HB 1430

                                                PRINTER'S NO.   1665
                THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
                    HOUSE BILL
                    No. 1430
                                          Session of
                                            2025
INTRODUCED BY MUNROE, CERRATO, HILL-EVANS, RABB, SANCHEZ, GIRAL,
   PROBST, STEELE, D. WILLIAMS, CARROLL, GREEN AND K.HARRIS,
   MAY 8, 2025
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY,
   MAY 8, 2025
                               AN ACT
1 Amending Title 50 (Mental Health) of the Pennsylvania
2    Consolidated Statutes, providing for protection of minors on
3    social media; and imposing penalties.
4    The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6    Section 1.    Title 50 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
7 Statutes is amended by adding parts to read:
8PART I
9PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
10(Reserved)
11PART II
12MINORS
13 Chapter
14    10.    Preliminary Provisions (Reserved)
15    11.    Protecting Minors on Social Media
16CHAPTER 10
17PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
1(Reserved)
2CHAPTER 11
3PROTECTING MINORS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
4 Subchapter
5    A.     General Provisions
6    B.     Hateful Conduct Prohibited
7    C.     Consent to Open an Account
8    D.     Data
9SUBCHAPTER A
10GENERAL PROVISIONS
11 Sec.
12 1101.   Scope of chapter.
13 1102.   Legislative intent.
14 1103.   Definitions.
15 § 1101.    Scope of chapter.
16    This chapter relates to protecting minors on social media.
17 § 1102.    Legislative intent.
18    The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
19(1)    Social media use among American teenagers is nearly
20    universal. According to the Pew Research Center, 95% of teens
21    report using YouTube and 67% of teens have used TikTok, with
22    16% using TikTok almost constantly.
23(2)    According to the Pew Research Center, 54% of teens
24    say it would be difficult to give up social media entirely.
25(3)    Social media use is linked to negative feelings
26    among teens. A growing body of research, described in the
27    International Journal of Adolescence and Youth and elsewhere,
28    has found that increased social media use is associated with
29    greater rates of depression and anxiety in teens. Additional
30    research published in the Children and Youth Services Review
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1  describes a trend in which social media use can trigger and
2  accelerate offline violence.
3      (4)   Rates of suicide and self-harm among American
4  teenagers have grown dramatically in recent years. The
5  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that, in
6  2021, three in five girls felt persistently sad and hopeless,
7  while more than one in four girls reported seriously
8  considering attempting suicide. These rates have increased
9  significantly since 2011.
10      (5)   Federal and State policymakers are beginning to
11  recognize the risks that social media use places on American
12  youth. A number of recent policy proposals provide parents
13  and guardians of teenagers with greater oversight over their
14  children's social media use.
15      (6)   In May 2023, the United States Surgeon General
16  released a health advisory finding that "more research is
17  needed to fully understand the impact of social media;
18  however, the current body of evidence indicates that while
19  social media may have benefits for some children and
20  adolescents, there are ample indicators that social media can
21  also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and
22  well-being of children and adolescents." The advisory
23  recommends a range of policies to consider, including
24  "policies that further limit access - in ways that minimize
25  the risk of harm - to social media for all children,
26  including strengthening and enforcing age minimums."
27      (7)   In addition to empowering parents and guardians to
28  protect children against these risks, policymakers are
29  establishing mechanisms to hold social media companies
30  accountable for harm to children and youth.
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1(8)   Greater oversight of social media platforms will
2    enable families in this Commonwealth to use online tools in a
3    more productive and healthy fashion.
4 § 1103.    Definitions.
5    The following words and phrases when used in this chapter
6 shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
7 context clearly indicates otherwise:
8    "Account."      Any means of registration by which an individual
9 may engage in one or more functions of a social media platform.
10    "Dark pattern."     A user interface designed or manipulated
11 with the effect of subverting or impairing user autonomy,
12 decision making or choice. The term includes any practice the
13 Federal Trade Commission categorizes as a dark pattern.
14    "Delete."     To remove personal information such that the
15 information is not retrievable by anyone and cannot be retrieved
16 in the normal course of business.
17    "Mine."      The activity or process of searching through large
18 amounts of information for specific data or patterns.
19    "Minor."     Except as provided in section 1131 (relating to
20 definitions), an individual who is under 16 years of age.
21    "Online video game."     A video game that connects to the
22 Internet and allows a user to do any of the following:
23(1)   Create and upload content other than content that is
24    incidental to game play, including character or level designs
25    created by the user, preselected phrases or short
26    interactions with other users.
27(2)   Engage in microtransactions within the game.
