Bill > HB173

This bill aims to protect minors on certain online platforms by restricting their access to personalized content feeds, limiting when notifications can be sent to them, and requiring stricter default settings. A "covered minor" is defined as any user under 18, and a "covered operator" is a company providing a "covered platform," which is an online service that recommends or prioritizes content based on user information. The bill prohibits covered operators from showing personalized content recommendations to minors unless they can verify the user is not a minor, have parental consent, or the recommendations are based on non-persistent information, privacy settings, or specific user requests like searches or subscriptions. Notifications to minors are restricted to between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Central Standard Time, unless parental consent is obtained for extended hours. By default, platforms must limit minors' access to personalized content to one hour per day and restrict their content visibility to connected users, with mechanisms for parents to set even stricter limits. Covered operators must also annually disclose data on user numbers, parental consent rates, default setting usage, and average daily usage broken down by age and time. Violations of these provisions will be considered deceptive trade practices.

Health and Social Services

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