II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1291 

To require that social media platforms verify the age of their users, prohibit 

the use of algorithmic recommendation systems on individuals under 

age 18, require parental or guardian consent for social media users 

under age 18, and prohibit users who are under age 13 from accessing 

social media platforms. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 26, 2023 

Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Mr. COTTON, Mr. MURPHY, and Mrs. BRITT) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To require that social media platforms verify the age of 

their users, prohibit the use of algorithmic recommendation systems on individuals under age 18, require parental or guardian consent for social media users under 

age 18, and prohibit users who are under age 13 from 

accessing social media platforms. 

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 ‘‘Protecting Kids on 

5 Social Media Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) ALGORITHMIC RECOMMENDATION SYS4 TEM.—The term ‘‘algorithmic recommendation sys5 tem’’ means a fully or partially automated system 

6 that suggests, promotes, or ranks information for, or 

7 presents advertising to, an individual. 

8 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

9 means the Federal Trade Commission. 

10 (3) INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘individual’’ means 

11 a social media platform user who habitually resides 

12 in the United States. 

13 (4) MINOR.—The term ‘‘minor’’ means an indi14 vidual who is at least 13 years of age but under 18 

15 years of age. 

16 (5) PERSONAL DATA.—The term ‘‘personal 

17 data’’ means information that identifies or is linked 

18 or reasonably linkable to an individual, household, or 

19 consumer device. 

20 (6) SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM.—The term ‘‘so21 cial media platform’’ means an online application or 

22 website that— 

23 (A) offers services to users in the United 

24 States; 

25 (B) allows users to create accounts to pub26 lish or distribute to the public or to other users 


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1 text, images, videos, or other forms of media 

2 content; and 

3 (C) provides the functions described in 

4 paragraph (B) other than in support of— 

5 (i) facilitating commercial trans6 actions; 

7 (ii) facilitating teleconferencing and 

8 videoconferencing features that are limited 

9 to certain participants in the teleconference 

10 or videoconference and are not posted pub11 licly or for broad distribution to other 

12 users; 

13 (iii) facilitating subscription-based 

14 content or newsletters; 

15 (iv) facilitating crowd-sourced content 

16 for reference guides such as encyclopedias 

17 and dictionaries; 

18 (v) providing cloud-based electronic 

19 storage, including cloud-based storage that 

20 allows collaborative editing by invited 

21 users; 

22 (vi) making video games available for 

23 play by users; 

24 (vii) reporting or disseminating news; 


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1 (viii) providing other kinds of infor2 mation concerning businesses, products, or 

3 travel information, including user reviews 

4 or rankings of such businesses, products, 

5 or other travel information; 

6 (ix) providing educational information 

7 or instruction on behalf of or in support of 

8 an elementary school or secondary school, 

9 as such terms are defined in section 8101 

10 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu11 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801); 

12 (x) facilitating electronic mail or di13 rect messaging between users (except for 

14 message boards or applications where users 

15 can add themselves to messaging groups 

16 consisting of large numbers of users) con17 sisting of text, photos, or videos that are 

18 not posted publicly and are visible only to 

19 the senders and recipients; or 

20 (xi) any other function that provides 

21 content to end users but does not allow the 

22 dissemination of user-generated content. 

23 SEC. 3. REASONABLE STEPS FOR AGE VERIFICATION. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—A social media platform shall take 

25 reasonable steps beyond merely requiring attestation, takVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 May 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1291.IS S1291

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1 ing into account existing age verification technologies, to 

2 verify the age of individuals who are account holders on 

3 the platform. 

4 (b) RESTRICTION ON USE AND RETENTION OF IN5 FORMATION.—A social media platform shall not— 

6 (1) use any information collected as part of the 

7 platform’s age verification process for any other pur8 pose; or 

9 (2) retain any information collected from a user 

10 as part of the age verification process except to the 

11 extent necessary to prove that the platform has 

12 taken reasonable steps to verify the age of the user. 

13 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec14 tion shall be construed to require a social media platform 

15 to require users to provide government-issued identifica16 tion for age verification. 

17 (d) EXISTING ACCOUNTS.—A social media platform 

18 shall not be required to verify the age of account holders 

19 on the platform for any account that, as of the date of 

20 enactment of this Act, has existed for 90 days or more, 

21 until 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act. 

22 (e) UNVERIFIED ACCOUNTS.—A social media plat23 form shall not permit an individual to create a user ac24 count (or continue to use an existing user account after 


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1 the date that is 2 years after the date of enactment of 

2 this Act) if the individual’s age has not been verified. 

3 (f) SAFE HARBOR.—A social media platform that, for 

4 age verification purposes, relies in good faith on informa5 tion provided by the Pilot Program described in section 

6 7 to verify the age of a user shall be deemed to have taken 

7 reasonable steps to verify the age of that user on the plat8 form. 