28(3)   Communicate with other users.
29    "Personal information."      As defined in 15 U.S.C. § 6501
30 (relating to definitions).
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1    "Personalized recommendation system."      A fully or partially
2 automated system that is based on a user's historical activity
3 data and which suggests, promotes or ranks information that is
4 presented or displayed to users.
5    "School entity."      A school district, intermediate unit, area
6 career and technical school, charter school or private
7 residential rehabilitative institution.
8    "Social media company."      A person that owns or operates one
9 or more social media platforms.
10    "Social media platform."      A public or semipublic Internet-
11 based service, application or online video game that has users
12 in this Commonwealth and that meets all of the following
13 criteria:
14(1)   A primary function of the service, application or
15    online video game is to connect users in order to allow users
16    to interact socially with each other within the service,
17    application or online video game, except that a service,
18    application or online video game that provides email or
19    direct messaging services, cloud computing or commercial
20    transactions shall not be considered to meet this criterion
21    solely on the basis of that function.
22(2)   The service, application or online video game allows
23    users to do all of the following:
24(i)     Construct a public or semipublic profile for
25purposes of signing into and using the service,
26application or online video game.
27(ii)     Populate a list of other users with whom an
28individual shares a social connection within the system.
29(iii)     Create or post content viewable by other
30users, including, but not limited to, on message boards,
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1in chat rooms or through a landing page or main feed that
2presents the user with content generated by other users.
3SUBCHAPTER B
4HATEFUL CONDUCT PROHIBITED
5 Sec.
6 1111.    Definitions.
7 1112.    Reporting incidents of hateful conduct.
8 1113.    Construction.
9 1114.    Penalties.
10 § 1111.    Definitions.
11    The following words and phrases when used in this subchapter
12 shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
13 context clearly indicates otherwise:
14    "Hateful conduct."      The use of a social media platform to
15 vilify, humiliate or incite violence against a group or a class
16 of persons on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnicity,
17 national origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender
18 identity or gender expression.
19 § 1112.    Reporting incidents of hateful conduct.
20    (a)    Mechanism.--A social media platform that conducts
21 business in this Commonwealth shall provide and maintain a clear
22 and easily accessible mechanism for individual users to report
23 incidents of hateful conduct. The mechanism shall meet all of
24 the following criteria:
25(1)   Be clearly accessible to users of the social media
26    platform and easily accessed from other social media
27    platforms' applications and Internet websites.
28(2)   Allow the social media platform to provide a direct
29    response to a user reporting an incident of hateful conduct
30    for the purpose of informing the user on how the matter is
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1    being resolved.
2    (b)    Policies.--A social media platform shall have a clear
3 and concise policy readily available and accessible on the
4 social media platform's Internet website and application, which
5 shall include how the social media platform will respond and
6 address reports of incidents of hateful conduct on the social
7 media platform.
8 § 1113.    Construction.
9    Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed:
10(1)   as an obligation imposed on a social media platform
11    that adversely affects the rights or freedoms of an
12    individual, including the exercise of the right of free
13    speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the
14    United States; or
15(2)   to add to or increase the liability of a social
16    media platform for any action other than the failure to
17    provide a mechanism for a user to report an incident of
18    hateful conduct to the social media platform and to receive a
19    response to the report from the social media platform.
20 § 1114.    Penalties.
21    The Attorney General shall impose a fine on a social media
22 company that knowingly violates the provisions of this
23 subchapter in an amount not to exceed $1,000 for each day the
24 social media platform is in violation of this subchapter. In
25 determining whether the social media platform is in violation of
26 this subchapter, the Attorney General may take proof, consider
27 the relevant facts and issue subpoenas in accordance with the
28 laws and rules of civil procedure. A determination by the
29 Attorney General under this section shall be subject to the
30 provisions of 2 Pa.C.S. Ch. 7 Subch. A (relating to judicial
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1 review of Commonwealth agency action).
2SUBCHAPTER C
3CONSENT TO OPEN AN ACCOUNT
4 Sec.
5 1121.    Applicability.
6 1122.    Age assurance.
7 1123.    Duties of social media platforms and companies.
8 1124.    Revocation of consent.
9 1125.    Violations.
10 § 1121.    Applicability.
11    This subchapter shall apply to accounts opened on or after
12 the effective date of this section.
13 § 1122.    Age assurance.
14    Utilizing commercially available best practices, a social
15 media company shall make commercially reasonable efforts to
16 verify the age of users upon the creation of an account, with a
17 level of certainty appropriate to the risks that arise from the
18 information management practices of the social media company, or
19 apply the accommodations afforded to minors under this chapter
20 to all account holders.
