadata associated with a photograph or 3 
video, that cannot be linked to an individual; or 4 
(iv)  data generated by equipment used by a utility company. 5 
(25)  “Process” or “processing” means any operation or set of operations 6 
performed, whether by manual or automated means, on personal data or on sets 7 
of personal data, such as the collection, use, storage, disclosure, analysis, 8 
deletion, modification, or otherwise handling of personal data. 9 
(26)  “Processor” means a person who processes personal data on behalf 10 
of a covered business. 11 
(27)  “Profiling” means any form of automated processing performed on 12 
personal data to evaluate, analyze, or predict personal aspects related to an 13 
identified or identifiable individual’s economic situation, health, personal 14 
preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location, or movements.  15 
(28)(A) “Publicly available information” means information that: 16 
(i)  is made available through federal, state, or local government 17 
records; or 18 
(ii)  a controller has a reasonable basis to believe that the consumer 19 
has lawfully made available to the general public. 20 
(B)  “Publicly available information” does not include:  21  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(i)  biometric data collected by a business about a consumer 1 
without the consumer’s knowledge; 2 
(ii)  information that is collated and combined to create a consumer 3 
profile that is made available to a user of a publicly available website either in 4 
exchange for payment or free of charge; 5 
(iii)  information that is made available for sale; 6 
(iv)  an inference that is generated from the information described 7 
in subdivision (ii) or (iii) of this subdivision (28)(B); 8 
(v)  any obscene visual depiction, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 1460; 9 
(vi)  any inference made exclusively from multiple independent 10 
sources of publicly available information that reveals sensitive data with 11 
respect to a consumer; 12 
(vii)  personal data that is created through the combination of 13 
personal data with publicly available information; 14 
(viii)  genetic data, unless otherwise made publicly available by the 15 
consumer to whom the information pertains; 16 
(ix)  information provided by a consumer on a website or online 17 
service made available to all members of the public, for free or for a fee, where 18 
the consumer has maintained a reasonable expectation of privacy in the 19 
information, such as by restricting the information to a specific audience; or 20  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(x)  intimate images, authentic or computer-generated, known to be 1 
nonconsensual. 2 
(29)  “Reasonably likely to be accessed” means an online service, 3 
product, or feature that is reasonably likely to be accessed by a covered minor 4 
based on any of the following indicators: 5 
(A)  the online service, product, or feature is directed to children, as 6 
defined by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501–7 
6506 and the Federal Trade Commission rules implementing that Act; 8 
(B)  the online service, product, or feature is determined, based on 9 
competent and reliable evidence regarding audience composition, to be 10 
routinely accessed by an audience that is composed of at least two percent 11 
minors two through 17 years of age; 12 
(C)  the online service, product, or feature contains advertisements 13 
marketed to minors; 14 
(D)  the audience of the online service, product, or feature is 15 
determined, based on internal company research, to be composed of at least 16 
two percent minors two through 17 years of age; or 17 
(E)  the covered business knew or should have known that at least two 18 
percent of the audience of the online service, product, or feature includes 19 
minors two through 17 years of age, provided that, in making this assessment, 20 
the business shall not collect or process any personal data that is not reasonably 21  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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necessary to provide an online service, product, or feature with which a minor 1 
is actively and knowingly engaged. 2 
(30)  “Sensitive data” means personal data that:  3 
(A)  reveals a consumer’s government-issued identifier, such as a 4 
Social Security number, passport number, state identification card, or driver’s 5 
license number, that is not required by law to be publicly displayed; 6 
(B)  reveals a consumer’s racial or ethnic origin; national origin; 7 
citizenship or immigration status; religious or philosophical beliefs; a mental 8 
or physical health condition, diagnosis, disability or treatment; status as 9 
pregnant; income level or indebtedness; or union membership; 10 
(C)  reveals a consumer’s sexual orientation, sex life, sexuality, or 11 
status as transgender or nonbinary; 12 
(D)  reveals a consumer’s status as a victim of a crime; 13 
(E)  is a consumer’s tax return and account number, financial account 14 
log-in, financial account, debit card number, or credit card number in 15 
