HB2991 - 572R

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Title 41, chapter 1, article 5, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 41-191.14, to read:

START_STATUTE41-191.14. Technology protection for minors grant fund; exemption; grants; quarterly reports

A. The technology protection for minors grant fund is established consisting of monies from civil penalties, attorney fees and litigation costs that are recovered by the attorney general pursuant to section 44-8045. The attorney general shall administer the fund. Monies in the fund are continuously appropriated and are exempt from the provisions of section 35-190 relating to lapsing of appropriations.

B. Monies in the fund may not be transferred to or otherwise made available to any other state fund or account and may not be used for operating expenses of the attorney general's office or staff salaries.

C. The attorney general shall use the monies in the fund solely to award grants to nonprofit organizations for the following:

1. Outreach programs that provide education to parents, guardians and minors about online safety, digital literacy and the effects of social media on the mental health of minors.

2. Programs that provide resources or services to minors who have experienced harm as a result of violations of title 44, chapter 42.

3. Research on the effects of social media on the mental and physical health of minors.

4. Law enforcement programs that investigate violations of title 44, chapter 42 and technology-facilitated harm to minors.

5. Programs that provide mental health counseling, treatment or support services to minors who have experienced psychological or emotional harm as a result of using social media and violations of title 44, chapter 42.

6. PROGRAMS THAT PROVIDE PREVENTION EDUCATION, VICTIM SERVICES OR LAW ENFORCEMENT SUPPORT RELATED TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING OR SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF MINORS FACILITATED THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS.

D. The attorney general shall establish grant eligibility criteria, application procedures and reporting requirements for recipients of grants AWARDED PURSUANT to this SECTION subject to joint legislative budget committee approval.

E. On or before January 15, April 15, July 15 and October 15 of each year, the attorney general shall compile a report that includes an accounting of all the monies spent from the fund, including:

1. Receipts.

2. Disbursements.

3. The current balance of the fund.

4. The name of each grant recipient.

5. The amount awarded to each grant recipient.

6. The purpose for each grant awarded.

F. The attorney general shall submit the reports compiled pursuant to subsection e of this section to all of the following:

1. The governor.

2. The president of the senate.

3. The speaker of the house of representatives.

4. The minority leader of the senate.

5. The minority leader of the house of representatives.

6. The director of the joint legislative budget committee.

7. The secretary of state. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Title 44, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding chapter 42, to read:

CHAPTER 42

TECHNOLOGY CONTENT

ARTICLE 1. SOCIAL MEDIA

START_STATUTE44-8041. Definitions

In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. "Application" means a software application or electronic service that a user may run or direct on a computer, a mobile device or any other general purpose computing device.

2. "Application store" means a publicly available website, software application, electronic service or platform that distributes and facilitates the download of applications from third-party developers to users of a computer, a mobile device or any other general purpose computing device.

3. "Child" means an individual who is under sixteen years of age.

4. "Commercial entity" includes a corporation, a limited liability company, a partnership, a limited partnership, a sole proprietorship and any other legally recognized entity.

5. "Covered company":

(a) means a person that owns, controls or operates an application store or operating system that services customers in this state.

(b) Does not include a telecommunications carrier or broadband provider that solely provides internet access or transmission services without control over application distribution or operating system functionality.

6. "Daily active users" means the number of unique users in the united states who used the social media platform at least eighty percent of the days during either:

(a) The previous twelve-month period.

(b) The previous one-month period if the social media platform did not exist during the previous twelve-month period.

7. "Developer" means a person that creates, owns or controls a public-facing website, online service, online application or mobile application.

8. "Distribute" means to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, transfer, transmit, circulate or disseminate by any means.

9. "Infinite scrolling" means content that is CONTINUOUSLY loading or content that loads as the user scrolls down the webpage without the need to open a separate webpage.

10. "Operating system" means an entity that develops, maintains or distributes an operating system on a computer, a mobile device or any other general purpose computing device.

11. "personalized recommendation system":

(a) Means a fully or partially automated system used to suggest, promote or rank a feed of user-generated content based on the user's activity on the covered social media platform.

(b) Does not include A recommendation system that suggests, promotes or ranks content based solely on the user's language, city or town or age.

12. "Social media platform":

(a) Means an online forum, website or application that satisfies all of the following criteria:

(i) Allows a user to upload content or view the content or activity of other users.

(ii) Has at least ten percent of daily active users who are under sixteen years of age and who on average spent at least two hours per day on the online forum, website or application during the PREVIOUS twelve months or if the online forum, website or application did not exist during the previous twelve months, during the previous one-month period.

(iii) uses algorithms that analyze user DATA or information on users to select content for users.

(iv) Has infinite scrolling or seamless content or the use of webpages with no visible or apparent end or page breaks, has push notifications or alerts sent by an online forum, website or application to inform a user about specific activities or events related to the user's account, displays personal interactive metrics that indicate the number of times other users have clicked a button to indicate the users' reactions to content or have shared or reposted the content, has auto-play video or video that begins to play WITHOUT the user first clicking on the video or on a play button for that video or has livestreaming or a function that allows a user or ADVERTISER to broadcast live video content in real time.

(b) Does not include an online service, website or application of which the exclusive function is email or direct messaging consisting of texts, photographs, pictures, images or videos that are shared only between the sender and the recipients and that are not displayed or posted publicly or to other users that are not specifically identified by the sender as the recipients. END_STATUTE

START_STATUTE44-8042. Covered companies; duties; prohibition

A. A covered company shall:

1. Provide an accessible interface for an account holder or a user to set up an account that allows the account holder or the user to provide a birth date or age in order to provide the account holder's or the user's age signal to developers at the time of the account set up or at any time thereafter and to provide the account holder or the user with the option to opt in to share the account holder's or the user's age bracket data with the developer for the purpose of providing age-appropriate content.