9 SEC. 4. NO CHILDREN UNDER 13. 

10 A social media platform shall not permit an individual 

11 to use the platform (other than merely viewing content, 

12 as long as such viewing does not involve logging in or 

13 interacting with the content or other users) unless the in14 dividual is known or reasonably believed to be age 13 or 

15 older according to the age verification process used by the 

16 platform. 

17 SEC. 5. PARENT OR GUARDIAN CONSENT FOR MINORS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—A social media platform shall take 

19 reasonable steps beyond merely requiring attestation, tak20 ing into account current parent or guardian relationship 

21 verification technologies and documentation, to require the 

22 affirmative consent of a parent or guardian to create an 

23 account for any individual who the social media platform 

24 knows or reasonably believes to be a minor according to 

25 the age verification process used by the platform. 


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1 (b) RESTRICTION ON USE AND RETENTION OF IN2 FORMATION.—A social media platform shall not— 

3 (1) use any information collected as part of the 

4 parent or guardian consent process for any other 

5 purpose; or 

6 (2) retain any information collected as part of 

7 the parent or guardian verification process except to 

8 the extent necessary to— 

9 (A) provide confirmation of the affirmative 

10 consent of a parent or guardian for a minor 

11 user to create an account; 

12 (B) preserve the ability of the parent or 

13 guardian to revoke such consent; and 

14 (C) prove that the platform has taken rea15 sonable steps to obtain the affirmative consent 

16 of a parent or guardian for a minor user to cre17 ate an account. 

18 (c) ABILITY TO REVOKE CONSENT.—A social media 

19 platform shall take reasonable steps to provide a parent 

20 or guardian who has consented to their child’s social 

21 media use with the ability to revoke such consent. 

22 (d) EFFECT OF REVOCATION OF CONSENT.—A social 

23 media platform that receives a revocation of consent under 

24 subsection (c) shall suspend, delete, or otherwise disable 


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1 the account of the minor user for whom consent was re2 voked. 

3 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec4 tion shall be construed to require a social media platform 

5 to require minor users or their parents or guardians to 

6 provide government-issued identification for relationship 

7 verification or the provision of affirmative consent to cre8 ate an account. 

9 (f) SAFE HARBOR.—A social media platform that, for 

10 parent or guardian relationship verification purposes, re11 lies in good faith on information provided by the Pilot Pro12 gram described in section 7 shall be deemed to have taken 

13 reasonable steps to verify the parent or guardian relation14 ship of the parent or guardian granting consent for a 

15 minor user to create an account under this section. 

16 SEC. 6. PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF ALGORITHMIC REC17 OMMENDATION SYSTEMS ON TEENS UNDER 

18 18. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—A social media platform shall not 

20 use the personal data of an individual in an algorithmic 

21 recommendation system unless the platform knows or rea22 sonably believes that the individual is age 18 or older ac23 cording to the age verification process used by the plat24 form. 


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1 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—The prohibition in 

2 subsection (a) shall not be construed to prevent the sug3 gestion of information or provision of advertising to an 

4 individual based on context where the information or ad5 vertising is related to the content being viewed by the indi6 vidual, as long as such information is suggested or adver7 tising is provided solely based on context and is not tar8 geted or recommended based on personal data of the indi9 vidual. 

10 SEC. 7. SECURE DIGITAL IDENTIFICATION CREDENTIAL 

11 PILOT PROGRAM. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 

13 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce 

14 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall estab15 lish a pilot program (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Pilot 

16 Program’’) for providing a secure digital identification cre17 dential to individuals who are citizens and lawful residents 

18 of the United States at no cost to the individual. 

19 (b) PILOT PROGRAM PARAMETERS.—The Pilot Pro20 gram shall do the following: 

21 (1) Allow individuals to verify their age, or their 

22 parent or guardian relationship with a minor user, 

23 by uploading copies of government-issued and other 

24 forms of identification (such as records issued by an 

25 educational institution), or by validating the authenVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 May 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1291.IS S1291

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1 ticity of identity information provided by the indi2 vidual using electronic records of State departments 

3 of motor vehicles, the Internal Revenue Service, the 

4 Social Security Administration, State agencies re5 sponsible for vital records, or other governmental or 

6 professional records providers that the Secretary de7 termines are able to reliably assist in the verification 

8 of identity information. 

9 (2) Meet or exceed the highest cybersecurity 

10 standards expected of secure consumer products 

11 such as financial or healthcare records or that are 

12 required to obtain access to government systems. 

13 (3) Provide users with the ability to— 

14 (A) obtain a secure digital identification 

15 credential that they may use to verify their age 

16 or parent or guardian relationship with enrolled 

17 social media platforms; and 

18 (B) control what data they choose to allow 

19 the pilot program to share with a social media 

20 platform, without sharing copies of the under21 lying verification documents or any information 

22 that the user does not affirmatively agree to 

23 share with those social media platforms. 