combination with any required security or access code, password, or 16 
credentials allowing access to an account; 17 
(F)  is consumer health data; 18 
(G)  is collected and analyzed concerning consumer health data that 19 
describes or reveals a past, present, or future mental or physical health 20 
condition, treatment, disability, or diagnosis, including pregnancy, to the extent 21  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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the personal data is used by the controller for a purpose other than to identify a 1 
specific consumer’s physical or mental health condition or diagnosis; 2 
(H)  is biometric or genetic data; 3 
(I)  is collected from a covered minor; 4 
(J)  is precise geolocation data; 5 
(K)  are keystrokes; 6 
(L)  is driving behavior; or 7 
(M)  is neural data. 8 
(31)(A)  “Social media platform” means a public or semipublic internet-9 
based service or application that is primarily intended to connect and allow a 10 
user to socially interact within such service or application and enables a user 11 
to: 12 
(i)  construct a public or semipublic profile for the purposes of 13 
signing into and using such service or application; 14 
(ii)  populate a public list of other users with whom the user shares 15 
a social connection within such service or application; or 16 
(iii)  create or post content that is viewable by other users, 17 
including content on message boards and in chat rooms, and that presents the 18 
user with content generated by other users. 19 
(B)  “Social media platform” does not mean a public or semipublic 20 
internet-based service or application that:  21  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(i)  exclusively provides email or direct messaging services; 1 
(ii)  primarily consists of news, sports, entertainment, interactive 2 
video games, electronic commerce, or content that is preselected by the 3 
provider for which any interactive functionality is incidental to, directly related 4 
to, or dependent on the provision of such content; or  5 
(iii)  is used by and under the direction of an educational entity, 6 
including a learning management system or a student engagement program. 7 
(32)  “Third party” means a natural or legal person, public authority, 8 
agency, or body other than the covered minor or the covered business. 9 
§ 2449b.  EXCLUSIONS 10 
This subchapter does not apply to: 11 
(1)  a federal, state, tribal, or local government entity in the ordinary 12 
course of its operation; 13 
(2)  protected health information that a covered entity or business 14 
associate processes in accordance with, or documents that a covered entity or 15 
business associate creates for the purpose of complying with, HIPAA; 16 
(3)  information used only for public health activities and purposes 17 
described in 45 C.F.R. § 164.512; 18 
(4)  information that identifies a consumer in connection with: 19 
(A)  activities that are subject to the Federal Policy for the Protection 20 
of Human Subjects as set forth in 45 C.F.R. Part 46; 21  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(B)  research on human subjects undertaken in accordance with good 1 
clinical practice guidelines issued by the International Council for 2 
Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human 3 
Use; 4 
(C)  activities that are subject to the protections provided in 21 C.F.R. 5 
Part 50 and 21 C.F.R. Part 56; or 6 
(D)  research conducted in accordance with the requirements set forth 7 
in subdivisions (A)–(C) of this subdivision (4) or otherwise in accordance with 8 
State or federal law; and 9 
(5)  an entity whose primary purpose is journalism as defined in 10 
12 V.S.A. § 1615(a)(2) and that has a majority of its workforce consisting of 11 
individuals engaging in journalism. 12 
§ 2449c.  MINIMUM DUTY OF CARE 13 
(a)  A covered business that processes a covered minor’s data in any 14 
capacity owes a minimum duty of care to the covered minor. 15 
(b)  As used in this subchapter, “a minimum duty of care” means the use of 16 
the personal data of a covered minor and the design of an online service, 17 
product, or feature will not result in:  18 
(1)  reasonably foreseeable emotional distress as defined in 13 V.S.A. 19 
§ 1061(2) to a covered minor; 20  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(2)  reasonably foreseeable compulsive use of the online service, 1 
product, or feature by a covered minor; or 2 
(3)  discrimination against a covered minor based upon race, ethnicity, 3 
sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or 4 
national origin. 5 
(c)  The content of the media viewed by a covered minor shall not establish 6 
emotional distress or compulsive use as those terms are used in subsection (b) 7 
of this section. 8 
(d)  Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a covered business 9 
to prevent or preclude a covered minor from accessing or viewing any piece of 10 
media or category of media. 11 
§ 2449d.  REQUIRED DEFAULT PRIVACY SETTINGS AND TOOLS 12 
(a) Default privacy settings. 13 