21 § 1123.    Duties of social media platforms and companies.
22    (a)    Required consent.--A social media company may not permit
23 a minor residing in this Commonwealth to become an account
24 holder on a social media platform unless the minor has the
25 express consent of the minor's parent or legal guardian. A
26 social media company may obtain express consent from a minor's
27 parent or legal guardian through any of the following means:
28(1)   By providing a completed form from a minor's parent
29    or legal guardian to sign and return to the social media
30    company via mail or electronic means.
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1(2)   Through a toll-free telephone number for a minor's
2    parent or legal guardian to call.
3(3)   Allowing a minor's parent or legal guardian to
4    provide consent by responding to an email.
5(4)   Any other commercially reasonable methods of
6    obtaining consent in light of available technology.
7    (b)   Documentation.--A social media company shall maintain
8 documentation as to the manner in which the social media company
9 has obtained express consent from a minor's parent or legal
10 guardian. The social media company may delete the documentation
11 when the minor is no longer a minor or within the established
12 time frame by the social media company for maintaining data. The
13 Office of Attorney General shall develop a standard form with
14 the necessary information to allow a minor's parent or legal
15 guardian to provide consent under this section.
16    (c)   Social media companies.--A social media company shall
17 post in a conspicuous place on each of the social media
18 company's social media platforms notice that express consent by
19 a minor's parent or legal guardian shall be required prior to
20 opening an account. An electronic consent form on a social media
21 platform for the purposes of this section shall include the
22 necessary information on the form developed by the Office of
23 Attorney General under subsection (b).
24    (d)   Failure to obtain consent.--To the extent possible, if a
25 minor opens a social media account without express consent by
26 the minor's parent or legal guardian, the social media company
27 shall, within a reasonable time after discovery of the failure
28 to obtain the express consent:
29(1)   suspend the social media account; and
30(2)   notify the minor's parent or legal guardian that the
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1    minor has attempted to open a social media account without
2    their consent.
3    (e)    Social media access.--To the extent possible, a social
4 media company shall provide a minor's parent or legal guardian
5 who has given express consent for the minor to become an account
6 holder with a means for the minor's parent or legal guardian to
7 initiate account supervision. Account supervision may include:
8(1)   allowing the minor's parent or legal guardian the
9    ability to view privacy settings of the minor's account; and
10(2)   allowing a minor the option of providing
11    notifications to the minor's parent or legal guardian if the
12    minor reports a person or an issue to the social media
13    platform.
14    (f)    Notification.--A social media platform shall provide
15 clear notice to the minor on the features of the minor's account
16 to which the minor's parent or legal guardian may have access.
17    (g)    No account required.--A social media platform may not
18 require a parent or legal guardian to have the parent or legal
19 guardian's own account as a condition of a minor being able to
20 open an account.
21    (h)    Notice of alleged violation.--A social media company
22 shall develop and post notice on its publicly accessible
23 Internet website of the methods, including electronic and
24 telephonic means, by which a minor's parent or legal guardian
25 may notify the social media company that the minor has opened a
26 social media account on its social media platform without the
27 required consent.
28 § 1124.    Revocation of consent.
29    (a)    Time.--A minor's parent or legal guardian who has
30 provided express consent under this subchapter may revoke the
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1 consent at any time.
2    (b)     Duties of social media company.--
3(1)   A social media company shall take reasonable steps
4    to provide a parent or legal guardian who has provided
5    express consent for a minor to open a social media account
6    with the ability to revoke the consent.
7(2)   A social media company that receives a revocation of
8    consent under subsection (a) shall, to the extent possible,
9    within a reasonable time frame from receipt of the
10    revocation, suspend, delete or disable the account of the
11    minor for whom consent was revoked.
12 § 1125.    Violations.
13    (a)     Action.--The Attorney General shall have jurisdiction to
14 bring an action against a social media company that knowingly,
15 intentionally or negligently allows for a minor to open a social
16 media account without express consent of the minor's parent or
17 legal guardian. The Attorney General may bring multiple cases at
18 one time against a social media company for violations of this
19 chapter.
20    (b)     Civil penalties.--
21(1)   For a first offense for an action brought on behalf
22    of a single minor, a civil penalty not to exceed $2,500.
23(2)   For a second offense for an action brought on behalf
24    of the same single minor under paragraph (1), a civil penalty
25    not to exceed $5,000.
26(3)   For a third or subsequent offense for an action
27    brought on behalf of the same single minor under paragraph
28    (1), a civil penalty not to exceed $50,000.
