I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 821 

To require providers of social media platforms to prohibit children under 

the age of 16 from accessing such social media platforms, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 2, 2023 

Mr. STEWART introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To require providers of social media platforms to prohibit 

children under the age of 16 from accessing such social 

media platforms, 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 ‘‘Social Media Child 

5 Protection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—A provider of a social media plat8 form— 


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1 (1) may not permit a child to access such social 

2 media platform; 

3 (2) may not permit any individual to access 

4 such social media platform unless such provider has 

5 verified the age of such individual by— 

6 (A) requiring such individual to provide a 

7 valid identity document issued by the Federal 

8 Government or a State or local government, 

9 such as a birth certificate, driver’s license, or 

10 passport; or 

11 (B) using another reasonable method of 

12 verification (taking into consideration available 

13 technology); and 

14 (3) shall establish and maintain reasonable pro15 cedures to protect the confidentiality, security, and 

16 integrity of the personal information of users and 

17 prospective users of such social media platform, 

18 which shall be consistent with the procedures re19 quired under section 1303(b)(1)(D) of the Children’s 

20 Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 

21 6502(b)(1)(D)). 

22 (b) ENFORCEMENT.— 

23 (1) ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL TRADE COM24 MISSION.— 


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1 (A) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC2 TICES.—A violation of this section shall be 

3 treated as a violation of a regulation under sec4 tion 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commis5 sion Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding 

6 unfair or deceptive acts or practices. 

7 (B) POWERS OF COMMISSION.—The Com8 mission shall enforce this section in the same 

9 manner, by the same means, and with the same 

10 jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all 

11 applicable terms and provisions of the Federal 

12 Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) 

13 were incorporated into and made a part of this 

14 section. Any person who violates this section 

15 shall be subject to the penalties and entitled to 

16 the privileges and immunities provided in the 

17 Federal Trade Commission Act. 

18 (2) ACTIONS BY STATES.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.— 

20 (i) CIVIL ACTIONS.—In any case in 

21 which the attorney general of a State has 

22 reason to believe that an interest of the 

23 residents of such State has been or is 

24 threatened or adversely affected by the en25 gagement of a provider of a social media 


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1 platform in an act or practice that violates 

2 this section, the State, as parens patriae, 

3 may bring a civil action on behalf of the 

4 residents of the State in a district court of 

5 the United States of appropriate jurisdic6 tion to— 

7 (I) enjoin such act or practice; 

8 (II) enforce compliance with this 

9 section; 

10 (III) obtain damages, restitution, 

11 or other compensation on behalf of 

12 residents of the State; or 

13 (IV) obtain such other relief as 

14 the court may consider to be appro15 priate. 

16 (ii) NOTICE.— 

17 (I) IN GENERAL.—Before filing 

18 an action under clause (i), the attor19 ney general of the State involved shall 

20 provide to the Commission— 

21 (aa) written notice of such 

22 action; and 

23 (bb) a copy of the complaint 

24 for such action. 

25 (II) EXEMPTION.— 


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1 (aa) IN GENERAL.—Sub2 clause (I) shall not apply with re3 spect to the filing of an action by 

4 an attorney general of a State 

5 under this subparagraph, if the 

6 attorney general determines that 

7 it is not feasible to provide the 

8 notice described in such sub9 clause before the filing of such 

10 action. 

11 (bb) NOTIFICATION.—In an 

12 action described in item (aa), the 

13 attorney general of a State shall 

14 provide notice and a copy of the 

15 complaint to the Commission at 

16 the same time as the attorney 

17 general files such action. 

18 (B) INTERVENTION.— 

19 (i) IN GENERAL.—On receiving notice 

20 under subparagraph (A)(ii), the Commis21 sion shall have the right to intervene in the 

22 action that is the subject of such notice. 

23 (ii) EFFECT OF INTERVENTION.—If 

24 the Commission intervenes in an action 


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1 under subparagraph (A), it shall have the 

2 right— 

3 (I) to be heard with respect to 

4 any matter that arises in such action; 

5 and 

6 (II) to file a petition for appeal. 

7 (C) CONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of 

8 bringing any civil action under subparagraph 

9 (A), nothing in this section shall be construed 

10 to prevent an attorney general of a State from 

11 exercising the powers conferred on the attorney 

12 general by the laws of that State to— 

13 (i) conduct investigations; 

14 (ii) administer oaths or affirmations; 

15 or 

16 (iii) compel the attendance of wit17 nesses or the production of documentary 

18 and other evidence. 

19 (3) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—A parent of a 

20 child injured by a violation of this section by a pro21 vider of a social media platform may bring in a dis22 trict court of the United States of appropriate juris23 diction a civil action to— 

24 (A) enjoin the violation; 


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1 (B) obtain compensatory damages and pu2 nitive damages; or 

3 (C) obtain such other relief as the court 

4 may consider to be appropriate. 

5 (c) REVIEW AND REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later 

6 than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this 

7 Act, the Commission shall— 

8 (1) review the implementation of this section, 

9 including the effects of the implementation of this 

10 section on providers of social media platforms, the 

11 efforts of the Commission to ensure such providers 

12 comply with this section and the successfulness of 

13 such efforts, any violations of this section by such 

14 providers, and the actions taken by such providers to 

15 verify the age and identity of users and prospective 

16 users of the social media platforms of such pro17 viders; and 

18 (2) submit to Congress a report on the results 

19 of the review described in paragraph (1). 

20 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

21 (1) ACCESS.—The term ‘‘access’’ means, with 

22 respect to a social media platform— 

23 (A) to establish an account on such social 

24 media platform; 


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1 (B) to create a profile on such social media 

2 platform; or 

3 (C) to create, share, or view user-generated 

4 content through such account or profile. 

5 (2) CHILD.—The term ‘‘child’’ means an indi6 vidual under the age of 16. 

7 (3) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

8 means the Federal Trade Commission. 

9 (4) PARENT.—The term ‘‘parent’’ has the 

10 meaning given such term in section 1302 of the 

11 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 

12 (15 U.S.C. 6501). 

13 (5) PERSONAL INFORMATION.—The term ‘‘per14 sonal information’’ means individually identifiable 

15 information about an individual collected online, in16 cluding— 

17 (A) a first and last name; 

18 (B) a home or other physical address, in19 cluding street name and name of a city or town; 

20 (C) an email address; 

21 (D) a telephone number; 

22 (E) a Social Security number; or 

23 (F) any other information the Commission 

24 determines permits the physical or online con25 tacting of a specific individual. 


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1 (6) SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘social media 

3 platform’’ means a website or other internet 

4 medium that does the following: 

5 (i) Permits a person to establish an 

6 account or create a profile for the purpose 

7 of allowing users to create, share, and view 

8 user-generated content through such ac9 count or profile. 

10 (ii) Enables 1 or more users to gen11 erate content that can be viewed by other 

12 users of such medium. 

13 (iii) Primarily serves as a medium for 

14 users to interact with content generated by 

15 other users of such medium. 

16 (B) INCLUSION.—The term ‘‘social media 

17 platform’’ includes Facebook, Twitter, 

18 Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. 

19 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each 

20 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 

21 each commonwealth, territory, or possession of the 

22 United States, and each federally recognized Indian 

23 Tribe. 


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1 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 

2 on the date that is 90 days after the date of the enactment 

3 of this Act. 

Æ 


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