SB2316 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 10825 SPS 20906 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
SB2316

Introduced 2/7/2025, by Sen. Laura Ellman

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Parental Consent for Social Media Act. Provides that a social media company shall not permit an Illinois user who is a minor to be an account holder on the social media company's social media platform unless the minor has the express consent of a parent or legal guardian. Provides that a social media company shall verify the age of an account holder using a third-party vendor to perform reasonable age verification before allowing access to the social media company's social media platform. Provides that a social media company shall not permit an Illinois user who is a minor to access the social media platform between the hours of 10 p.m. through 6 a.m. Sets forth provisions concerning liability for social media companies and liability for commercial entities or third-party vendors.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning business.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Parental Consent for Social Media Act.

Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Account holder" means an individual who creates an account or a profile to use a social media platform.

"Commercial entity" means a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, limited partnership, sole proprietorship, or other legally recognized entity. "Commercial entity" includes a third-party vendor.

"Illinois user" means a resident of Illinois who accesses or attempts to access a social media platform while present in Illinois by accessing the social media platform using an Illinois Internet protocol address or is otherwise known or believed to be in Illinois while using the social media platform.

"Minor" means an individual under 18 years of age.

"Reasonable age verification" means to confirm that a person seeking to access a social media platform is at least 18 years old.

"Social media company" means a media company that designs an online forum for an account holder to:

(1) create a public profile, establish an account, or register as a user for the primary purpose of interacting socially with other profiles and accounts;

(2) upload or create posts or content;

(3) view posts or content of other account holders; and

(4) interact with other account holders or users, including, without limitation, establishing mutual connections through request and acceptance.

"Social media company" does not include:

(1) a media company that exclusively offers subscription content to which users follow or subscribe unilaterally and whose platforms' primary purpose is not social interaction, unless that media company allows a user to generate short video clips of dancing, voice overs, or other acts of entertainment in which the primary purpose is not educational or informative;

(2) a media company that exclusively offers interacting gaming, virtual gaming, or an online service, that allows the creation and uploading of content for the purpose of interacting gaming, entertainment, or associated entertainment, and the communication related to that content;

(3) a company that:

(A) offers cloud storage services, enterprise cybersecurity services, educational devices, or enterprise collaboration tools for K-12 schools; and

(B) derives less than 25% of the company's revenue from operating a social media platform, including games and advertising; or

(4) a company that provides career development opportunities, including professional networking, job skills, learning certifications, and job posting and application services.

"Social media platform" means a public or semi-public Internet-based service or application that has users in Illinois and on which a substantial function of the service or application is to connect users in order to allow users to interact socially with each other within the service or application. A service or application that provides email or direct messaging shall not be considered to a "social media platform" on the basis of that function alone.

"Social media platform" does not include an online service, a website, or an application if the predominant or exclusive function is:

(1) email;

(2) direct messaging consisting of messages, photos, or videos that are sent between devices by electronic means if messages are:

(A) shared between the sender and the recipient or recipients;

(B) only visible to the sender and the recipient or recipients; and

(C) are not posted publicly;

(3) a streaming service that:

(A) provides only licensed media in a continuous flow from the service, website, or application to the end user; and

(B) does not obtain a license to the media from a user or account holder by agreement of the streaming service's terms of service;

(4) providing news, sports, entertainment, or other content that is preselected by the provider and not user generated, including, without limitation, if any chat, comment, or interactive functionality that is provided is incidental to, directly related to, or dependent upon provision of the content;

(5) online shopping or e-commerce, if the interaction with other users or account holders is generally limited to:

(A) the ability to post and comment on reviews;

(B) the ability to display lists or collections of goods for sale or wish lists; and

(C) other functions that are focused on online shopping or e-commerce rather than interaction between users or account holders;

(6) business-to-business software that is not accessible to the general public;

(7) cloud storage;

(8) shared document collaboration;

(9) providing access to or interacting with data visualization platforms, libraries, or hubs;

(10) permitting comments on a digital news website, if the news content is posted only by the provider of the digital news website;

(11) providing or obtaining technical support for a social media company's platform, products, or services;

(12) academic or scholarly research; and

(13) other research if the majority of the content is posted or created by the provider of the online service, website, or application and the ability to chat, comment, or interact with other users is directly related to the provider's content:

(A) that is a classified advertising service that only permits the sale of goods and prohibits the solicitation of personal services; or

(B) that is used by and under the direction of an educational entity, including, without limitation:

(i) a learning management system;

(ii) a student engagement program; and

(iii) a subject-specific or skill-specific program.

"Social media platform" does not include a social media platform that is controlled by a business entity that has generated less than $100,000,000 in annual gross revenue.

"User" means a person who has access to view all or some of the posts and content on a social media platform but is not an account holder.

Section 10. Social media platforms; reasonable age verification methods and parental consent required.

(a) A social media company shall not permit an Illinois user who is a minor to be an account holder on the social media company's social media platform unless the minor has the express consent of a parent or legal guardian.

(b) A social media company shall verify the age of an account holder. If an account holder is a minor, the social media company shall confirm that a minor has consent under subsection (a) to become a new account holder at the time an Illinois user opens the account.

(c) A social media company shall use a third-party vendor to perform reasonable age verification before allowing access to the social media company's social media platform. Reasonable age verification methods shall include providing:

(1) government-issued identification; or

(2) any commercially reasonable age verification method.

Section 15. Platform accessibility for minors. A social media company shall not permit an Illinois user who is a minor to access the social media platform between the hours of 10 p.m. through 6 a.m.

Section 20. Liability for social media companies.

(a) A social media company that knowingly violates this Act is liable if the social media company fails to:

(1) perform a reasonable age verification;

(2) obtain parental consent for a minor user; or

(3) abide by the accessibility for minors provision in Section 15.

(b) The Attorney General may conduct an investigation of an alleged violation of this Act and initiate an enforcement action against a social media company on behalf of the State to assess civil penalties.

(c) A social media company that is found to have violated this Act shall be liable for a civil penalty, to be assessed by a court of competent jurisdiction, of not more than $2,500 per violation and court costs and reasonable attorney's fees as ordered by the court.

(d) This Section does not:

(1) apply to a news or public interest broadcast, website video, report, or event;

(3) apply to cloud service providers; or

(2) affect the rights of a news-gathering organization.

(e) An Internet service provider, or any of its affiliates or subsidiaries, or search engines, does not violate this Act solely by providing access, connection to or from a website, or other information or content on the Internet, or a facility, system, or network that is not under that Internet service provider's control, including transmission, downloading, intermediate storage, access software, or other service that provides access or connectivity, to the extent the Internet service provider is not responsible for the creation of the content or the communication on a social media platform.

Section 25. Liability for commercial entities or third-party vendors.

(a) A commercial entity or third-party vendor shall not retain any identifying information of an individual after access to the social media platform has been granted.

(b) The Attorney General may conduct an investigation of an alleged violation of this Act and initiate an enforcement action against a commercial entity or third-party vendor on behalf of the State to assess civil penalties.

(c) A commercial entity or third-party vendor that is found to have knowingly retained identifying information of an individual after access to the material is granted shall be liable for a civil penalty, to be assessed by a court of competent jurisdiction, of not more than $2,500 per violation and court costs and reasonable attorney's fees as ordered by the court.