29(4)   For a first offense for an action brought on behalf
30    of multiple minors, a civil penalty not to exceed the greater
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1    of $5,000,000 or the total number of violations multiplied by
2    the maximum civil penalty under paragraph (1).
3(5)   If a court of competent jurisdiction determines that
4    there have been repeated intentional violations of this
5    chapter by a social media company, the court may enter an
6    order enjoining the social media company from operating in
7    this Commonwealth.
8    (c)    Use of recovered civil penalties.--Civil penalties
9 collected under subsection (b) shall be deposited into the
10 School Safety and Security Fund to be used exclusively for
11 mental health-related services for school entities.
12    (d)    Good faith.--It shall be a defense to an action under
13 subsection (a) if a social media company allows for the creation
14 or opening of an account for a minor based on a good faith
15 belief that the minor has obtained the express consent required
16 under this subchapter.
17SUBCHAPTER D
18DATA
19 Sec.
20 1131.    Definitions.
21 1132.    Prohibitions.
22 1133.    Violations.
23 1134.    Removal.
24 § 1131.    Definitions.
25    The following words and phrases when used in this subchapter
26 shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
27 context clearly indicates otherwise:
28    "Minor."     An individual who is under 18 years of age.
29    "Precise geolocation."     Data that is derived from a device
30 and used or intended to be used to locate a consumer within a
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1 geographic area that is equal to or less than the area of a
2 circle with a radius of 1,850 feet.
3    "Process" or "processing."      To conduct or direct an operation
4 or a set of operations performed, whether by manual or automated
5 means, on personal data or on sets of personal data, including
6 the collection, use, storage, disclosure, analysis, deletion,
7 modification or otherwise handling of personal data.
8    "Qualified individual."     Any of the following:
9(1)   A parent or guardian of a minor.
10(2)   An adult individual from whom data was collected
11    when the individual was a minor.
12    "Sale" or "sell."     The exchange of personal information for
13 monetary consideration by the business to a third party. The
14 term does not include:
15(1)   The disclosure of personal information to a
16    processor that processes the personal information on behalf
17    of the business.
18(2)   The disclosure of personal information to a third
19    party for purposes of providing a product or service
20    requested by the consumer.
21(3)   The disclosure or transfer of personal information
22    to an affiliate of the business.
23(4)   The disclosure of information that the consumer:
24(i)    intentionally made available to the general
25public via a channel of mass media; and
26(ii)    did not restrict to a specific audience.
27(5)   The disclosure or transfer of personal information
28    to a third party as an asset that is part of a merger,
29    acquisition, bankruptcy or other transaction in which the
30    third party assumes control of all or part of the business's
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1    assets.
2    "Targeted advertising."     The displaying of advertisements to
3 a consumer where the advertisement is selected based on personal
4 information obtained from that consumer's activities over time
5 and across nonaffiliated websites or online applications to
6 predict such consumer's preferences or interests. The term does
7 not include:
8(1)   advertisements based on activities within a social
9    media company's own websites or online applications;
10(2)   advertisements based on the context of a consumer's
11    current search query, visit to a website or online
12    application;
13(3)   advertisements directed to a consumer in response to
14    the consumer's request for information or feedback; or
15(4)   processing personal information processed solely for
16    measuring or reporting advertising performance, reach or
17    frequency.
18    "Third party."     An individual or legal entity, public
19 authority, agency or body, other than the consumer, business or
20 processor or an affiliate of the processor or the business.
21 § 1132.    Prohibitions.
22    (a)    Mining.--A social media company may not mine data
23 related to a minor who has opened a social media account,
24 notwithstanding if the account was opened with the express
25 consent of the minor's parent or legal guardian. This subsection
26 shall not apply to any of the following:
27(1)   Data regarding age and location for purposes of
28    personalized recommendations related to age-appropriate
29    content.
30(2)   The mining of data necessary to protect minors from
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1    viewing harmful content.
2(3)   Mining of data which is adequate, relevant and
3    reasonably necessary in relation to the purpose for which the
4    data is processed, as disclosed.
5    (b)   Sale of data.--A social media company may not sell or
6 profit from personal information related to a minor who has
7 opened a social media account, or engage in targeted advertising
8 based on a minor's age, gender or interests, notwithstanding if
9 the account was opened with the express consent of a minor's
10 parent or legal guardian.
11    (c)   Personalized recommendations.--A social media platform
12 may provide a prominent, accessible and responsive tool for a
13 user who is a minor to opt in to the use of search and watch
14 history for use in personalized recommendation systems. A social
15 media platform may not use a personalized recommendation system
16 unless a minor opts in.