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1 (4) Not retain copies of underlying govern2 mental records after verifying the information pro3 vided by the user. 

4 (5) Provide users with the ability to disable or 

5 delete their secure digital identification credential 

6 and any associated records kept by the Pilot Pro7 gram at any time. 

8 (6) Keep no records of the social media plat9 forms where users have verified their identity using 

10 a secure digital identification credential, other than 

11 aggregate data that is anonymized so that it cannot 

12 be linked to individual users. 

13 (c) ACCESS.—Information regarding individual users 

14 of the Pilot Program shall be confidential, and no officer 

15 or employee of the United States, or any other person who 

16 has or had access to such information due to their involve17 ment with the Pilot Program, shall disclose any such infor18 mation to any entity, including law enforcement agencies, 

19 except— 

20 (1) with the consent of the user; 

21 (2) in connection with oversight by an Inspector 

22 General related to the proper implementation of this 

23 Act; 


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1 (3) in connection with an investigation into a 

2 user for committing fraud against the Pilot Pro3 gram; or 

4 (4) pursuant to a court order. 

5 (d) VOLUNTARY PROGRAM.—The Pilot Program de6 scribed in subsection (a) shall be voluntary, and nothing 

7 in this Act shall be construed to require any individual 

8 or social media platform to use the Pilot Program. 

9 (e) SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM ENROLLMENT.— 

10 (1) The Secretary may establish regulations for 

11 social media platform enrollment in the Pilot Pro12 gram to ensure that enrolled social media platforms 

13 employ appropriate privacy and technical protections 

14 sufficient to prevent the abuse or improper release 

15 of Pilot Program information relating to individual 

16 users. 

17 (2) The Secretary may revoke the enrollment of 

18 any social media platform to protect the integrity 

19 and security of the Pilot Program information. 

20 (f) AUTHORITY TO ENTER AGREEMENTS.—The Sec21 retary shall have the authority to enter into memoranda 

22 of agreement with Federal, State, tribal, or nongovern23 mental entities, including entering into contracts with pri24 vate identity verification technology providers, to facilitate 

25 the establishment and operation of the Pilot Program. 


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1 (g) DESIGN REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

2 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec3 retary shall submit to the Committee on Commerce of the 

4 Senate, the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, 

5 the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 

6 of Representatives, and the Committee on Appropriations 

7 of the House of Representatives, a report outlining the 

8 proposed design of the Pilot Program, including estimated 

9 costs and the identification of any legal or other barriers 

10 identified as impeding the creation and functioning of the 

11 Pilot Program. 

12 (h) ALLOWABLE USE.—The Pilot Program shall be 

13 used only to establish online age verification and parental 

14 consent for purposes of social media platform participa15 tion, and may not be used to establish eligibility for any 

16 government benefit or legal status. 

17 (i) SUNSET.—The Pilot Program shall end on the 

18 later of— 

19 (1) September 30 of the eighth year that begins 

20 after the date of enactment of this Act; and 

21 (2) September 30 of the fifth year that begins 

22 after the date on which the Pilot Program begins 

23 providing secure digital identification credentials to 

24 individuals. 


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1 (j) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to be ap2 propriated to the Secretary such sums as may be nec3 essary to carry out the provisions of this section. 

4 SEC. 8. ENFORCEMENT. 

5 (a) ENFORCEMENT BY COMMISSION.— 

6 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC7 TICES.—A violation of this Act by a social media 

8 platform shall be treated as a violation of a rule de9 fining an unfair or deceptive act or practice pre10 scribed 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.—Except as provided in 

14 subparagraph (C), the Commission shall enforce 

15 this Act in the same manner, by the same 

16 means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, 

17 and duties as though all applicable terms and 

18 provisions of the Federal Trade Commission 

19 Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incorporated 

20 into and made a part of this Act. 

21 (B) PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES.—Ex22 cept as provided in subparagraph (C), any per23 son who violates this Act shall be subject to the 

24 penalties and entitled to the privileges and imVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 May 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1291.IS S1291

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1 munities provided in the Federal Trade Com2 mission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.). 

3 (C) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS AND COM4 MON CARRIERS.—Notwithstanding section 4 or 

5 5(a)(2) of the Federal Trade Commission Act 

6 (15 U.S.C. 44, 45(a)(2)) or any jurisdictional 

7 limitation of the Commission, the Commission 

8 shall also enforce this Act, in the same manner 

9 provided in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this 

10 paragraph, with respect to— 

11 (i) organizations not organized to 

12 carry on business for their own profit or 

13 that of their members; and 

14 (ii) common carriers subject to the 

15 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

16 151 et seq.). 

