HF 4400

as introduced - 93rd Legislature (2023 - 2024) Posted on 03/07/2024 03:47pm

A bill for an act
relating to consumer protection; creating the Prohibiting Social Media Manipulation
Act; regulating social media platforms; providing a private right of action and
attorney general enforcement; proposing coding for new law as Minnesota Statutes,
chapter 325O.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

new text begin [325O.01] CITATION.
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new text begin This chapter may be cited as the "Prohibiting Social Media Manipulation Act."
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Sec. 2.

new text begin [325O.02] DEFINITIONS.
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new text begin (a) For purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the meanings given.
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new text begin (b) "Accessible user interface" means a way for a user to input data, make a choice, or
take an action on a social media platform in two clicks or less.
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new text begin (c) "Account holder" means a natural person or legal person who holds an account or
profile with a social media platform.
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new text begin (d) "Algorithmic ranking system" means a computational process, including one derived
from algorithmic decision making, machine learning, statistical analysis, or other data
processing or artificial intelligence techniques, used to determine the selection, order, relative
prioritization, or relative prominence of content from a set of information that is provided
to a user on a social media platform, including search results ranking, content
recommendations, content display, or any other automated content selection method.
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new text begin (e) "Click" means an act of selecting an option on an electronic interface by pressing a
button, touching a screen, making a gesture, issuing a voice command, or other means.
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new text begin (f) "Content" means any media, including but not limited to written posts, images, visual
or audio recordings, notifications, and games, that a user views, reads, watches, listens to,
or otherwise interacts or engages with on a social media platform. Content includes other
account holders' accounts or profiles when recommended to a user by the social media
platform.
new text end

new text begin (g) "Default" means a preselected option adopted by a social media platform for the
social media platform's service, product, or feature.
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new text begin (h) "Device operating system provider" means a business that manages or develops
operating system software for mobile or desktop devices, including but not limited to personal
computers, smartphones, and tablets, which manage device resources and are loaded by a
boot program.
new text end

new text begin (i) "Engage" or "engagement" means a user's utilization of the social media platform.
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new text begin (j) "Existing extended network" means a user's existing network plus the set of account
holders on a social media platform who are all directly connected to the account holders
within that user's existing network.
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new text begin (k) "Existing network" means the set of account holders on a social media platform with
whom a user has consented to have a direct connection.
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new text begin (l) "Expressed preferences" means a freely given, considered, specific, and unambiguous
indication of a user's preferences regarding the user's engagement with a social media
platform. Expressed preferences cannot be based on the user's time spent engaging with
content on the social media platform, nor on the usage of features that do not indicate explicit
preference, such as comments made, posts reshared, or similar actions that may be taken
on content the user perceives to be of low quality. Expressed preferences may not be obtained
through a user interface designed or manipulated with the substantial effect of subverting
or impairing a user's decision making.
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new text begin (m) "Optimize" means promoted, prioritized, or maximized by a social media platform's
algorithmic ranking system.
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new text begin (n) "Relevant forms of engagement with users" includes but is not limited to:
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new text begin (1) sending invitations or messages to users;
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new text begin (2) commenting on, resharing, liking, voting, or otherwise reacting to users' user-generated
content; and
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new text begin (3) disseminating user-generated content to users.
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new text begin (o) "Social media platform" means an electronic medium, including a browser-based or
application-based interactive computer service, telephone network, or data network, that
allows an account holder to create, share, and view user-generated content. Social media
platform does not include: (1) Internet search providers, Internet service providers, email,
or short-message-service; (2) streaming video service or other Internet website where the
content is not user-generated but where interactive functions enable incidental chat,
comments, or reviews; or (3) a communication service, including audio and video
communication technology, provided by a business to the business's employees and clients
for use in the course of business activities and not for public distribution. Social media
platform includes a messaging service that is owned by a company that operates a social
media platform.
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new text begin (p) "Time sensitive" means content that is welcomed under a user's expressed preferences
and that would have significantly reduced value to the user with the passing of time.
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new text begin (q) "User" means a natural person who is located in Minnesota and who holds an account
or profile with a social media platform.
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new text begin (r) "User-generated content" means any content created by an account holder that is
uploaded, posted, shared, or disseminated on the social media platform.
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new text begin (s) "Varied set of account holders" means a set of account holders who have different
behaviors and histories.
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Sec. 3.

