Text of US SB 1748 (2025)

II 119TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1748 To protect the safety of children on the internet. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 14, 2025 Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. THUNE, and Mr. SCHUMER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re- ferred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To protect the safety of children on the internet. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Kids Online Safety Act’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—KIDS ONLINE SAFETY Sec. 101. Definitions. Sec. 102. Duty of care. Sec. 103. Safeguards for minors. Sec. 104. Disclosure. Sec. 105. Transparency. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 1748 IS Sec. 106. Market research. Sec. 107. Age verification study and report. Sec. 108. Guidance. Sec. 109. Enforcement. Sec. 110. Kids online safety council. Sec. 111. Effective date. Sec. 112. Rules of construction and other matters. TITLE II—FILTER BUBBLE TRANSPARENCY Sec. 201. Definitions. Sec. 202. Requirement to allow users to see unmanipulated content on internet platforms. TITLE III—RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAWS; SEVERABILITY Sec. 301. Relationship to State laws. Sec. 302. Severability. TITLE I—KIDS ONLINE SAFETY 1 SEC. 101. DEFINITIONS. 2 In this title: 3 (1) CHILD.—The term ‘‘child’’ means an indi- 4 vidual who is under the age of 13. 5 (2) COMPULSIVE USAGE.—The term ‘‘compul- 6 sive usage’’ means a persistent and repetitive use of 7 a covered platform that significantly impacts one or 8 more major life activities of an individual, including 9 socializing, sleeping, eating, learning, reading, con- 10 centrating, communicating, or working. 11 (3) COVERED PLATFORM.— 12 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘covered 13 platform’’ means an online platform, online 14 video game, messaging application, or video 15 streaming service that connects to the internet 16 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 1748 IS and that is used, or is reasonably likely to be 1 used, by a minor. 2 (B) EXCEPTIONS.—The term ‘‘covered 3 platform’’ does not include— 4 (i) an entity acting in its capacity as 5 a provider of— 6 (I) a common carrier service sub- 7 ject to the Communications Act of 8 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) and all 9 Acts amendatory thereof and supple- 10 mentary thereto; 11 (II) a broadband internet access 12 service (as such term is defined for 13 purposes of section 8.1(b) of title 47, 14 Code of Federal Regulations, or any 15 successor regulation); 16 (III) an email service; 17 (IV) a teleconferencing or video 18 conferencing service that allows recep- 19 tion and transmission of audio or 20 video signals for real-time communica- 21 tion, provided that— 22 (aa) the service is not an on- 23 line platform; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 1748 IS (bb) the real-time commu- 1 nication is initiated by using a 2 unique link or identifier to facili- 3 tate access; or 4 (V) a wireless messaging service, 5 including such a service provided 6 through short messaging service or 7 multimedia messaging service proto- 8 cols, that is not a component of, or 9 linked to, an online platform and 10 where the predominant or exclusive 11 function is direct messaging consisting 12 of the transmission of text, photos or 13 videos that are sent by electronic 14 means, where messages are trans- 15 mitted from the sender to a recipient, 16 and are not posted within an online 17 platform or publicly; 18 (ii) an organization not organized to 19 carry on business for its own profit or that 20 of its members; 21 (iii) any public or private— 22 (I) early childhood education pro- 23 gram or preschool that provides for 24 the care, development, and education 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 1748 IS of infants, toddlers, or young children 1 who are not yet enrolled in kinder- 2 garten; 3 (II) elementary school (as defined 4 in section 8101 of the Elementary and 5 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 6 U.S.C. 7801)) or secondary school (as 7 so defined); 8 (III) school providing career and 9 technical education (as defined in sec- 10 tion 3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career 11 and Technical Education Act of 2006 12 (20 U.S.C. 2302)); 13 (IV) school providing adult edu- 14 cation and literacy activities (as de- 15 fined in section 203 of the Adult Edu- 16 cation and Family Literacy Act (29 17 U.S.C. 3272)); or 18 (V) institution of higher edu- 19 cation (as defined in section 101, and 20 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 21 102(a)(1), of the Higher Education 22 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001, 23 1002(a)(1))); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 1748 IS (iv) a library (as defined in section 1 213 of the Library Services and Tech- 2 nology Act (20 U.S.C. 9122)); 3 (v) a news or sports coverage website 4 or app where— 5 (I) the inclusion of video content 6 on the website or app is related to the 7 website or app’s own gathering, re- 8 porting, or publishing of news content 9 or sports coverage; and 10 (II) the website or app is not 11 otherwise an online platform; 12 (vi) a product or service that pri- 13 marily functions as business-to-business 14 software, such as a cloud storage, file shar- 15 ing, or file collaboration service; 16 (vii) a virtual private network or simi- 17 lar service that exists predominantly to 18 route internet traffic between locations; or 19 (viii) a government entity with a .gov 20 internet domain (as described in section 21 2215 of the Homeland Security Act of 22 2002 (6 U.S.C. 665)). 23 (4) DESIGN FEATURE.—The term ‘‘design fea- 24 ture’’ means any feature or component of a covered 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 1748 IS platform that will encourage or increase the fre- 1 quency, time spent, or activity of minors on the cov- 2 ered platform. Design features include but are not 3 limited to— 4 (A) infinite scrolling or auto play; 5 (B) rewards or incentives based on the fre- 6 quency, time spent, or activity of minors on the 7 covered platform; 8 (C) notifications and push alerts; 9 (D) badges or other visual award symbols 10 based on the frequency, time spent, or activity 11 of minors on the covered platform; 12 (E) personalized design features; 13 (F) in-game purchases; or 14 (G) appearance altering filters. 15 (5) GEOLOCATION.—The term ‘‘geolocation’’ 16 has the meaning given the term ‘‘geolocation infor- 17 mation’’ in section 1302 of the Children’s Online 18 Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6501), as 19 added by section 201(a). 20 (6) KNOW OR KNOWS.—The term ‘‘know’’ or 21 ‘‘knows’’ means to have actual knowledge or knowl- 22 edge fairly implied on the basis of objective cir- 23 cumstances. 24 (7) MICROTRANSACTION.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 1748 IS (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘microtrans- 1 action’’ means a purchase made in an online 2 video game (including a purchase made using a 3 virtual currency that is purchasable or redeem- 4 able using cash or credit or that is included as 5 part of a paid subscription service). 6 (B) INCLUSIONS.—Such term includes a 7 purchase involving surprise mechanics, new 8 characters, or in-game items. 9 (C) EXCLUSIONS.—Such term does not in- 10 clude— 11 (i) a purchase made in an online video 12 game using a virtual currency that is 13 earned through gameplay and is not other- 14 wise purchasable or redeemable using cash 15 or credit or included as part of a paid sub- 16 scription service; or 17 (ii) a purchase of additional levels 18 within the game or an overall expansion of 19 the game. 20 (8) MINOR.—The term ‘‘minor’’ means an indi- 21 vidual who is under the age of 17. 22 (9) NARCOTIC DRUG.—The term ‘‘narcotic 23 drug’’ has the meaning given such term in section 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 1748 IS 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 1 802). 2 (10) ONLINE PLATFORM.— 3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘online plat- 4 form’’ means any public-facing website, online 5 service, online application, or mobile application 6 that predominantly provides a community 7 forum for user-generated content, such as shar- 8 ing videos, images, games, audio files, or other 9 content, including a social media service, social 10 network, or virtual reality environment. 11 (B) INCIDENTAL CHAT FUNCTIONS.—A 12 website, online service, online application, or 13 mobile application is not an online platform 14 solely on the basis that it includes a chat, com- 15 ment, or other interactive function that is inci- 16 dental to its predominant purpose. 17 (11) ONLINE VIDEO GAME.—The term ‘‘online 18 video game’’ means a video game, including an edu- 19 cational video game, that connects to the internet 20 and that allows a user to— 21 (A) create and upload content other than 22 content that is incidental to gameplay, such as 23 character or level designs created by the user, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:59 May 21, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 1748 IS preselected phrases, or short interactions with 1 other users; 2 (B) engage in microtransactions within the 3 game; or 4 (C) communicate with other users. 