After Court Loss, 2 Ark. Kids Social Media Bills Propel Forward

The U.S. District Court for Western Arkansas ruled March 31 that an Arkansas social media safety law was unconstitutional (see 2504010044). Two days later, on April 2, Arkansas Sen. Tyler Dees (R) filed SB-611 on behalf of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) to amend the law and SB-612 to create a private right of action against social media companies. One day later, the Senate Insurance and Commerce Committee approved SB-611. Then on Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee cleared SB-612 in a voice vote. The committee votes pave the way for possible floor action soon.

The proposed amendments to the 2023 law “seek to remedy” the court’s issues “and allow it to go into effect,” Sanders' office said last week. The new legislation “clarifies the definition of ‘social media’ to expand protections to additional platforms, lowers the age of minor users to 16, prohibits social media algorithms from targeting minors, and adds a penalty for companies that do not comply.”

At the Senate Judiciary hearing Monday, Dees said he’s reviewing “some requests for amendments” to SB-612 from tech companies seeking exemptions or definition changes. “I’m not sure if we will amend those or not, but those conversations are ongoing.”

SB-612 says a “social media platform shall not use a design, algorithm, or feature that the social media platform knows, or should have known through the exercise of reasonable care, causes a user to: (1) Purchase a controlled substance; (2) Develop an eating disorder; (3) Commit or attempt to commit suicide; or (4) Develop or sustain an addiction to the social media platform.”

Sen. Clarke Tucker (D) asked Dees how the fourth item could be proved. Dees said the proposed law provides “the framework to have that discussion.” It would create “a process where a case can be … brought for the courts to help decide … if there's damaging aspects that have taken place as a result of an interaction with Big Tech.” Dees added that his bill “models after other states that have forged ahead” after Arkansas passed its 2023 law. “We’re moving into a better policy direction.”

Sen. Gary Stubblefield (R) asked if Dees believed social media companies are gathering and using data on minors.

“The data is actually the currency,” replied the SB-612 sponsor. “An argument can be made that … there's negligence, in that the pursuit of more users and more time on their platforms and devices outweighs their concerns for the safety and wellbeing … of our minors.”

Meanwhile, in Montana, the House voted 54-44 in favor of a kids online safety bill requiring social media companies to check users' ages and provide high privacy settings for those younger than 18. The state Senate will next consider HB-925.

“The proliferation of social media services has led to the widespread collection and utilization of personal information, exposing minors to potential harms related to privacy and identity,” the bill says. “The state has a compelling interest to protect minors from the adverse outcomes linked to the excessive use of algorithmically curated social media services” and “the state should ensure that minors' personal data is given special protection, as minors may have less awareness of the risks, consequences, and safeguards related to a social media company's processing of minors' personal data.”

HB-925 would require that platforms implement an age-assurance system to determine if a user is a minor. For minor account holders, social media companies would have to set maximum privacy settings by default, implement data encryption and other reasonable security measures and provide a notice about how the company collects and uses data. A minor could change the privacy setting with parental consent.

Also, minors could request to delete their personal information or to remove information they made publicly available on the platform. The bill would additionally require that platforms disable autoplay, infinite scrolling and push notifications.

The bill defines “age-assurance system" as “measures reasonably calculated to enable a social media company to identify whether a current or prospective account holder is a minor with an accuracy rate of at least 95%.”

HB-925 would be enforced under the Montana Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act. The bill would appropriate $25,000 for Montana DOJ enforcement.