new text begin [325O.03] SCOPE; EXCLUSIONS.
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new text begin (a) A social media platform is subject to this chapter if the social media platform:
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new text begin (1) does business in Minnesota or provides products or services that are targeted to
residents of Minnesota; and
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new text begin (2) has more than 10,000 monthly active users.
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new text begin (b) For purposes of this chapter, a social media platform may determine whether an
account holder is located in Minnesota based on:
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new text begin (1) the account holder's own supplied address or location;
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new text begin (2) global positioning system-level latitude, longitude, or altitude coordinates;
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new text begin (3) cellular phone system coordinates;
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new text begin (4) Internet protocol device address; or
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new text begin (5) other mechanisms that can be used to identify an account holder's location.
new text end

Sec. 4.

new text begin [325O.04] REQUIREMENTS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS.
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new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Content optimization. new text end

new text begin (a) A social media platform must provide an
accessible user interface that allows a user to clearly indicate whether a particular piece of
content:
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new text begin (1) is of high or low quality; and
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new text begin (2) complies with the user's expressed preferences.
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new text begin (b) A social media platform's algorithmic ranking system must optimize content for a
user that:
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new text begin (1) a varied set of account holders indicates is of high quality; and
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new text begin (2) complies with a user's expressed preferences.
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new text begin (c) A social media platform's algorithmic ranking system must not optimize content that
is not related to a user's expressed preferences in order to maximize the user's engagement
with the platform.
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new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Account holder daily limits. new text end

new text begin (a) A social media platform must develop criteria
to designate an account holder who has recently created an account with or joined the social
platform as a new account holder. An account created within 30 days must be considered
a new account holder. For a new account holder, a social media platform must set daily
numerical limits on relevant forms of engagement with users equivalent to the 50th percentile
of all platform account holders.
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new text begin (b) For all account holders, a social media platform must set daily numerical limits on
relevant forms of engagement with users equivalent to the two standard deviations above
the median for all platform account holders. A limit required under this paragraph may
allow an account holder to have relevant forms of engagement with users in excess of the
limit, but at a minimum must reduce the impact of the engagement on other users. A limit
may be exceeded for interactions with another user if the other user clearly initiates and
welcomes the engagement.
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new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Default privacy settings. new text end

new text begin (a) A social media platform must provide default
settings for a user that do not:
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new text begin (1) allow the user's account or the user's user-generated content to be discovered by
anyone outside the user's existing extended network;
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new text begin (2) allow messaging, requests, reactions, comments, or other contact from an account
holder that is not already within the user's existing extended network, unless the user initiates
and welcomes the contact;
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new text begin (3) reveal the user's location outside the user's existing network, unless the user
specifically shares the user's location outside the user's existing network;
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new text begin (4) disseminate any information about the user, including the user's profile and any of
the user's user-generated content, to anyone outside of the user's existing network without
a specific request from the user to disseminate the information; or
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new text begin (5) allow or facilitate a user's user-generated content, or any user's facial or biometric
data, to be incorporated into generative artificial intelligence models without the user's
explicit consent.
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new text begin (b) The default settings required in paragraph (a) may be changed only to comply with
the user's expressed preferences. A social media platform must not utilize a system, user
interface, or prompt that encourages a user to change the user's privacy settings toward
allowing the user's information or user-generated content to be shared or disseminated more
broadly.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Option for heightened protection. new text end