5 (12) PARENT.—The term ‘‘parent’’ includes a 6 legal guardian. 7 (13) PERSONAL DATA.—The term ‘‘personal 8 data’’ has the same meaning as the term ‘‘personal 9 information’’ as defined in section 1302 of the Chil- 10 dren’s Online Privacy Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 11 6501). 12 (14) PERSONALIZED DESIGN FEATURE.—The 13 term ‘‘personalized design feature’’ means a fully or 14 partially automated system, including a rec- 15 ommendation system, that is based on the collection 16 of personal data of users and that encourages or in- 17 creases the frequency, time spent, or activity of mi- 18 nors on the covered platform. 19 (15) PERSONALIZED RECOMMENDATION SYS- 20 TEM.—The term ‘‘personalized recommendation sys- 21 tem’’ means a fully or partially automated system 22 used to suggest, promote, or rank content, including 23 other users, hashtags, or posts, based on the per- 24 sonal data of users. A recommendation system that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11 •S 1748 IS suggests, promotes, or ranks content based solely on 1 the user’s language, city or town, or age shall not 2 be considered a personalized recommendation sys- 3 tem. 4 (16) SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE.—The 5 term ‘‘sexual exploitation and abuse’’ means any of 6 the following: 7 (A) Coercion and enticement, as described 8 in section 2422 of title 18, United States Code. 9 (B) Child sexual abuse material, as de- 10 scribed in sections 2251, 2252, 2252A, and 11 2260 of title 18, United States Code. 12 (C) Trafficking for the production of im- 13 ages, as described in section 2251A of title 18, 14 United States Code. 15 (D) Sex trafficking of children, as de- 16 scribed in section 1591 of title 18, United 17 States Code. 18 (17) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each 19 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 20 each commonwealth, territory, or possession of the 21 United States, and each federally recognized Indian 22 Tribe. 23 (18) USER.—The term ‘‘user’’ means, with re- 24 spect to a covered platform, an individual who reg- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 12 •S 1748 IS isters an account or creates a profile on the covered 1 platform. 2 SEC. 102. DUTY OF CARE. 3 (a) PREVENTION OF HARM TO MINORS.—A covered 4 platform shall exercise reasonable care in the creation and 5 implementation of any design feature to prevent and miti- 6 gate the following harms to minors where a reasonable and 7 prudent person would agree that such harms were reason- 8 ably foreseeable by the covered platform and would agree 9 that the design feature is a contributing factor to such 10 harms: 11 (1) Eating disorders, substance use disorders, 12 and suicidal behaviors. 13 (2) Depressive disorders and anxiety disorders 14 when such conditions have objectively verifiable and 15 clinically diagnosable symptoms and are related to 16 compulsive usage. 17 (3) Patterns of use that indicate compulsive 18 usage. 19 (4) Physical violence or online harassment ac- 20 tivity that is so severe, pervasive, or objectively of- 21 fensive that it impacts a major life activity of a 22 minor. 23 (5) Sexual exploitation and abuse of minors. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 13 •S 1748 IS (6) Distribution, sale, or use of narcotic drugs, 1 tobacco products, cannabis products, gambling, or 2 alcohol. 3 (7) Financial harms caused by unfair or decep- 4 tive acts or practices (as defined in section 5(a)(4) 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 6 45(a)(4))). 7 (b) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 8 (1) Nothing in subsection (a) shall be construed 9 to require a covered platform to prevent or preclude 10 any minor from— 11 (A) deliberately and independently search- 12 ing for, or specifically requesting, content; or 13 (B) accessing resources and information 14 regarding the prevention or mitigation of the 15 harms described in subsection (a). 16 (2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to 17 allow a government entity to enforce subsection (a) 18 based upon the viewpoint of users expressed by or 19 through any speech, expression, or information pro- 20 tected by the First Amendment to the Constitution 21 of the United States. 22 SEC. 103. SAFEGUARDS FOR MINORS. 23 (a) SAFEGUARDS FOR MINORS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 14 •S 1748 IS (1) SAFEGUARDS.—A covered platform shall 1 provide a user or visitor that the covered platform 2 knows is a minor with readily accessible and easy- 3 to-use safeguards to, as applicable— 4 (A) limit the ability of other users or visi- 5 tors to communicate with the minor; 6 (B) prevent other users or visitors, wheth- 7 er registered or not, from viewing the minor’s 8 personal data collected by or shared on the cov- 9 ered platform, in particular restricting public 10 access to personal data; 11 (C) limit by default design features that 12 encourage or increase the frequency, time 13 spent, or activity of minors on the covered plat- 14 form, such as infinite scrolling, auto playing, 15 rewards for time spent on the platform, notifi- 16 cations, and other design features that result in 17 compulsive usage of the covered platform by the 18 minor; 19 (D) control personalized recommendation 20 systems, including the ability for a minor to 21 have— 22 (i) a prominently displayed option to 23 opt out of such personalized recommenda- 24 tion systems, while still allowing the dis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 15 •S 1748 IS play of content based on a chronological 1 format; and 2 (ii) a prominently displayed option to 3 limit types or categories of recommenda- 4 tions from such systems; and 5 (E) restrict the sharing of the geolocation 6 of the minor and provide notice regarding the 7 tracking of the minor’s geolocation. 8 (2) OPTION.—A covered platform shall provide 9 a user that the covered platform knows is a minor 10 with a readily accessible and easy-to-use option to 11 limit the amount of time spent by the minor on the 12 covered platform. 13 (3) DEFAULT SAFEGUARD SETTINGS FOR MI- 14 NORS.—A covered platform shall provide that, in the 15 case of a user or visitor that the platform knows is 16 a minor, the default setting for any safeguard de- 17 scribed under paragraph (1) shall be the option 18 available on the platform that provides the most pro- 19 tective level of control that is offered by the platform 20 over privacy and safety for that user or visitor, un- 21 less otherwise enabled by the parent of the minor. 22 (b) PARENTAL TOOLS.— 23 (1) TOOLS.—A covered platform shall provide 24 readily accessible and easy-to-use parental tools for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 16 •S 1748 IS parents to support a user that the platform knows 1 is a minor with respect to the use of the platform 2 by that user. 3 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The parental tools pro- 4 vided by a covered platform under paragraph (1) 5 shall include— 6 (A) the ability to manage a minor’s privacy 7 and account settings, including the safeguards 8 and options established under subsection (a), in 9 a manner that allows parents to— 10 (i) view the privacy and account set- 11 tings; and 12 (ii) in the case of a user that the plat- 13 form knows is a child, change and control 14 the privacy and account settings; 15 (B) the ability to restrict purchases and fi- 16 nancial transactions by the minor, where appli- 17 cable; and 18 (C) the ability to view metrics of total time 19 spent on the covered platform and restrict time 20 spent on the covered platform by the minor. 21 (3) NOTICE TO MINORS.—A covered platform 22 shall provide clear and conspicuous notice to a user 23 when the tools described in this subsection are in ef- 24 fect and what settings or controls have been applied. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 17 •S 1748 IS (4) DEFAULT TOOLS.—A covered platform shall 1 provide that, in the case of a user that the platform 2 knows is a child, the tools required under paragraph 3 (1) shall be enabled by default. 4 (5) APPLICATION TO EXISTING ACCOUNTS.—If, 5 prior to the effective date of this subsection, a cov- 6 ered platform provided a parent of a user that the 7 platform knows is a child with notice and the ability 8 to enable the parental tools described under this 9 subsection in a manner that would otherwise comply 10 with this subsection, and the parent opted out of en- 11 abling such tools, the covered platform is not re- 12 quired to enable such tools with respect to such user 13 by default when this subsection takes effect. 14 (c) REPORTING MECHANISM.— 15 (1) REPORTING TOOLS.