II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 564 

To permit parents to bring a civil action against social media companies 

that fail to provide parental access and data control rights with respect 

to the social media accounts of minor children, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2023 

Mr. HAWLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To permit parents to bring a civil action against social media 

companies that fail to provide parental access and data 

control rights with respect to the social media accounts 

of minor children, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Parental Data Rights 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PARENTAL SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT ACCESS. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) CONTACT INFORMATION.—The term ‘‘con2 tact information’’, with respect to an individual, 

3 means— 

4 (A) the full legal name of the individual; 

5 and 

6 (B) the email address of the individual. 

7 (2) COVERED INTERACTIVE COMPUTER SERV8 ICE.—The term ‘‘covered interactive computer serv9 ice’’ means an interactive computer service— 

10 (A) that is provided through a website, on11 line application, or mobile application (including 

12 a single interactive computer service that is pro13 vided through more than 1 such website or ap14 plication); 

15 (B) through which information provided by 

16 another information content provider is distrib17 uted; and 

18 (C) that enables an individual user to cre19 ate an account for the purpose of viewing, gen20 erating, or modifying content that can be 

21 viewed, shared, or otherwise interacted with by 

22 other third-party users of the interactive com23 puter service. 

24 (3) INFORMATION CONTENT PROVIDER; INTER25 ACTIVE COMPUTER SERVICE.—The terms ‘‘informaVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:58 Mar 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S564.IS S564

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1 tion content provider’’ and ‘‘interactive computer 

2 service’’ have the meanings given those terms in sec3 tion 230(f) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

4 U.S.C. 230(f)). 

5 (4) MINOR CHILD.—The term ‘‘minor child’’ 

6 means an individual who is younger than 18 years 

7 of age. 

8 (5) SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANY.—The term ‘‘social 

9 media company’’— 

10 (A) means an entity that provides, in or 

11 affecting interstate or foreign commerce, a cov12 ered interactive computer service; and 

13 (B) does not include an organization de14 scribed in section 501(c) of the Internal Rev15 enue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation 

16 under section 501(a) of such Code. 

17 (b) PARENTAL NOTIFICATION.—A social media com18 pany that permits a minor child to create an account with 

19 the social media company shall— 

20 (1) at the time the minor child creates the ac21 count, require the collection of the contact informa22 tion of a parent or guardian of that minor child; and 

23 (2) notify the parent or guardian, the contact 

24 information of whom is collected under paragraph 


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1 (1), regarding the creation of the account described 

2 in that paragraph. 

3 (c) LIABILITY.—A social media company shall be lia4 ble in accordance with this section to— 

5 (1) any individual who requests, and is denied 

6 access to, all data regarding the use, by a minor 

7 child in the custody of the individual, of the covered 

8 interactive computer service provided by the social 

9 media company; and 

10 (2) any individual who requests and is denied 

11 the ability to delete— 

12 (A) an account maintained with the social 

13 media company by a minor child in the custody 

14 of the individual; and 

15 (B) all data associated with the account 

16 described in subparagraph (A). 

17 (d) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—An individual who makes a 

19 request under subsection (c) (and who is entitled to 

20 have the applicable social media company take ac21 tion under that subsection in response to that re22 quest), may, if that request is denied by the social 

23 media company, bring a civil action against the so24 cial media company in an appropriate district court 


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1 of the United States, or in a State court of com2 petent jurisdiction, for— 

3 (A) injunctive relief; 

4 (B) punitive damages, with treble damages 

5 available if, because of the negligence or inac6 tion of that social media company, the indi7 vidual did not receive from that social media 

8 company a notification to which the individual 

9 was entitled under subsection (b)(2); and 

10 (C) attorney’s fees and costs. 

11 (2) AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE.—It shall be an af12 firmative defense to an action brought against a so13 cial media company under paragraph (1) that the 

14 social media company, at all relevant times— 

15 (A) took reasonable, affirmative steps to 

16 ascertain the age of each user of the covered 

17 interactive computer service provided by the so18 cial media company; and 

19 (B) did not know, and had no reason to 

20 know, that the user that is the subject of the 

21 action was a minor child when the user used 

22 the covered interactive computer service pro23 vided by the social media company. 

24 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.—This Act— 


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1 (1) shall take effect on the date that is 180 

2 days after the date of enactment of this Act; and 

3 (2) shall not apply to any use of a covered 

4 interactive computer service that occurred before the 

5 effective date described in paragraph (1). 

Æ 


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