(1) A covered business shall configure all default privacy settings 14 
provided to a covered minor through the online service, product, or feature to 15 
the highest level of privacy, including the following default settings: 16 
(A)  not displaying the existence of the covered minor’s social media 17 
account to any known adult user unless the covered minor has expressly and 18 
unambiguously allowed a specific known adult user to view their account or 19 
has expressly and unambiguously chosen to make their account’s existence 20 
public; 21  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(B)  not displaying media created or posted by the covered minor on  1 
a social media platform to any known adult user unless the covered minor has 2 
expressly and unambiguously allowed a specific known adult user to view their 3 
media or has expressly and unambiguously chosen to make their media 4 
publicly available; 5 
(C)  not permitting any known adult users to like, comment on, or 6 
otherwise provide feedback on the covered minor’s media on a social media 7 
platform unless the covered minor has expressly and unambiguously allowed a 8 
specific known adult user to do so; 9 
(D)  not permitting direct messaging on a social media platform 10 
between the covered minor and any known adult user unless the covered minor 11 
has expressly and unambiguously decided to allow direct messaging with a 12 
specific known adult user; 13 
(E)  not displaying the covered minor’s location to other users, unless 14 
the covered minor expressly and unambiguously shares their location with a 15 
specific user; 16 
(F)  not displaying the users connected to the covered minor on a 17 
social media platform unless the covered minor expressly and unambiguously 18 
chooses to share the information with a specific user; 19 
(G)  disabling search engine indexing of the covered minor’s account 20 
profile; and 21  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(H)  not sending push notifications to the covered minors. 1 
(2)  A covered business shall not: 2 
(A)  provide a covered minor with a single setting that makes all of 3 
the default privacy settings less protective at once; or 4 
(B)  request or prompt a covered minor to make their privacy settings 5 
less protective, unless the change is strictly necessary for the covered minor to 6 
access a service or feature they have expressly and unambiguously requested. 7 
(b)  Timely deletion of account.  A covered business shall:  8 
(1)  provide a prominent, accessible, and responsive tool to allow a 9 
covered minor to request the covered minor’s social media account be 10 
unpublished or deleted; and  11 
(2)  honor that request not later than 15 days after a covered business 12 
receives the request. 13 
§ 2449e.  TRANSPARENCY 14 
(a)  A covered business shall prominently and clearly provide on their 15 
website or mobile application: 16 
(1)  the covered business’ privacy information, terms of service, policies, 17 
and community standards; 18 
(2)  detailed descriptions of each algorithmic recommendation system in 19 
use by the covered business, including the factors used by the algorithmic 20 
recommendation system and how each factor: 21  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(A)  is measured or determined; 1 
(B)  uses the personal data of covered minors; 2 
(C)  influences the recommendation issued by the system; and 3 
(D)  is weighed relative to the other factors listed in this subdivision 4 
(2); and 5 
(3)  descriptions, for every feature of the service that uses the personal 6 
data of covered minors, of: 7 
(A)  the purpose of the service feature; 8 
(B)  the personal data collected by the service feature; 9 
(C)  the personal data used by the service feature; 10 
(D)  how the personal data is used by the service feature;  11 
(E)  any personal data transferred to or shared with a processor or 12 
third party by the service feature, the identity of the processor or third party, 13 
and the purpose of the transfer or sharing; and 14 
(F)  how long the personal data is retained. 15 
§ 2449f.  PROHIBITED DATA AND DESIGN PRACTICES 16 
(a)  Data privacy.  A covered business shall not: 17 
(1)  collect, sell, share, or retain any personal data of a covered minor 18 
that is not necessary to provide an online service, product, or feature with 19 
which the covered minor is actively and knowingly engaged; 20  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(2)  use previously collected personal data of a covered minor for any 1 
purpose other than a purpose for which the personal data was collected, unless 2 
necessary to comply with any obligation under this chapter; 3 
(3)  permit any consumer, including a parent or guardian of a covered 4 
minor, to monitor the online activity of a covered minor or to track the location 5 
of the covered minor without providing a conspicuous signal to the covered 6 
minor when the covered minor is being monitored or tracked; 7 
(4)  use the personal data of a covered minor to select, recommend, or 8 
prioritize media for the covered minor, unless the personal data is: 9 