—A covered platform 16 shall provide— 17 (A) a readily accessible and easy-to-use 18 means for users and visitors to submit reports 19 to the covered platform of harms to a minor on 20 the covered platform; 21 (B) an electronic point of contact specific 22 to matters involving harms to a minor; and 23 (C) confirmation of the receipt of such a 24 report and, within the applicable time period 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 18 •S 1748 IS described in paragraph (2), a substantive re- 1 sponse to the individual that submitted the re- 2 port. 3 (2) TIMING.—A covered platform shall establish 4 an internal process to receive and substantively re- 5 spond to such reports in a reasonable and timely 6 manner, but in no case later than— 7 (A) 10 days after the receipt of a report, 8 if, for the most recent calendar year, the plat- 9 form averaged more than 10,000,000 active 10 users on a monthly basis in the United States; 11 (B) 21 days after the receipt of a report, 12 if, for the most recent calendar year, the plat- 13 form averaged less than 10,000,000 active 14 users on a monthly basis in the United States; 15 and 16 (C) notwithstanding subparagraphs (A) 17 and (B), if the report involves an imminent 18 threat to the safety of a minor, as promptly as 19 needed to address the reported threat to safety. 20 (d) ADVERTISING OF ILLEGAL PRODUCTS.—A cov- 21 ered platform shall not facilitate the advertising of nar- 22 cotic drugs, cannabis products, tobacco products, gam- 23 bling, or alcohol to an individual that the covered platform 24 knows is a minor. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 19 •S 1748 IS (e) RULES OF APPLICATION.— 1 (1) ACCESSIBILITY.—With respect to safe- 2 guards and parental tools described under sub- 3 sections (a) and (b), a covered platform shall pro- 4 vide— 5 (A) information and control options in a 6 clear and conspicuous manner that takes into 7 consideration the differing ages, capacities, and 8 developmental needs of the minors most likely 9 to access the covered platform and does not en- 10 courage minors or parents to weaken or disable 11 safeguards or parental tools; 12 (B) readily accessible and easy-to-use con- 13 trols to enable or disable safeguards or parental 14 tools, as appropriate; and 15 (C) information and control options in the 16 same language, form, and manner as the cov- 17 ered platform provides the product or service 18 used by minors and their parents. 19 (2) DARK PATTERNS PROHIBITION.—It shall be 20 unlawful for any covered platform to design, embed, 21 modify, or manipulate a user interface of a covered 22 platform with the purpose or substantial effect of 23 obscuring, subverting or impairing user autonomy, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 20 •S 1748 IS decision-making, or choice with respect to safe- 1 guards or parental tools required under this section. 2 (3) TIMING CONSIDERATIONS.— 3 (A) NO INTERRUPTION TO GAMEPLAY.— 4 Subsections (a)(1)(C) and (b)(3) shall not re- 5 quire an online video game to interrupt the nat- 6 ural sequence of gameplay, such as progressing 7 through game levels or finishing a competition. 8 (B) APPLICATION OF CHANGES TO OFF- 9 LINE DEVICES OR ACCOUNTS.—If a user’s de- 10 vice or user account does not have access to the 11 internet at the time of a change to parental 12 tools, a covered platform shall apply changes 13 the next time the device or user is connected to 14 the internet. 15 (f) DEVICE OR CONSOLE CONTROLS.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this section shall 17 be construed to prohibit a covered platform from in- 18 tegrating its products or service with, or duplicate 19 controls or tools provided by, third-party systems, 20 including operating systems or gaming consoles, to 21 meet the requirements imposed under subsections 22 (a) and (b) relating to safeguards for minors and 23 parental tools, provided that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:59 May 21, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 21 •S 1748 IS (A) the controls or tools meet such require- 1 ments; and 2 (B) the minor or parent is provided suffi- 3 cient notice of the integration and use of the 4 parental tools. 5 (2) PRESERVATION OF PROTECTIONS.—In the 6 event of a conflict between the controls or tools of 7 a third-party system, including operating systems or 8 gaming consoles, and a covered platform, the cov- 9 ered platform is not required to override the controls 10 or tools of a third-party system if it would under- 11 mine the protections for minors from the safeguards 12 or parental tools imposed under subsections (a) and 13 (b). 14 (g) EXCEPTION.—A covered platform shall provide 15 the safeguards and parental tools described in subsections 16 (a) and (b) to an educational agency or institution (as de- 17 fined in section 444 of the General Education Provisions 18 Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(3))), rather than to the user or 19 visitor, when the covered platform is acting on behalf of 20 the educational agency or institution subject to a written 21 contract that complies with the requirements of the Chil- 22 dren’s Online Privacy Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 6501 et 23 seq.) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act 24 of 1974 (20 U.S.C. 1232g). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 22 •S 1748 IS (h) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 1 tion shall be construed to— 2 (1) prevent a covered platform from taking rea- 3 sonable measures to— 4 (A) block, detect, or prevent the distribu- 5 tion of unlawful, obscene, or other harmful ma- 6 terial to minors as described in section 102(a); 7 or 8 (B) block or filter spam, prevent criminal 9 activity, or protect the security of a platform or 10 service; 11 (2) require the disclosure of the browsing be- 12 havior, search history, messages, contact list, or 13 other content or metadata of the communications of 14 a minor; 15 (3) prevent a covered platform from using a 16 personalized recommendation system to display con- 17 tent to a minor if the system only uses information 18 on— 19 (A) the language spoken by the minor; 20 (B) the city the minor is located in; or 21 (C) the minor’s age; 22 (4) prevent an online video game from dis- 23 closing a username or other user identification for 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 23 •S 1748 IS the purpose of competitive gameplay or to allow for 1 the reporting of users; 2 (5) prevent a covered platform from contracting 3 or entering into an agreement with a third-party en- 4 tity, whose primary or exclusive function is to pro- 5 vide the safeguards or parental tools required under 6 subsections (a) and (b) or to offer similar or strong- 7 er protective capabilities for minors, to assist with 8 meeting the requirements imposed under subsections 9 (a) and (b); or 10 (6) prevent a parent or user from authorizing 11 a third-party entity described in subparagraph (5) to 12 implement such safeguards or parental tools or pro- 13 vide similar or stronger protective capabilities for 14 minors, at the choice of the parent or user. 15 SEC. 104. DISCLOSURE. 16 (a) NOTICE.— 17 (1) REGISTRATION OR PURCHASE.—Prior to 18 registration or purchase of a covered platform by an 19 individual that the platform knows is a minor, the 20 platform shall provide clear, conspicuous, and easy- 21 to-understand— 22 (A) notice of the policies and practices of 23 the covered platform with respect to safeguards 24 for minors; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:59 May 21, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 24 •S 1748 IS (B) information about how to access the 1 safeguards and parental tools required under 2 section 103; and 3 (C) notice about how to access the infor- 4 mation on personalized recommendation sys- 5 tems required under subsection (b). 6 (2) NOTIFICATION.— 7 (A) NOTICE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT.—In 8 the case of an individual that a covered plat- 9 form knows is a child, the platform shall pro- 10 vide information about the parental tools and 11 safeguards required under section 103 to a par- 12 ent of the child and obtain verifiable consent 13 (as defined in section 1302 of the Children’s 14 Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 15 U.S.C. 6501)). 16 (B) REASONABLE EFFORT.—A covered 17 platform shall be deemed to have satisfied the 18 requirement described in subparagraph (A) if 19 the covered platform is in compliance with the 20 requirements of the Children’s Online Privacy 21 Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6501 et 22 seq.) to use reasonable efforts (taking into con- 23 sideration available technology) to provide a 24 parent with the information described in sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 25 •S 1748 IS paragraph (A) and to obtain verifiable consent 1 as required. 2 (3) CONSOLIDATED NOTICES.—For purposes of 3 this title, a covered platform may consolidate the 4 process for providing information under this sub- 5 section and obtaining verifiable consent or the con- 6 sent of the minor involved (as applicable) as re- 7 quired under this subsection with the obligations of 8 the covered platform to provide relevant notice and 9 obtain verifiable consent under the Children’s Online 10 Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6501 et 11 seq.). 