II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 419 

To require social media platforms to verify that all individuals who create 

an account on the platform are age 16 or older, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2023 

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

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To require social media platforms to verify that all individuals who create an account on the platform are age 

16 or older, 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 ‘‘Making Age5 Verification Technology Uniform, Robust, and Effective 

6 Act’’ or the ‘‘MATURE Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. REQUIRING SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS TO VERIFY 

8 THAT ACCOUNT HOLDERS ARE OF APPRO9 PRIATE AGE. 

10 (a) REQUIREMENT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub2 section (c), beginning on the date that is 6 months 

3 after the date of enactment of this Act, the operator 

4 of a social media platform shall not allow an indi5 vidual to create an account on the platform unless 

6 the individual is age 16 or older, as verified by the 

7 platform using an age verification process that 

8 meets the requirements specified in paragraph (2). 

9 (2) AGE VERIFICATION PROCESS REQUIRE10 MENTS.—The requirements specified in this para11 graph are, with respect to an age verification process 

12 and a social media platform, that the platform re13 quire any individual who attempts to create an ac14 count on the platform to provide the platform 

15 with— 

16 (A) the individual’s full legal name; 

17 (B) the individual’s date of birth; and 

18 (C) a scan, image, or upload of govern19 ment-issued identification of the individual that 

20 verifies the information required under subpara21 graphs (A) and (B). 

22 (b) USE OF DATA COLLECTED FOR AGE

23 VERIFICATION PURPOSES; DELETION OF DATA.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The operator of a social 

25 media platform shall not sell, transfer, or use any 


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1 information collected from an individual for the pur2 pose of verifying the individual’s identity and age for 

3 any other purpose. 

4 (2) DELETION OF DATA.—If an account on a 

5 social media platform is deleted (whether at the re6 quest of the account holder or otherwise), the oper7 ator of the social media platform shall delete any in8 formation collected from an individual for the pur9 pose of verifying the individual’s identity and age 

10 not later than 30 days after the date of such dele11 tion. 

12 (c) APPLICATION TO EXISTING ACCOUNTS.—The op13 erator of a social media platform may continue to allow 

14 an individual to maintain and use an account on the plat15 form without verifying that the individual is age 16 or 

16 older as required under subsection (a) if— 

17 (1) the account was created by the individual 

18 before the date that is 6 months after the date of 

19 enactment of this Act; and 

20 (2) no other individual uses the account. 

21 SEC. 3. FTC COMPLIANCE AUDITS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

23 date of enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than 

24 every 6 months thereafter, the Commission shall conduct 

25 an audit of each large social media platform by comparing 


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1 the age verification information associated with a ran2 domly selected sample of all accounts created on the plat3 form since the last audit was conducted under this section 

4 (or, in the case of the first audit conducted under this 

5 section, since the date that is 6 months after the date of 

6 enactment of this Act) to State and Federal records to 

7 confirm that the individuals creating such accounts are 

8 age 16 or older. 

9 (b) COMPLIANCE STANDARDS.—An operator of a 

10 large social media platform shall not be considered to be 

11 in violation of the requirements of section 2(a) if— 

12 (1) with respect to the first and second audits 

13 conducted under this section, the Commission deter14 mines that 90 percent of the accounts reviewed 

15 under the audit are accurate and in compliance with 

16 the requirements of such section; 

17 (2) with respect to the third and fourth audits 

18 conducted under this section, the Commission deter19 mines that 95 percent of the accounts reviewed 

20 under the audit are accurate and in compliance with 

21 the requirements of such section; and 

22 (3) with respect to the fifth audit and any sub23 sequent audit conducted under this section, the 

24 Commission determines that 100 percent of the acVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:43 Mar 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S419.IS S419

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1 counts reviewed under the audit are accurate and in 

2 compliance with the requirements of such section. 

3 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT. 

4 (a) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES.— 

5 A violation of section 2 shall be treated as a violation of 

6 a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice pre7 scribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade 

8 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). 

9 (b) POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall en11 force section 2 in the same manner, by the same 

12 means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and 

13 duties as though all applicable terms and provisions 

14 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 

15 et seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of 

16 this Act. 

17 (2) PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES.—Any person 

18 who violates section 2 shall be subject to the pen19 alties and entitled to the privileges and immunities 

20 provided in the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 

21 U.S.C. 41 et seq.). 

22 (3) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in this 

23 Act shall be construed to limit the authority of the 

24 Commission under any other provision of law. 

25 (c) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any parent or guardian of 

2 an individual less than 16 years of age to whom a 

3 social media account is provided in violation of this 

4 Act may bring a civil action against the social media 

5 company in an appropriate district court of the 

6 United States or a State court of competent jurisdic7 tion for— 

8 (A) injunctive relief; 

9 (B) damages; and 

10 (C) attorney’s fees and costs. 

11 (2) APPLICATION.—Paragraph (1) shall apply 

12 to any violation that occurs after the fourth audit 

13 described in section 3(b)(2). 

14 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

17 means the Federal Trade Commission. 

18 (2) GOVERNMENT-ISSUED IDENTIFICATION.— 

19 The term ‘‘government-issued identification’’ means, 

20 with respect to an individual, a government-issued 

21 document that demonstrates the individual’s identity 

22 and age, including— 

23 (A) a passport or visa; 

24 (B) a birth certificate; 

25 (C) a driver’s license; 


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1 (D) an identification card issued by a 

2 State; or 

3 (E) another document determined appro4 priate by the Commission. 

5 (3) SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM; LARGE SOCIAL

6 MEDIA PLATFORM.— 

7 (A) SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM.—The term 

8 ‘‘social media platform’’ means any electronic 

9 medium, such as Facebook, Instagram, 

10 YouTube, or Twitter (as such services existed 

11 in 2023), a live-chat system, or an electronic 

12 dating service that— 

13 (i) primarily serves as a medium for 

14 users to interact with original content gen15 erated by other third-party users of the 

16 medium; 

17 (ii) enables users to create accounts or 

18 profiles specific to the medium or to im19 port profiles from another medium; and 

20 (iii) enables 1 or more users to gen21 erate original content that can be viewed 

22 by other third-party users of the medium. 

23 (B) LARGE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM.— 

24 The term ‘‘large social media platform’’ means 

25 a social media platform that— 


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1 (i) averages more than 1,000,000 

2 unique users on a monthly basis; or 

3 (ii) has more than 1,000,000 user ac4 counts. 

5 (C) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘social media 

6 platform’’ shall not include a platform that only 

7 permits users to interact via a predetermined 

8 set of phrases, emoticons, or nonlinguistic sym9 bols. 

Æ 


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