17 (b) ENFORCEMENT BY STATES.— 

18 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—Subject to paragraph 

19 (3), in any case in which the attorney general of a 

20 State has reason to believe that an interest of the 

21 residents of the State has been or is threatened or 

22 adversely affected by the engagement of a social 

23 media platform in a practice that violates this Act, 

24 the attorney general of the State may, as parens 

25 patriae, bring a civil action against the online service 


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1 provider or person on behalf of the residents of the 

2 State in an appropriate district court of the United 

3 States to obtain appropriate relief, including civil 

4 penalties in the amount determined under paragraph 

5 (2). 

6 (2) CIVIL PENALTIES.—A social media platform 

7 that is found, in an action brought under paragraph 

8 (1), to have knowingly or repeatedly violated sections 

9 this Act shall, in addition to any other penalty other10 wise applicable to a violation of this Act, be liable 

11 for a civil penalty equal to the amount calculated by 

12 multiplying— 

13 (A) the greater of— 

14 (i) the number of days during which 

15 the social media platform was not in com16 pliance with that section; or 

17 (ii) the number of end users who were 

18 harmed as a result of the violation; by 

19 (B) an amount not to exceed the maximum 

20 civil penalty for which a person, partnership, or 

21 corporation may be liable under section 

22 5(m)(1)(A) of the Federal Trade Commission 

23 Act (15 U.S.C. 45(m)(1)(A)) (including any ad24 justments for inflation). 


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1 (3) RIGHTS OF FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS2 SION.— 

3 (A) NOTICE TO FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS4 SION.— 

5 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

6 in clause (iii), the attorney general of a 

7 State shall notify the Commission in writ8 ing that the attorney general intends to 

9 bring a civil action under paragraph (1) 

10 before initiating the civil action. 

11 (ii) CONTENTS.—The notification re12 quired under clause (i) with respect to a 

13 civil action shall include a copy of the com14 plaint to be filed to initiate the civil action. 

15 (iii) EXCEPTION.—If it is not feasible 

16 for the attorney general of a State to pro17 vide the notification required under clause 

18 (i) before initiating a civil action under 

19 paragraph (1), the attorney general shall 

20 notify the Commission immediately upon 

21 instituting the civil action. 

22 (B) INTERVENTION BY FEDERAL TRADE

23 COMMISSION.—The Commission may— 


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1 (i) intervene in any civil action 

2 brought by the attorney general of a State 

3 under paragraph (1); and 

4 (ii) upon intervening— 

5 (I) be heard on all matters aris6 ing in the civil action; and 

7 (II) file petitions for appeal of a 

8 decision in the civil action. 

9 (4) INVESTIGATORY POWERS.—Nothing in this 

10 subsection may be construed to prevent the attorney 

11 general of a State from exercising the powers con12 ferred on the attorney general by the laws of the 

13 State to— 

14 (A) conduct investigations; 

15 (B) administer oaths or affirmations; or 

16 (C) compel the attendance of witnesses or 

17 the production of documentary or other evi18 dence. 

19 (5) PREEMPTIVE ACTION BY FEDERAL TRADE

20 COMMISSION.—If the Commission institutes a civil 

21 action or an administrative action with respect to a 

22 violation of this Act, the attorney general of a State 

23 may not, during the pendency of the action, bring a 

24 civil action under paragraph (1) against any defend25 ant named in the complaint of the Commission 


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1 based on the same set of facts giving rise to the al2 leged violation with respect to which the Commission 

3 instituted the action. 

4 (6) VENUE; SERVICE OF PROCESS.— 

5 (A) VENUE.—Any action brought under 

6 paragraph (1) may be brought in— 

7 (i) the district court of the United 

8 States that meets applicable requirements 

9 relating to venue under section 1391 of 

10 title 28, United States Code; or 

11 (ii) another court of competent juris12 diction. 

13 (B) SERVICE OF PROCESS.—In an action 

14 brought under paragraph (1), process may be 

15 served in any district in which the defendant— 

16 (i) is an inhabitant; or 

17 (ii) may be found. 

18 (7) ACTIONS BY OTHER STATE OFFICIALS.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—In addition to civil ac20 tions brought by attorneys general under para21 graph (1), any other consumer protection offi22 cer of a State who is authorized by the State 

23 to do so may bring a civil action under para24 graph (1), subject to the same requirements 


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1 and limitations that apply under this subsection 

2 to civil actions brought by attorneys general. 

3 (B) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this 

4 subsection may be construed to prohibit an au5 thorized official of a State from initiating or 

6 continuing any proceeding in a court of the 

7 State for a violation of any civil or criminal law 

8 of the State. 

9 (c) EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION.—There is 

10 extraterritorial jurisdiction over any violation of this Act 

11 if such violation involves an individual in the United 

12 States or if any act in furtherance of the violation was 

13 committed in the United States. 

14 SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

15 This Act shall take effect 1 year after the date of 

16 enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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