12 (4) GUIDANCE.—The Federal Trade Commis- 13 sion may issue guidance to assist covered platforms 14 in complying with the specific notice requirements of 15 this subsection. 16 (b) PERSONALIZED RECOMMENDATION SYSTEM.—A 17 covered platform that operates a personalized rec- 18 ommendation system shall set out in its terms and condi- 19 tions, in a clear, conspicuous, and easy-to-understand 20 manner— 21 (1) an overview of how each personalized rec- 22 ommendation system is used by the covered platform 23 to provide information to minors, including how such 24 systems use the personal data of minors; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 26 •S 1748 IS (2) information about options for minors or 1 their parents to opt out of or control the personal- 2 ized recommendation system (as applicable). 3 (c) ADVERTISING AND MARKETING INFORMATION 4 AND LABELS.— 5 (1) INFORMATION AND LABELS.—A covered 6 platform shall provide clear, conspicuous, and easy- 7 to-understand labels and information, which can be 8 provided through a link to another web page or dis- 9 closure, to minors on advertisements regarding— 10 (A) the name of the product, service, or 11 brand and the subject matter of an advertise- 12 ment; and 13 (B) whether particular media displayed to 14 the minor is an advertisement or marketing ma- 15 terial, including disclosure of endorsements of 16 products, services, or brands made for commer- 17 cial consideration by other users of the plat- 18 form. 19 (2) GUIDANCE.—The Federal Trade Commis- 20 sion may issue guidance to assist covered platforms 21 in complying with the requirements of this sub- 22 section, including guidance about the minimum level 23 of information and labels for the disclosures required 24 under paragraph (1). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 27 •S 1748 IS (d) RESOURCES FOR PARENTS AND MINORS.—A cov- 1 ered platform shall provide to minors and parents clear, 2 conspicuous, easy-to-understand, and comprehensive infor- 3 mation in a prominent location, which may include a link 4 to a web page, regarding— 5 (1) the policies and practices of the covered 6 platform with respect to safeguards for minors; and 7 (2) how to access the safeguards and parental 8 tools required under section 103. 9 (e) RESOURCES IN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGES.—A 10 covered platform shall ensure, to the extent practicable, 11 that the disclosures required by this section are made 12 available in the same language, form, and manner as the 13 covered platform provides any product or service used by 14 minors and their parents. 15 SEC. 105. TRANSPARENCY. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), not less 17 frequently than once a year, a covered platform shall issue 18 a public report that addresses the matters in subsection 19 (c) based on an independent, third-party audit of the cov- 20 ered platform with a reasonable level of assurance. 21 (b) SCOPE OF APPLICATION.—The requirements of 22 this section shall apply to a covered platform if— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 28 •S 1748 IS (1) for the most recent calendar year, the plat- 1 form averaged more than 10,000,000 active users on 2 a monthly basis in the United States; and 3 (2) the platform predominantly provides a com- 4 munity forum for user-generated content and discus- 5 sion, including sharing videos, images, games, audio 6 files, discussion in a virtual setting, or other content, 7 such as acting as a social media platform, virtual re- 8 ality environment, or a social network service. 9 (c) CONTENT.— 10 (1) TRANSPARENCY.—The public reports re- 11 quired of a covered platform under this section shall 12 include— 13 (A) an assessment of the extent to which 14 the platform is likely to be accessed by minors; 15 (B) a description of the commercial inter- 16 ests of the covered platform being used by mi- 17 nors; 18 (C) an accounting, based on the data held 19 by the covered platform, of— 20 (i) the number of users using the cov- 21 ered platform that the platform knows to 22 be minors in the United States; 23 (ii) the median and mean amounts of 24 time spent on the platform by users known 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 29 •S 1748 IS to be minors in the United States who 1 have accessed the platform during the re- 2 porting year on a daily, weekly, and 3 monthly basis; and 4 (iii) the amount of content being 5 accessed by users that the platform knows 6 to be minors in the United States that is 7 in English, and the top 5 non-English lan- 8 guages used by users accessing the plat- 9 form in the United States; 10 (D) an accounting of total reports received 11 through the reporting mechanism described in 12 section 103, disaggregated by language, includ- 13 ing English and the top 5 non-English lan- 14 guages used by users accessing the platform 15 from the United States (as identified under 16 subparagraph (C)(iii)); and 17 (E) an assessment of the safeguards and 18 parental tools under section 103, representa- 19 tions regarding the use of the personal data of 20 minors, and other matters regarding compliance 21 with this title. 22 (2) EVALUATION.—The public reports required 23 under this section shall include— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 30 •S 1748 IS (A) an assessment based on aggregate data 1 on the exercise of safeguards and parental tools 2 described in section 103, and other competent 3 and reliable empirical evidence; 4 (B) a description of whether and how the 5 covered platform uses design features that in- 6 crease, sustain, or extend the use of a product 7 or service by a minor; 8 (C) a description of whether, how, and for 9 what purpose the platform collects or processes 10 categories of personal data, including how per- 11 sonal data is used to operate personalized rec- 12 ommendation systems related to minors; 13 (D) an evaluation of the efficacy of safe- 14 guards for minors and parental tools under sec- 15 tion 103, and any issues in delivering such safe- 16 guards and parental tools; and 17 (E) an assessment of differences, with re- 18 spect to the matters described in subparagraphs 19 (A) through (D), across different English and 20 non-English languages and efficacy of safe- 21 guards in those languages. 22 (3) MITIGATION.—The public reports required 23 of a covered platform under this section shall in- 24 clude, for English and the top 5 non-English lan- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 31 •S 1748 IS guages used by users accessing the platform from 1 the United States (as identified under paragraph 2 (2)(C)(iii))— 3 (A) a description of the safeguards and pa- 4 rental tools available to minors and parents on 5 the covered platform; 6 (B) a description of the prevention and 7 mitigation measures a covered platform may 8 take, if any, in response to the assessments con- 9 ducted under paragraph (2), including steps 10 take to provide the most protective level of con- 11 trol over safety by default; 12 (C) a description of the processes used for 13 the creation and implementation of any design 14 feature that will be used by minors; 15 (D) a description and assessment of han- 16 dling reports under the requirement of section 17 103(c), including the rate of response, timeli- 18 ness, and substantiveness of responses; and 19 (E) the status of implementing prevention 20 and mitigation measures identified in prior as- 21 sessments. 22 (d) REASONABLE INSPECTION.—In conducting an in- 23 spection of the reasonably foreseeable risk of harm to mi- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 32 •S 1748 IS nors under this section, an independent, third-party audi- 1 tor shall— 2 (1) take into consideration the function of per- 3 sonalized recommendation systems; 4 (2) consult parents and youth experts, including 5 youth and families with relevant past or current ex- 6 perience, public health and mental health nonprofit 7 organizations, health and development organizations, 8 and civil society with respect to the prevention of 9 harms to minors; 10 (3) conduct research based on experiences of 11 minors that use the covered platform, including re- 12 ports under section 103(c) and information provided 13 by law enforcement; 14 (4) take account of research, including research 15 regarding design features, marketing, or product in- 16 tegrity, industry best practices, or outside research; 17 (5) take into consideration indicia or inferences 18 of age of users, in addition to any self-declared in- 19 formation about the age of users; and 20 (6) take into consideration differences in risk of 21 reasonably foreseeable harms and effectiveness of 22 safeguards across English and non-English lan- 23 guages. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00032 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 33 •S 1748 IS (e) COOPERATION WITH INDEPENDENT, THIRD- 1 PARTY AUDIT.