new text begin (a) A social media platform must provide
an accessible user interface to allow a user to opt in to any or all of the heightened protection
requirements under paragraph (d). A social media platform may make the heightened
protections the default settings for all users or all account holders.
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new text begin (b) A device operating system provider must provide an option for a user to automatically
opt in to any or all of the heightened protection requirements under paragraph (d) across all
social media platforms managed by the operating system on the user's device. If a user
selects the option under this paragraph, the device operating system provider must (1) inform
all social media platforms managed by the provider's operating system of the user's
preference, and (2) adjust the user's account to provide the heightened protections. A device
operating system provider may provide a user the ability to opt out of any or all heightened
protections.
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new text begin (c) A device operating system provider must, by default, consider any device with
parental controls enabled to have opted in to all the heightened protection requirements
under paragraph (d).
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new text begin (d) For a user receiving heightened protections, a social media platform must not:
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new text begin (1) use platform features that increase, sustain, or extend a user's engagement with the
platform beyond the user's expressed preferences regarding time or duration. Features subject
to this clause include but are not limited to:
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new text begin (i) optimization for time spent or content consumed;
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new text begin (ii) content feeds without finite endings;
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new text begin (iii) autoplaying videos or other content; and
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new text begin (iv) notifications that are not time sensitive; or
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new text begin (2) provide any visible count showing how much engagement content that the user
viewed, consumed, or generated has received.
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new text begin Subd. 5. new text end

new text begin Transparency requirements. new text end

new text begin (a) A social media platform must publicly post
the following information on the social media platform's website:
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new text begin (1) an explanation of how the social media platform designates new account holders and
an explanation detailing the operation and effect of usage limits applicable to new account
holders under subdivision 2, paragraph (a);
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new text begin (2) an explanation detailing the operation and effect of the usage limits required under
subdivision 2, paragraph (b);
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new text begin (3) an explanation detailing how the platform:
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new text begin (i) assesses users' perceptions of the quality of content;
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new text begin (ii) assesses users' expressed preferences regarding content; and
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new text begin (iii) utilizes the assessments under items (i) and (ii) in the social media platform's
algorithmic ranking system, including how these assessments are weighted in relation to
other signals in the algorithmic ranking system;
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new text begin (4) statistics on the platform's use with respect to the tenth, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, 95th,
99th, and 99.9th percentile of all platform account holders for relevant forms of engagement,
including but not limited to:
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new text begin (i) sending invitations or messages to other platform account holders;
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new text begin (ii) commenting on, resharing, liking, voting for, or otherwise reacting to content;
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new text begin (iii) posting new user-generated content; and
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new text begin (iv) disseminating user-generated content to other platform account holders;
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new text begin (5) an explanation of how the platform determines whether a notification is time sensitive;
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new text begin (6) an explanation of how the platform determines what constitutes a "varied set of
account holders," including what behaviors are used as signals and how any measurement
of difference is created and used; and
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new text begin (7) a description of all product experiments that have been conducted on 1,000 or more
users, including the results of the product experiments on users' engagement with content
that:
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new text begin (i) users indicate to be high or low quality;
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new text begin (ii) users indicate complies or does not comply with the users' expressed preferences;
and
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new text begin (iii) violates platform policies.
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new text begin (b) When automatically delivering, suggesting, or selecting content to a user, a social
media platform must provide an accessible user interface to allow the user to access a basic,
nontechnical explanation detailing why a particular piece of content was promoted by the
platform's algorithmic ranking system.
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Sec. 5.

new text begin [325O.05] ENFORCEMENT.
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new text begin (a) In addition to the remedies otherwise provided by law, a person injured by a violation
of this chapter may bring a civil action against a social media platform and recover damages,
together with costs and disbursements, including reasonable attorney fees, and receive other
equitable relief determined by the court. In addition to any other damages and relief awarded,
a social media platform that violates this chapter may be liable for a civil penalty of not
more than $10,000 per violation.
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new text begin (b) The attorney general may bring a civil enforcement action and recover the relief
provided in section 8.31 against a social media platform that violates this chapter.
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Sec. 6.

new text begin [325O.06] SEVERABILITY.
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new text begin If any provision of this chapter or the chapter's application to any person or circumstance
is held invalid for any reason in a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of the
chapter or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.
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Sec. 7. new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE.
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new text begin This act is effective July 1, 2025.
new text end