§ 42-528 — Social media platforms and minors. Request to unpublish or delete minor's account. Enforcement. Penalty.

(a) For the purposes of this section: (1) “Authenticate” means to use reasonable means and make a commercially reasonable effort to determine whether a request to exercise any right afforded under subsection (b) of this section has been submitted by, or on behalf of, the minor who is entitled to exercise such right; (2) “Consumer” has the same meaning as provided in section 42-515 ; (3) “Minor” means any consumer who is younger than eighteen years of age; (4) “Personal data” has the same meaning as provided in section 42-515 ; (5) “Social media platform” (A) means a public or semi-public Internet-based service or application that (i) is used by a consumer in this state, (ii) is primarily intended to connect and allow users to socially interact within such service or application, and (iii) enables a user to (I) construct a public or semi-public profile for the purposes of signing into and using such service or application, (II) populate a public list of other users with whom the user shares a social connection within such service or application, and (III) create or post content that is viewable by other users, including, but not limited to, on message boards, in chat rooms, or through a landing page or main feed that presents the user with content generated by other users, and (B) does not include a public or semi-public Internet-based service or application that (i) exclusively provides electronic mail or direct messaging services, (ii) primarily consists of news, sports, entertainment, interactive video games, electronic commerce or content that is preselected by the provider or for which any chat, comments or interactive functionality is incidental to, directly related to, or dependent on the provision of such content, or (iii) is used by and under the direction of an educational entity, including, but not limited to, a learning management system or a student engagement program; and (6) “Unpublish” means to remove a social media platform account from public visibility. (b) (1) Not later than fifteen business days after a social media platform receives a request from a minor or, if the minor is younger than sixteen years of age, from such minor's parent or legal guardian to unpublish such minor's social media platform account, the social media platform shall unpublish such minor's social media platform account. (2) Not later than forty-five business days after a social media platform receives a request from a minor or, if the minor is younger than sixteen years of age, from such minor's parent or legal guardian to delete such minor's social media platform account, the social media platform shall delete such minor's social media platform account and cease processing such minor's personal data except where the preservation of such minor's social media platform account or personal data is otherwise permitted or required by applicable law, including, but not limited to, sections 42-515 to 42-525 , inclusive. A social media platform may extend such forty-five business day period by an additional forty-five business days if such extension is reasonably necessary considering the complexity and number of the consumer's requests, provided the social media platform informs the minor or, if the minor is younger than sixteen years of age, such minor's parent or legal guardian within the initial forty-five business day response period of such extension and the reason for such extension. (3) A social media platform shall establish, and shall describe in a privacy notice, one or more secure and reliable means for submitting a request pursuant to this subsection. A social media platform that provides a mechanism for a minor or, if the minor is younger than sixteen years of age, the minor's parent or legal guardian to initiate a process to delete or unpublish such minor's social media platform account shall be deemed to be in compliance with the provisions of this subsection. (c) If a social media platform is unable to authenticate a request submitted under subsection (b) of this section, the social media platform shall (1) not be required to comply with such request, and (2) provide a notice to the consumer who submitted such request disclosing that such social media platform (A) is unable to authenticate such request, and (B) will not be able to authenticate such request until such consumer provides the additional information that is reasonably necessary to authenticate such request. (d) Any violation of the provisions of this section shall constitute an unfair trade practice under subsection (a) of section 42-110b and shall be enforced solely by the Attorney General. Nothing in this section shall be construed to create a private right of action or to provide grounds for an action under section 42-110g . (B) ONLINE SERVICES, PRODUCTS OR FEATURES AND MINORS

Legislative History

(P.A. 23-56, S. 7.) History: P.A. 23-56 effective July 1, 2024.