—To facilitate the report required by sub- 2 section (c), a covered platform shall— 3 (1) provide or otherwise make available to the 4 independent third-party conducting the audit all in- 5 formation and material in its possession, custody, or 6 control that is relevant to the audit; 7 (2) provide or otherwise make available to the 8 independent third-party conducting the audit access 9 to all network, systems, and assets relevant to the 10 audit; and 11 (3) disclose all relevant facts to the independent 12 third-party conducting the audit, and not misrepre- 13 sent in any manner, expressly or by implication, any 14 relevant fact. 15 (f) PRIVACY SAFEGUARDS.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—In issuing the public reports 17 required under this section, a covered platform shall 18 take steps to safeguard the privacy of its users, in- 19 cluding ensuring that data is presented in a de-iden- 20 tified, aggregated format such that it is not reason- 21 ably linkable to any user. 22 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This section 23 shall not be construed to require the disclosure of in- 24 formation that will lead to material vulnerabilities 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00033 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 34 •S 1748 IS for the privacy of users or the security of a covered 1 platform’s service or create a significant risk of the 2 violation of Federal or State law. 3 (3) DEFINITION OF DE-IDENTIFIED.—As used 4 in this subsection, the term ‘‘de-identified’’ means 5 data that does not identify and is not linked or rea- 6 sonably linkable to a device that is linked or reason- 7 ably linkable to an individual, regardless of whether 8 the information is aggregated. 9 (g) LOCATION.—The public reports required under 10 this section should be posted by a covered platform on an 11 easy to find location on a publicly available website. 12 SEC. 106. MARKET RESEARCH. 13 (a) PROHIBITION OF RESEARCH ON CHILDREN.—A 14 covered platform shall not, in the case of a user or visitor 15 that the covered platform knows is a child, conduct market 16 or product-focused research on such child. 17 (b) MARKET RESEARCH ON MINORS.—A covered 18 platform may not, in the case of a user or visitor that 19 the online platform knows is a minor, conduct market or 20 product-focused research on such minor, unless the cov- 21 ered platform obtains verifiable parental consent (as de- 22 fined in section 1302 of the Children’s Online Privacy Pro- 23 tection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6501)) prior to conducting 24 such research on such minor. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:59 May 21, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 35 •S 1748 IS SEC. 107. AGE VERIFICATION STUDY AND REPORT. 1 (a) STUDY.—The Secretary of Commerce, in coordi- 2 nation with the Federal Communications Commission and 3 the Federal Trade Commission, shall conduct a study eval- 4 uating the most technologically feasible methods and op- 5 tions for developing systems to verify age at the device 6 or operating system level. 7 (b) CONTENTS.—Such study shall consider— 8 (1) the benefits of creating a device or oper- 9 ating system level age verification system; 10 (2) what information may need to be collected 11 to create this type of age verification system; 12 (3) the accuracy of such systems and their im- 13 pact or steps to improve accessibility, including for 14 individuals with disabilities; 15 (4) how such a system or systems could verify 16 age while mitigating risks to user privacy and data 17 security and safeguarding minors’ personal data, 18 emphasizing minimizing the amount of data col- 19 lected and processed by covered platforms and age 20 verification providers for such a system; 21 (5) the technical feasibility, including the need 22 for potential hardware and software changes, includ- 23 ing for devices currently in commerce and owned by 24 consumers; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 36 •S 1748 IS (6) the impact of different age verification sys- 1 tems on competition, particularly the risk of dif- 2 ferent age verification systems creating barriers to 3 entry for small companies. 4 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 5 of enactment of this Act, the agencies described in sub- 6 section (a) shall submit a report containing the results of 7 the study conducted under such subsection to the Com- 8 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 9 Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 10 the House of Representatives. 11 SEC. 108. GUIDANCE. 12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 13 the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Trade Com- 14 mission shall issue guidance to— 15 (1) provide information and examples for cov- 16 ered platforms and auditors regarding the following, 17 with consideration given to differences across 18 English and non-English languages— 19 (A) identifying design features that en- 20 courage or increase the frequency, time spent, 21 or activity of minors on the covered platform; 22 (B) safeguarding minors against the pos- 23 sible misuse of parental tools; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 37 •S 1748 IS (C) best practices in providing minors and 1 parents the most protective level of control over 2 privacy and safety; 3 (D) using indicia or inferences of age of 4 users for assessing use of the covered platform 5 by minors; 6 (E) methods for evaluating the efficacy of 7 safeguards set forth in this title; and 8 (F) providing additional parental tool op- 9 tions that allow parents to address the harms 10 described in section 102(a); and 11 (2) outline conduct that does not have the pur- 12 pose or substantial effect of subverting or impairing 13 user autonomy, decision-making, or choice, or of 14 causing, increasing, or encouraging compulsive usage 15 for a minor, such as— 16 (A) de minimis user interface changes de- 17 rived from testing consumer preferences, includ- 18 ing different styles, layouts, or text, where such 19 changes are not done with the purpose of weak- 20 ening or disabling safeguards or parental tools; 21 (B) algorithms or data outputs outside the 22 control of a covered platform; and 23 (C) establishing default settings that pro- 24 vide enhanced privacy protection to users or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00037 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 38 •S 1748 IS otherwise enhance their autonomy and decision- 1 making ability. 2 (b) GUIDANCE ON KNOWLEDGE STANDARD.—Not 3 later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this 4 Act, the Federal Trade Commission shall issue guidance 5 to provide information, including best practices and exam- 6 ples, for covered platforms to understand how the Com- 7 mission would determine whether a covered platform ‘‘had 8 knowledge fairly implied on the basis of objective cir- 9 cumstances’’ for purposes of this title. 10 (c) LIMITATION ON FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 11 GUIDANCE.— 12 (1) EFFECT OF GUIDANCE.—No guidance 13 issued by the Federal Trade Commission with re- 14 spect to this title shall— 15 (A) confer any rights on any person, State, 16 or locality; or 17 (B) operate to bind the Federal Trade 18 Commission or any court, person, State, or lo- 19 cality to the approach recommended in such 20 guidance. 21 (2) USE IN ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS.—In any 22 enforcement action brought pursuant to this title, 23 the Federal Trade Commission or a State attorney 24 general, as applicable— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00038 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 39 •S 1748 IS (A) shall allege a violation of a provision of 1 this title; and 2 (B) may not base such enforcement action 3 on, or execute a consent order based on, prac- 4 tices that are alleged to be inconsistent with 5 guidance issued by the Federal Trade Commis- 6 sion with respect to this title, unless the prac- 7 tices are alleged to violate a provision of this 8 title. 9 For purposes of enforcing this title, State attorneys 10 general shall take into account any guidance issued 11 by the Commission under subsection (b). 12 SEC. 109. ENFORCEMENT. 13 (a) ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS- 14 SION.— 15 (1) UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC- 16 TICES.—A violation of this title shall be treated as 17 a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive 18 act or practice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) 19 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 20 57a(a)(1)(B)). 21 (2) POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.— 22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Trade 23 Commission (referred to in this section as the 24 ‘‘Commission’’) shall enforce this title in the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 40 •S 1748 IS same manner, by the same means, and with the 1 same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though 2 all applicable terms and provisions of the Fed- 3 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et 4 seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of 5 this title. 