Introduction
The Governor of Florida signed Bill HB 3 at the end of last month, marking another state legislation in the United States aimed at regulating minors’ use of social media and access to harmful content. This compares to Texas’s HB 1181 bill (detailed analysis of HB 1181 can be found in our previous article “Pornhub Blocks Texas Over New Age Verification Law HB 1181”). The new bill further expands the scope of “age verification.”
Main Content of HB 3
For minors creating accounts on social media platforms, HB 3 sets the age limit at 14, and imposes requirements on social media platforms, including:
- Social media platforms must prohibit minors under 14 from entering into contracts to become account holders.
- Social media platforms must prohibit minors aged 14 or 15 from entering into contracts to become account holders unless the minor’s parent or guardian consents to the minor becoming an account holder.
Thus, social media platforms should not allow individuals under 14 to create accounts, and they can allow those who are 14 but not yet 16 to create accounts only with parental or guardian consent.
For accounts already created by minors, HB 3 requires social media platforms to delete the accounts and personal information within the specific time frames listing below:
- Terminate any accounts held by those under 14 and terminate any accounts held by those aged 14 to under 16 if the account was created or maintained without parental or guardian consent. This includes accounts that social media platforms consider or categorize as “possibly under 16” for content or advertising targeting purposes, with a 90-day period for account holders to contest such termination. If the account holder does not successfully contest, termination must occur after 90 days.
- Allow account holders under 16 to request account termination, which must take effect within 5 business days of the request.
- Allow confirmed parents or guardians of account holders under 16 to request termination of the minor’s account, effective within 10 business days of the request.
- Permanently delete all personal information held by the social media platform related to terminated accounts, unless required to be retained by law.
2. Requirements on ‘Minors Accessing Harmful Content’
Similar to most regulations concerning minors’ access to harmful content, these requirements are particularly targeted at pornographic websites.
- Applicable Entities
HB 3 applies to commercial entities that knowingly and intentionally publish or distribute harmful content to minors on websites or applications, given such harmful content constitutes over 33.3% of the total content on the site or app.
- Anonymous Age Verification or Standard Age Verification
Enterprises subject to HB 3 must use “anonymous age verification” or “standard age verification” to verify that individuals attempting to access harmful content are 18 or older and prevent access by those under 18. Businesses must offer both anonymous and standard age verification methods, and individuals attempting to access harmful content can choose which method to use to verify their age.
- Anonymous Age Verification
“Anonymous age verification” refers to commercially reasonable methods adopted by government agencies or businesses for age verification purposes, conducted by an independent third party organized under a state law in the United States. This third party must: (a) have its principal place of business in a state within the US; and (b) not be owned or controlled by foreign-incorporated companies, foreign governments, or any other foreign entities.
Third parties conducting anonymous age verification must also:
- Not retain any personal identification information used for verifying age after verification.
- Not use the personal identification information for any other purpose.
- Keep any personal identification information used for age verification confidential. Such information must not be shared or communicated with anyone.
- Protect personal identification information used for age verification from unauthorized or illegal access, destruction, use, alteration, or disclosure, through reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the information.
Compliance Implications
As mentioned in our previous analysis of HB 1181, HB 1181 introduced stringent requirements for reasonable age verification on adult content websites, indicating that websites can no longer rely on users’ self-declared age to restrict access to restricted content. HB 3 expands the age verification requirements beyond adult content websites to social media platforms. Again, we recommend businesses that operate age-restricted content platforms, such as audio/video, gaming, and live streaming, prepare and take the regulatory authorities’ special protection for minors seriously through age verification and personal information protection requirements.
For recommendations on personal information protection compliance, see our previous article “Pornhub Blocks Texas Over New Age Verification Law HB 1181”
Other resources:
- Bill HB 3: https://laws.flrules.org/2024/42
