Federal

Safe Social Media Act

Source: Congress.gov · 468 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill requires the Federal Trade Commission to study how teenagers under age 18 use social media platforms. The FTC must work with the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to complete this study and report their findings to Congress within one year.

Who It Affects

The Federal Trade Commission and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must conduct the study. Social media platforms with at least 30 million active monthly users in the United States are the subject of the research. Teenagers under age 18 are the focus of the study.

Key Provisions

• The FTC must study what personal information social media platforms collect from people younger than 18 (Sec. 2) • The FTC must examine how social media platforms use personal information through their algorithms (Sec. 2) • The FTC must research how often teenagers use social media platforms daily and differences in use based on age (Sec. 2) • The FTC must investigate mental health effects linked to social media use and potential harmful effects from extended use on teenagers (Sec. 2) • The FTC must submit a report to Congress within one year of the bill becoming law that includes findings and any recommended policy changes (Sec. 2)

What Changes

If this bill becomes law, the FTC will be required to conduct a formal study on teenage social media use and report their results to Congress. Currently, no explicit requirement for this specific study exists in the bill text.

Important Definitions

Social media platform means a public-facing website, internet application or mobile internet application, including a social network, video sharing service, ad network, mobile operating system, search engine, email service or internet access service that has at least 30 million active monthly users in the United States (Sec. 3)

Effective Date

Not specified in bill text

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 687 To require the Federal Trade Commission to conduct a study regarding social media use by teenagers. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 7, 2023 Mr. SCOTT of Florida introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To require the Federal Trade Commission to conduct a study regarding social media use by teenagers. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Social Media 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. REPORT BY THE FTC ON SOCIAL MEDIA USE BY 6 TEENAGERS. 7 The Federal Trade Commission, in coordination with 8 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 9 vention, shall— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S687.IS S687 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 687 IS (1) conduct a study on social media platform 1 use among individuals younger than age 18, includ- 2 ing— 3 (A) what personal information is collected 4 by social media platforms regarding such indi- 5 viduals; 6 (B) how such personal information is used 7 by the algorithms of the social media platforms; 8 (C) how often such individuals use social 9 media platforms daily; 10 (D) differences in use of social media plat- 11 forms related to the age ranges of such individ- 12 uals; 13 (E) mental health effects on such individ- 14 uals linked to the use of social media platforms; 15 and 16 (F) potential harmful effects on such indi- 17 viduals from extended social media platform 18 use; and 19 (2) not later than 1 year after the date of en- 20 actment of this Act, submit to Congress a report on 21 the findings of the study under paragraph (1), in- 22 cluding any recommended policy changes based on 23 such findings. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S687.IS S687 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 687 IS SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM. 1 In this Act, the term ‘‘social media platform’’ means 2 a public-facing website, internet application, or mobile 3 internet application, including a social network, video 4 sharing service, ad network, mobile operating system, 5 search engine, email service, or internet access service, 6 that has not less than 30,000,000 active monthly users 7 in the United States. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S687.IS S687 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

Important: This plain English summary was generated by AI and is provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Always consult the official bill text on Congress.gov or a qualified attorney for legal matters.