6 (B) PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES.—Any 7 person that violates this title shall be subject to 8 the penalties, and entitled to the privileges and 9 immunities, provided in the Federal Trade 10 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.). 11 (3) AUTHORITY PRESERVED.—Nothing in this 12 title shall be construed to limit the authority of the 13 Commission under any other provision of law. 14 (b) ENFORCEMENT BY STATE ATTORNEYS GEN- 15 ERAL.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.— 17 (A) CIVIL ACTIONS.—In any case in which 18 the attorney general of a State has reason to 19 believe that a covered platform has violated or 20 is violating section 103, 104, or 105, the State, 21 as parens patriae, may bring a civil action on 22 behalf of the residents of the State in a district 23 court of the United States or a State court of 24 appropriate jurisdiction to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 41 •S 1748 IS (i) enjoin any practice that violates 1 section 103, 104, or 105; 2 (ii) enforce compliance with section 3 103, 104, or 105; 4 (iii) on behalf of residents of the 5 State, obtain damages, restitution, or other 6 compensation, each of which shall be dis- 7 tributed in accordance with State law; or 8 (iv) obtain such other relief as the 9 court may consider to be appropriate. 10 (B) NOTICE.— 11 (i) IN GENERAL.—Before filing an ac- 12 tion under subparagraph (A), the attorney 13 general of the State involved shall provide 14 to the Commission— 15 (I) written notice of that action; 16 and 17 (II) a copy of the complaint for 18 that action. 19 (ii) EXEMPTION.— 20 (I) IN GENERAL.—Clause (i) 21 shall not apply with respect to the fil- 22 ing of an action by an attorney gen- 23 eral of a State under this paragraph 24 if the attorney general of the State 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 42 •S 1748 IS determines that it is not feasible to 1 provide the notice described in that 2 clause before the filing of the action. 3 (II) NOTIFICATION.—In an ac- 4 tion described in subclause (I), the at- 5 torney general of a State shall provide 6 notice and a copy of the complaint to 7 the Commission at the same time as 8 the attorney general files the action. 9 (2) INTERVENTION.— 10 (A) IN GENERAL.—On receiving notice 11 under paragraph (1)(B), the Commission shall 12 have the right to intervene in the action that is 13 the subject of the notice. 14 (B) EFFECT OF INTERVENTION.—If the 15 Commission intervenes in an action under para- 16 graph (1), it shall have the right— 17 (i) to remove the action to the appro- 18 priate United States district court; 19 (ii) to be heard with respect to any 20 matter that arises in that action; and 21 (iii) to file a petition for appeal. 22 (3) CONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of bringing 23 any civil action under paragraph (1), nothing in this 24 title shall be construed to prevent an attorney gen- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 43 •S 1748 IS eral of a State from exercising the powers conferred 1 on the attorney general by the laws of that State 2 to— 3 (A) conduct investigations; 4 (B) administer oaths or affirmations; or 5 (C) compel the attendance of witnesses or 6 the production of documentary and other evi- 7 dence. 8 (4) ACTIONS BY THE COMMISSION.—In any 9 case in which an action is instituted by or on behalf 10 of the Commission for violation of this title, no State 11 may, during the pendency of that action, institute a 12 separate action under paragraph (1) against any de- 13 fendant named in the complaint in the action insti- 14 tuted by or on behalf of the Commission for that 15 violation. 16 (5) VENUE; SERVICE OF PROCESS.— 17 (A) VENUE.—Any action brought under 18 paragraph (1) may be brought in— 19 (i) the district court of the United 20 States that meets applicable requirements 21 relating to venue under section 1391 of 22 title 28, United States Code; or 23 (ii) a State court of competent juris- 24 diction. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 44 •S 1748 IS (B) SERVICE OF PROCESS.—In an action 1 brought under paragraph (1) in a district court 2 of the United States, process may be served 3 wherever defendant— 4 (i) is an inhabitant; or 5 (ii) may be found. 6 (6) LIMITATION.—A violation of section 102 7 shall not form the basis of liability in any action 8 brought by the attorney general of a State under a 9 State law. 10 SEC. 110. KIDS ONLINE SAFETY COUNCIL. 11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a Kids 12 Online Safety Council (in this section referred to as the 13 ‘‘Council’’). 14 (b) DUTIES.—The duties of the Council shall be to 15 provide reports to Congress with recommendations and 16 advice on matters related to the safety of minors online. 17 The matters to be addressed by the Council shall in- 18 clude— 19 (1) identifying emerging or current risks of 20 harms to minors associated with online platforms; 21 (2) recommending measures and methods for 22 assessing, preventing, and mitigating harms to mi- 23 nors online; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00044 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 45 •S 1748 IS (3) recommending methods and themes for con- 1 ducting research regarding online harms to minors, 2 including in English and non-English languages; and 3 (4) recommending best practices and clear, con- 4 sensus-based technical standards for transparency 5 reports and audits, as required under this title, in- 6 cluding methods, criteria, and scope to promote 7 overall accountability. 8 (c) NUMBER AND APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS.— 9 The Council shall be comprised of 11 members, of whom— 10 (1) 3 members shall be appointed by the Presi- 11 dent, including— 12 (A) the Secretary of Commerce or a des- 13 ignee of the Secretary; and 14 (B) the Secretary of Health and Human 15 Services or a designee of the Secretary; 16 (2) 2 members shall be appointed by the Speak- 17 er of the House of Representatives; 18 (3) 2 members shall be appointed by the Minor- 19 ity Leader of the House of Representatives; 20 (4) 2 members shall be appointed by the Major- 21 ity Leader of the Senate; and 22 (5) 2 members shall be appointed by the Minor- 23 ity Leader of the Senate. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00045 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 46 •S 1748 IS (d) TIMING OF APPOINTMENTS.—Each of the ap- 1 pointments under subsection (c) shall be made not later 2 than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 3 (e) TERMS; VACANCIES.—Each member of the Coun- 4 cil shall be appointed for the life of the Council, and a 5 vacancy in the Council shall be filled in the manner in 6 which the original appointment was made. 7 (f) CHAIRPERSON; VICE CHAIRPERSON.—The Coun- 8 cil, once it has been fully appointed, shall select its own 9 Chair and Vice Chair. 10 (g) PARTICIPATION.—The Council shall consist of 1 11 member from each of the following: 12 (1) academic experts with specific expertise in 13 the prevention of online harms to minors; 14 (2) researchers with specific expertise in social 15 media studies; 16 (3) parents with demonstrated experience in 17 child online safety; 18 (4) youth representatives with demonstrated ex- 19 perience in child online safety; 20 (5) educators with demonstrated experience in 21 child online safety; 22 (6) representatives of online platforms; 23 (7) representatives of online video games; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 47 •S 1748 IS (8) State attorneys general or their designees 1 acting in State or local government; and 2 (9) representatives of communities of socially 3 disadvantaged individuals (as defined in section 8 of 4 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637)). 5 (h) REPORTS.— 6 (1) INTERIM REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 7 after the date of the initial meeting of the Council, 8 the Council shall submit to Congress an interim re- 9 port that includes a detailed summary of the work 10 of the Council and any preliminary findings of the 11 Council. 12 (2) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 3 years 13 after the date of the initial meeting of the Council, 14 the Council shall submit to Congress a final report 15 that includes— 16 (A) a detailed statement of the findings 17 and conclusions of the Council; 18 (B) dissenting opinions of any member of 19 the Council who does not support the findings 20 and conclusions referred to in subparagraph 21 (A); and 22 (C) any recommendations for legislative 23 and administrative actions to address online 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00047 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 48 •S 1748 IS safety for children and prevent harms to mi- 1 nors. 2 (i) TERMINATION.—The Council shall terminate not 3 later than 30 days after the submission of the final report 4 required under subsection (h)(2). 5 (j) NON-APPLICABILITY OF FACA.—The Kids On- 6 line Safety Council shall not be subject to chapter 10 of 7 title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the 8 ‘‘Federal Advisory Committee Act’’). 