(A)  the covered minor’s express and unambiguous request to receive:  10 
(i)  media from a specific account, feed, or user, or to receive more 11 
or less media from that account, feed, or user; 12 
(ii)  a specific category of media, such as “cat videos” or “breaking 13 
news,” or to see more or less of that category of media; or 14 
(iii)  more or less media with similar characteristics as the media 15 
they are currently viewing; 16 
(B) user-selected privacy or accessibility settings; or 17 
(C) a search query, as long as the search query is only used to select 18 
and prioritize media in response to the search; or 19 
(5)  send push notifications to a covered minor between 12:00 a.m. and 20 
6:00 a.m. 21  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(b)  Rulemaking.  The Attorney General shall have the authority to adopt 1 
rules pursuant to this subchapter that prohibits data processing or design 2 
practices of a covered business that, in the opinion of the Attorney General, 3 
lead to compulsive use or subvert or impair user autonomy, decision making, 4 
or choice during the use of an online service, product, or feature of the covered 5 
business.  The Attorney General shall, at least once every two years, review 6 
and update these rules as necessary to keep pace with emerging technology. 7 
§ 2449g.  AGE ASSURANCE PRIVACY 8 
(a) Privacy protections for age assurance data.  Covered businesses and 9 
processors shall: 10 
(1)  only collect personal data of a user that is strictly necessary for age 11 
assurance; 12 
(2) immediately upon determining whether a user is a covered minor, 13 
delete any personal data collected of that user for age assurance, except 14 
whether the user is or is not determined to be a covered minor; 15 
(3)  not use any personal data of a user collected for age assurance for 16 
any other purpose; 17 
(4) not combine personal data of a user collected for age assurance with 18 
any other personal data of the user, except whether the user is or is not 19 
determined to be a covered minor; and 20  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(5)  implement a review process to allow users to appeal their age 1 
designation. 2 
(b)  Rulemaking. 3 
(1)  Subject to subdivision (2) of this subsection, the Attorney General 4 
shall, on or before July 1, 2027, adopt rules identifying commercially 5 
reasonable and technically feasible methods for covered businesses and 6 
processors to determine if a user is a covered minor, describing appropriate 7 
review processes for users appealing their age designations, and providing any 8 
additional privacy protections for age assurance data.  The Attorney General 9 
shall periodically review and update these rules as necessary to keep pace with 10 
emerging technology. 11 
(2)  In adopting these rules, the Attorney General shall: 12 
(A)  prioritize user privacy and accessibility over the accuracy of age 13 
assurance methods; and 14 
(B)  consider:  15 
(i)  the size, financial resources, and technical capabilities of 16 
covered businesses and processors; 17 
(ii)  the costs and effectiveness of available age assurance methods; 18 
(iii)  the impact of age assurance methods on users’ safety, utility, 19 
and experience; 20  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
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(iv)  whether and to what extent transparency measures would 1 
increase consumer trust in an age assurance method; and  2 
(v)  the efficacy of requiring covered businesses and processors to:  3 
(I)  use previously collected data to determine user age; 4 
(II)  adopt interoperable age assurance methods; and  5 
(III)  provide users with multiple options for age assurance. 6 
§ 2449h.  ENFORCEMENT 7 
(a)  A covered business or processor that violates this subchapter or rules 8 
adopted pursuant to this subchapter commits an unfair and deceptive act in 9 
commerce in violation of section 2453 of this title. 10 
(b)  The Attorney General shall have the same authority under this 11 
subchapter to make rules, conduct civil investigations, bring civil actions, 12 
and enter into assurances of discontinuance as provided under chapter 63 of 13 
this title. 14 
§ 2449i.  LIMITATIONS 15 
Nothing in this subchapter shall be interpreted or construed to: 16 
(1)  impose liability in a manner that is inconsistent with 47 U.S.C. 17 
§ 230; or 18 
(2)  prevent or preclude any covered minor from deliberately or 19 
independently searching for, or specifically requesting, any media. 20  BILL AS INTRODUCED 	H.210 
2025 	Page 24 of 24 
 
 
VT LEG #378939 v.1 
§ 2449j.  RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS OF COVERED MINORS 1 
It is the intent of the General Assembly that nothing in this act may be 2 
construed to infringe on the existing rights and freedoms of covered minors or 3 
be construed to discriminate against the covered minors based on race, 4 
ethnicity, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, 5 
or national origin. 6 
Sec. 2.  EFFECTIVE DATE 7 
This act shall take effect on July 1, 2026. 8