2. Obtain PARENTAL or guardian consent before allowing a child to Download an application distributed or made accessible through the covered company's application store, if the covered COMPANY provides an application store.

3. Facilitate parental or guardian consent for Access to an application that is preloaded onto a device for the first time in response to a request from a developer.

4. Make controls available that enable account holders to do both of the following:

(a) Restrict which applications can be downloaded by a user based on the applications' age ratings within the covered company's application store.

(b) limit the amount of time a user can spend on downloaded applications.

5. send only the minimum amount of information that is necessary to comply with this chapter.

6. on request, provide a developer, including a developer of the preloaded application, with an age signal through a real-time application programming interface on an ongoing basis regarding whether an individual is:

(a) Under thirteen years of age.

(b) At least thirteen years of age but under sixteen years of age.

(d) At least eighteen years of age.

B. A covered company may not share the age signal or parent or guardian consent signal with a third party for any purpose that is not required under this chapter.

C. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a covered company is not required to share age signals with a third party, other than with a developer, through an application that is distributed on the covered company's application store.END_STATUTE

START_STATUTE44-8043. Developer duties; social media platform duties; minor account default settings

A. A developer shall:

1. On an individual's account creation or first access, Request from a covered company an age signal and may subsequently request additional age signals.

2. If the data is available, Use the age signal from a covered company to:

(a) Enforce legally required minimum age restrictions.

(b) Ensure compliance with all laws.

B. In addition to the requirements prescribed in subsection A of this section, if a developer operates a social media platform, the developer shall comply with the additional requirements of this section.

C. If applicable and technically feasible, a social media PLATFORM shall provide readily available features for a parent or guardian to oversee the use of the application by the parent's or guardian's child as APPROPRIATE to the risks that arise from the child's use of the developer's application. THe features must include:

1. The ability to view metrics reflecting the amount of time that the child is using the application and set daily time limits on the child's use.

2. The ability to see which individuals or accounts are affirmatively linked to the child's account, including the child's friends and followers and accounts that the child is following.

3. The ability to determine whether the child has limited the public visibility of the child's account or information and content that is uploaded to the application.

4. The ability to see which individuals the child has blocked.

5. The ability to submit a report to the application concerning a potential violation of the developer's terms and policies.

6. The ability to Display a notification to a user who the social media platform knows is a minor if the user has spent one cumulative hour on the application during one calendar day.

7. The ability to Limit the visibility of a minor's account or PROFILE to connected users other than the minor's name, username and primary display picture, if applicable.

8. reasonable policies that address exposure to sexually or violently explicit material on the social media platform.

9. The ability to Silence notifications between 10:00 P.M. and 6:00 A.M. local time.

10. The ability to Prohibit an UNCONNECTED user from sending private or direct messages to a minor user, including through video, voice, text or other messaging, if applicable.

11. The ability to Disable the automatic playing of video content WITHOUT user action in a personalized recommendation system. END_STATUTE

START_STATUTE44-8044. Age signal conflicts

Notwithstanding section 44-8043, subsection A, If a developer has clear and convincing evidence that a user's age is different from the age that is indicated by the age signal that the developer received from the covered company, the developer may use the developer's internal data.END_STATUTE

START_STATUTE44-8045. Attorney general; enforcement; penalties

A. In addition to any other remedy available under state law, the attorney general may bring an action against a covered company, developer or commercial entity to:

1. Recover a civil penalty of not more than $75,000 for each violation of this chapter.

2. Restrain or enjoin the covered company, developer or commercial entity from violating this chapter.

3. Seek injunctive relief.

4. Recover reasonable attorney fees.

5. Recover litigation costs and reasonable costs for investigating the violation.

B. The attorney general shall deposit, pursuant to sections 35-146 and 35-147, monies collected pursuant to this section in the technology protection for minors grant fund established by section 41-191.14.END_STATUTE

START_STATUTE44-8046. Immunity

A. A developer or covered company is IMMUNE from liability for a violation of this chapter if the developer or covered company demonstrates that the developer or covered company meets the following:

1. Relied in good faith on the applicable age signal and the Age signal indicates that the user is a child based on the information received through the covered company's data sharing methods.

2. If a developer, Complied with the requirements described in section 44-8043.

b. IN determining an application's age rating and content description, a developer is not liable for a violation of this chapter if the developer uses widely adopted industry standards to determine the application's age category and content description and applies those standards consistently and in good faith.

C. The immunity described in this section both:

1. Applies only to actions brought under this chapter.

2. Does not limit a developer's or covered company's liability under any other applicable law.

D. This section does not replace any other available remedy or right in state or federal law.END_STATUTE

START_STATUTE44-8047. Covered companies; compliance; nondiscrimination; use of data

A. THis chapter does not modify, impair or supersede the operation of any antitrust laws, unless otherwise specified.

b. A covered company shall comply with this chapter in a nondiscriminatory manner by doing both of the following:

1. Imposing the same restrictions and obligations on the covered company's own applications and application distribution as the covered company imposes on third-party applications and application distributors.

2. Not using data that is not publicly available and that is collected from third parties, or consent mechanisms deployed for third parties, in the course of compliance with this chapter to compete against those third parties, to give the covered company's services preference relative to those of third parties or to otherwise use this data that is not publicly available in a manner that is unavailable to those third parties. END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Severability

If a provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this act are severable.

Sec. 4. Effective date

Section 41-191.14, Arizona Revised Statutes, as added by this act, and title 44, chapter 42, Arizona Revised Statutes, as added by this act, are effective one year after the effective date of this act.