9 SEC. 111. EFFECTIVE DATE. 10 Except as otherwise provided in this title, this title 11 shall take effect on the date that is 18 months after the 12 date of enactment of this Act. 13 SEC. 112. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION AND OTHER MATTERS. 14 (a) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in 15 this title shall be construed to— 16 (1) preempt section 444 of the General Edu- 17 cation Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g, commonly 18 known as the ‘‘Family Educational Rights and Pri- 19 vacy Act of 1974’’) or other Federal or State laws 20 governing student privacy; 21 (2) preempt the Children’s Online Privacy Pro- 22 tection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.) or any 23 rule or regulation promulgated under such Act; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00048 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 49 •S 1748 IS (3) authorize any action that would conflict 1 with section 18(h) of the Federal Trade Commission 2 Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(h)); or 3 (4) expand, limit the scope, or alter the mean- 4 ing of section 230 of the Communications Act of 5 1934 (commonly known as ‘‘section 230 of the Com- 6 munications Decency Act of 1996’’) (47 U.S.C. 7 230). 8 (b) DETERMINATION OF ‘‘FAIRLY IMPLIED ON THE 9 BASIS OF OBJECTIVE CIRCUMSTANCES’’.—For purposes 10 of enforcing this title, in making a determination as to 11 whether covered platform has knowledge fairly implied on 12 the basis of objective circumstances that a specific user 13 is a minor, the Federal Trade Commission or a State at- 14 torney general shall rely on competent and reliable evi- 15 dence, taking into account the totality of the cir- 16 cumstances, including whether a reasonable and prudent 17 person under the circumstances would have known that 18 the user is a minor. 19 (c) PROTECTIONS FOR PRIVACY.—Nothing in this 20 title, including a determination described in subsection 21 (b), shall be construed to require— 22 (1) the affirmative collection of any personal 23 data with respect to the age of users that a covered 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 50 •S 1748 IS platform is not already collecting in the normal 1 course of business; or 2 (2) a covered platform to implement an age 3 gating or age verification functionality. 4 (d) COMPLIANCE.—Nothing in this title shall be con- 5 strued to restrict a covered platform’s ability to— 6 (1) cooperate with law enforcement agencies re- 7 garding activity that the covered platform reasonably 8 and in good faith believes may violate Federal, 9 State, or local laws, rules, or regulations; 10 (2) comply with a lawful civil, criminal, or regu- 11 latory inquiry, subpoena, or summons by Federal, 12 State, local, or other government authorities; 13 (3) investigate, establish, exercise, respond to, 14 or defend against legal claims; 15 (4) prevent, detect, protect against, or respond 16 to any security incident, identity theft, fraud, har- 17 assment, malicious or deceptive activity, or any ille- 18 gal activities; or 19 (5) investigate or report those responsible for 20 any action described in paragraph (4). 21 (e) APPLICATION TO VIDEO STREAMING SERVICES.— 22 A video streaming service shall be deemed to be in compli- 23 ance with this title if it predominantly consists of news, 24 sports, entertainment, or other video programming con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00050 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 51 •S 1748 IS tent that is preselected by the provider and not user-gen- 1 erated, and— 2 (1) any chat, comment, or interactive 3 functionality is provided incidental to, directly re- 4 lated to, or dependent on provision of such content; 5 and 6 (2) if such video streaming service requires ac- 7 count owner registration and is not predominantly 8 news or sports, the service includes the capability— 9 (A) to limit a minor’s access to the service, 10 which may utilize a system of age-rating; 11 (B) to limit the automatic playing of on- 12 demand content selected by a personalized rec- 13 ommendation system for an individual that the 14 service knows is a minor; 15 (C) for a parent to manage a minor’s pri- 16 vacy and account settings, and restrict pur- 17 chases and financial transactions by a minor, 18 where applicable; 19 (D) to provide an electronic point of con- 20 tact specific to matters described in this para- 21 graph; 22 (E) to offer a clear, conspicuous, and easy- 23 to-understand notice of its policies and prac- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00051 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 52 •S 1748 IS tices with respect to the capabilities described 1 in this paragraph; and 2 (F) when providing on-demand content, to 3 employ measures that safeguard against serving 4 advertising for narcotic drugs, cannabis prod- 5 ucts, tobacco products, gambling, or alcohol di- 6 rectly to the account or profile of an individual 7 that the service knows is a minor. 8 TITLE II—FILTER BUBBLE 9 TRANSPARENCY 10 SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS. 11 In this title: 12 (1) ALGORITHMIC RANKING SYSTEM.—The 13 term ‘‘algorithmic ranking system’’ means a com- 14 putational process, including one derived from algo- 15 rithmic decision-making, machine learning, statis- 16 tical analysis, or other data processing or artificial 17 intelligence techniques, used to determine the selec- 18 tion, order, relative prioritization, or relative promi- 19 nence of content from a set of information that is 20 provided to a user on an online platform, including 21 the ranking of search results, the provision of con- 22 tent recommendations, the display of social media 23 posts, or any other method of automated content se- 24 lection. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00052 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 53 •S 1748 IS (2) APPROXIMATE GEOLOCATION INFORMA- 1 TION.—The term ‘‘approximate geolocation informa- 2 tion’’ means information that identifies the location 3 of an individual, but with a precision of less than 5 4 miles. 5 (3) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 6 means the Federal Trade Commission. 7 (4) CONNECTED DEVICE.—The term ‘‘con- 8 nected device’’ means an electronic device that— 9 (A) is capable of connecting to the inter- 10 net, either directly or indirectly through a net- 11 work, to communicate information at the direc- 12 tion of an individual; 13 (B) has computer processing capabilities 14 for collecting, sending, receiving, or analyzing 15 data; and 16 (C) is primarily designed for or marketed 17 to consumers. 18 (5) INPUT-TRANSPARENT ALGORITHM.— 19 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘input-trans- 20 parent algorithm’’ means an algorithmic rank- 21 ing system that does not use the user-specific 22 data of a user to determine the selection, order, 23 relative prioritization, or relative prominence of 24 information that is furnished to such user on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 54 •S 1748 IS an online platform, unless the user-specific data 1 is expressly provided to the platform by the 2 user for such purpose. 3 (B) DATA EXPRESSLY PROVIDED TO THE 4 PLATFORM.—For purposes of subparagraph 5 (A), user-specific data that is provided by a 6 user for the express purpose of determining the 7 selection, order, relative prioritization, or rel- 8 ative prominence of information that is fur- 9 nished to such user on an online platform— 10 (i) includes user-supplied search 11 terms, filters, speech patterns (if provided 12 for the purpose of enabling the platform to 13 accept spoken input or selecting the lan- 14 guage in which the user interacts with the 15 platform), saved preferences, the resump- 16 tion of a previous search, and the current 17 precise geolocation information that is sup- 18 plied by the user; 19 (ii) includes the user’s current approx- 20 imate geolocation information; 21 (iii) includes data submitted to the 22 platform by the user that expresses the 23 user’s desire to receive particular informa- 24 tion, such as the social media profiles the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 55 •S 1748 IS user follows, the video channels the user 1 subscribes to, or other content or sources 2 of content on the platform the user has se- 3 lected; 4 (iv) does not include the history of the 5 connected device of the user, including the 6 history of web searches and browsing, pre- 7 vious geographical locations, physical activ- 8 ity, device interaction, and financial trans- 9 actions of the user; and 10 (v) does not include inferences about 11 the user or the connected device of the 12 user, without regard to whether such infer- 13 ences are based on data described in clause 14 (i) or (iii). 15 (6) ONLINE PLATFORM.