17    (d)   Processing by default.--A social media platform may not
18 process the precise geolocation information of a minor by
19 default unless the processing of the precise geolocation
20 information:
21(1)   is strictly necessary for the social media company
22    to provide the service, product or feature requested by the
23    minor consumer; or
24(2)   is only for the amount of time necessary to provide
25    the service, product or feature.
26    (e)   Conspicuous signal.--A social media platform may not
27 process the precise geolocation information of a minor without
28 providing a conspicuous signal to the minor consumer for the
29 duration of the processing.
30    (f)   Dark patterns.--A social media platform may not use dark
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1 patterns.
2    (g)    Unknown adult contact.--A social media platform may not
3 permit, by default, an unknown adult to contact a minor consumer
4 on the social media platform without the minor consumer first
5 initiating the contact.
6 § 1133.    Violations.
7    (a)    Actions.--The Attorney General shall have jurisdiction
8 to bring an action against a social media company that
9 knowingly, intentionally or negligently violates a prohibition
10 under section 1132 (relating to prohibitions).
11    (b)    Civil penalties.--
12(1)   For a first offense for an action brought on behalf
13    of a single minor, a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000.
14(2)   For a second offense for an action brought on behalf
15    of the same single minor under paragraph (1), a civil penalty
16    not to exceed $50,000.
17(3)   For a third or subsequent offense for an action
18    brought on behalf of the same single minor under paragraph
19    (1), a civil penalty not to exceed $500,000.
20(4)   For a first offense for an action brought on behalf
21    of multiple minors, a civil penalty not to exceed the greater
22    of $50,000,000 or the total number of violations multiplied
23    by the maximum civil penalty under paragraph (1).
24(5)   For a violation of paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and (4),
25    a court of competent jurisdiction may order data collected as
26    a result of a violation of a prohibition under section 1132
27    to be scrubbed and removed from the Internet. The cost of
28    removal shall be paid by the social media company.
29(6)   If a court of competent jurisdiction determines that
30    there has been repeated intentional violations of a
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1    prohibition under section 1132 by a social media company, the
2    court may prohibit the social media company from operating
3    accounts for minors in this Commonwealth.
4    (c)    Use of recovered civil penalties.--Civil penalties
5 collected under this section shall be deposited into the School
6 Safety and Security Fund to be used for mental-health-related
7 services for school entities.
8    (d)    Good faith.--It shall be a defense to an action under
9 subsection (a) if a social media company takes good faith
10 actions to limit the personal information mined from a minor or
11 acts in good faith to prohibit the sale of personal information
12 of a minor.
13 § 1134.    Removal.
14    (a)    Process.--In response to a request from a qualified
15 individual, a social media platform shall provide the individual
16 the ability to correct or delete personal information that the
17 qualified individual has provided to the social media platform
18 or that the social media platform obtained about the qualified
19 individual. De-identified information may be considered deleted
20 for purposes of this subchapter.
21    (b)    Fulfilling requests.--To help fulfill requests from a
22 qualified individual, a social media platform may:
23(1)   require the qualified individual to reasonably
24    identify the activities to which the qualified individual's
25    request relates; and
26(2)   provide automated tools that allow qualified
27    individuals to correct or delete personal information under
28    subsection (a).
29    (c)    Notice.--A social media company that has mined or
30 collected personal information from a minor or retains personal
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1 information about a minor shall prominently display notice on
2 the website of how a qualified individual can request that the
3 social media platform delete the personal information in the
4 possession of the social media platform that was collected from
5 or about the individual when the individual was a minor.
6    (d)   Deletion.--Upon a request of a qualified individual, a
7 social media company shall, no later than 30 days after the
8 request, delete personal information in the possession of the
9 social media company that was mined or collected from or about
10 the individual when the individual was a minor.
11    (e)   Confirmation.--Within 90 business days of personal
12 information being deleted by the social media company, the
13 social media company shall provide, by written communication,
14 notice to the qualified individual that personal information has
15 been deleted.
16    (f)   Violations.--A social media company that fails to delete
17 personal information when a request to delete personal
18 information is made by a qualified individual shall be strictly
19 liable for a civil penalty of $10,000 per day per website until
20 the personal information has been removed. If a social media
21 company has received consent from a parent or guardian to
22 collect personal information of a minor, the consent shall be an
23 absolute defense to a violation of this section. The Attorney
24 General shall have exclusive jurisdiction to bring an action
25 under this section.
26    Section 2.   This act shall take effect in 18 months.
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