— 16 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 17 graph (B), the term ‘‘online platform’’ means 18 any public-facing website, online service, online 19 application, or mobile application that predomi- 20 nantly provides a community forum for user- 21 generated content, such as sharing videos, im- 22 ages, games, audio files, or other content, in- 23 cluding a social media service, social network, 24 or virtual reality environment. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00055 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 56 •S 1748 IS (B) SCOPE.— 1 (i) INCIDENTAL CHAT FUNCTIONS.—A 2 website, online service, online application, 3 or mobile application is not an online plat- 4 form solely on the basis that it includes a 5 chat, comment, or other interactive func- 6 tion that is incidental to its predominant 7 purpose. 8 (ii) REVIEW SITES.—A website, online 9 service, online application, or mobile appli- 10 cation that has the predominant purpose of 11 providing travel reviews is not an online 12 platform. 13 (7) OPAQUE ALGORITHM.—The term ‘‘opaque 14 algorithm’’— 15 (A) means an algorithmic ranking system 16 that determines the selection, order, relative 17 prioritization, or relative prominence of infor- 18 mation that is furnished to such user on an on- 19 line platform based, in whole or part, on user- 20 specific data that was not expressly provided by 21 the user to the platform for such purpose; and 22 (B) does not include an algorithmic rank- 23 ing system used by an online platform if— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 57 •S 1748 IS (i) the only user-specific data (includ- 1 ing inferences about the user) that the sys- 2 tem uses is information relating to the age 3 of the user; and 4 (ii) such information is only used to 5 restrict the access of a user to content on 6 the basis that the individual is not old 7 enough to access such content. 8 (8) PRECISE GEOLOCATION INFORMATION.— 9 The term ‘‘precise geolocation information’’ means 10 geolocation information that identifies the location of 11 an individual to within a range of 5 miles or less. 12 (9) USER-SPECIFIC DATA.—The term ‘‘user- 13 specific data’’ means information relating to an indi- 14 vidual or a specific connected device that would not 15 necessarily be true of every individual or device. 16 SEC. 202. REQUIREMENT TO ALLOW USERS TO SEE 17 UNMANIPULATED CONTENT ON INTERNET 18 PLATFORMS. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date that is 1 20 year after the date of enactment of this Act, it shall be 21 unlawful for any person to operate an online platform that 22 uses an opaque algorithm unless the person complies with 23 the requirements of subsection (b). 24 (b) OPAQUE ALGORITHM REQUIREMENTS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00057 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 58 •S 1748 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—The requirements of this 1 subsection with respect to a person that operates an 2 online platform that uses an opaque algorithm are 3 the following: 4 (A) The person provides users of the plat- 5 form with the following notices: 6 (i) Notice that the platform uses an 7 opaque algorithm that uses user-specific 8 data to select the content the user sees. 9 Such notice shall be presented in a clear 10 and conspicuous manner on the platform 11 whenever the user interacts with an opaque 12 algorithm for the first time, and may be a 13 one-time notice that can be dismissed by 14 the user. 15 (ii) Notice, to be included in the terms 16 and conditions of the online platform, in a 17 clear, accessible, and easily comprehensible 18 manner that is to be updated whenever the 19 online platform makes a material change, 20 of— 21 (I) the most salient features, in- 22 puts, and parameters used by the al- 23 gorithm; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00058 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 59 •S 1748 IS (II) how any user-specific data 1 used by the algorithm is collected or 2 inferred about a user of the platform, 3 and the categories of such data; 4 (III) any options that the online 5 platform makes available for a user of 6 the platform to opt out or exercise op- 7 tions under subparagraph (B), modify 8 the profile of the user or to influence 9 the features, inputs, or parameters 10 used by the algorithm; and 11 (IV) any quantities, such as time 12 spent using a product or specific 13 measures of engagement or social 14 interaction, that the algorithm is de- 15 signed to optimize, as well as a gen- 16 eral description of the relative impor- 17 tance of each quantity for such rank- 18 ing. 19 (B) The online platform enables users to 20 easily switch between the opaque algorithm and 21 an input-transparent algorithm in their use of 22 the platform. 23 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 24 subsection shall be construed to require an online 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00059 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 60 •S 1748 IS platform to disclose any information, including data 1 or algorithms— 2 (A) relating to a trade secret or other pro- 3 tected intellectual property; 4 (B) that is confidential business informa- 5 tion; or 6 (C) that is privileged. 7 (3) PROHIBITION ON DIFFERENTIAL PRIC- 8 ING.—An online platform shall not deny, charge dif- 9 ferent prices or rates for, or condition the provision 10 of a service or product to a user based on the user’s 11 election to use an input-transparent algorithm in 12 their use of the platform, as provided under para- 13 graph (1)(B). 14 (4) SPECIAL RULE.—Notwithstanding para- 15 graphs (1) and (2), an online platform shall provide 16 the notice and opt-out described in paragraphs (1) 17 and (2) to the educational agency or institution (as 18 defined in section 444(a)(3) of the General Edu- 19 cation Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(3)), rath- 20 er than to the user, when the online platform is act- 21 ing on behalf of an educational agency or institution 22 (as so defined), subject to a written contract that 23 complies with the requirements of the Children’s On- 24 line Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00060 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 61 •S 1748 IS 1232g(a)(3)) and section 444 of the General Edu- 1 cation Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g) (commonly 2 known as the ‘‘Family Educational Rights and Pri- 3 vacy Act of 1974’’). 4 (c) ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS- 5 SION.— 6 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC- 7 TICES.—A violation of this section by an operator of 8 an online platform shall be treated as a violation of 9 a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice 10 prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal 11 Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). 12 (2) POWERS OF COMMISSION.— 13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Trade 14 Commission shall enforce this section in the 15 same manner, by the same means, and with the 16 same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though 17 all applicable terms and provisions of the Fed- 18 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et 19 seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of 20 this section. 21 (B) PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES.—Any 22 person who violates this section shall be subject 23 to the penalties and entitled to the privileges 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 62 •S 1748 IS and immunities provided in the Federal Trade 1 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.). 2 (C) AUTHORITY PRESERVED.—Nothing in 3 this section shall be construed to limit the au- 4 thority of the Commission under any other pro- 5 vision of law. 6 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION TO PRESERVE PER- 7 SONALIZED BLOCKS.—Nothing in this section shall be 8 construed to limit or prohibit an online platform’s ability 9 to, at the direction of an individual user or group of users, 10 restrict another user from searching for, finding, access- 11 ing, or interacting with such user’s or group’s account, 12 content, data, or online community. 13 TITLE III—RELATIONSHIP TO 14 STATE LAWS; SEVERABILITY 15 SEC. 301. RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAWS. 16 The provisions of this Act shall preempt any State 17 law, rule, or regulation only to the extent that such State 18 law, rule, or regulation conflicts with a provision of this 19 Act. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit a 20 State from enacting a law, rule, or regulation that pro- 21 vides greater protection to minors than the protection pro- 22 vided by the provisions of this Act. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00062 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 63 •S 1748 IS SEC. 302. SEVERABILITY. 1 If any provision of this Act, or an amendment made 2 by this Act, is determined to be unenforceable or invalid, 3 the remaining provisions of this Act and the amendments 4 made by this Act shall not be affected. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 May 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00063 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB