Sec. 6. Transparency
1,043 words·~5 min read·
/bill/118/s/1409/is/section-6·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Subject to subsection (b), not less frequently than once a year, a covered platform shall issue a public report identifying the reasonably foreseeable risk of material harms to minors and describing the prevention and mitigation measures taken to address such risk based on an independent, third-party audit conducted through reasonable inspection of the covered platform. The requirements of this section shall apply to a covered platform if— for the most recent calendar year, the platform averaged more than 10,000,000 active users on a monthly basis in the United States; and the platform predominantly provides a community forum for user-generated content and discussion, including sharing videos, images, games, audio files, discussion in a virtual setting, or other content, such as acting as a social media platform, virtual reality environment, or a social network service.
The public reports required of a covered platform under this section shall include— an assessment of the extent to which the platform is likely to be accessed by minors; a description of the commercial interests of the covered platform in use by minors; an accounting, based on the data held by the covered platform, of— the number of individuals using the covered platform reasonably believed to be minors in the United States, disaggregated by the age ranges of 0–5, 6–9, 10–12, and 13–16; and the median and mean amounts of time spent on the platform by minors in the United States who have accessed the platform during the reporting year on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, disaggregated by the age ranges of 0–5, 6–9, 10–12, and 13–16; an accounting of total reports received regarding, and the prevalence (which can be based on scientifically valid sampling methods using the content available to the covered platform in the normal course of business) of content related to, the harms described in section 3(a), disaggregated by category of harm; and a description of any material breaches of parental tools or assurances regarding minors, representations regarding the use of the personal data of minors, and other matters regarding non-compliance.
The public reports required of a covered platform under this section shall include— an assessment of the reasonably foreseeable risk of harms to minors posed by the covered platform, including identifying any other physical, mental, developmental, or financial harms in addition to those described in section 3(a); an assessment of how recommendation systems and targeted advertising systems can contribute to harms to minors; a description of whether and how the covered platform uses system design features that increase, sustain, or extend use of a product or service by a minor, such as automatic playing of media, rewards for time spent, and notifications; a description of whether, how, and for what purpose the platform collects or processes categories of personal data that may cause reasonably foreseeable risk of harms to minors; an evaluation of the efficacy of safeguards for minors under section 4, and any issues in delivering such safeguards and the associated parental tools; and an evaluation of any other relevant matters of public concern over risk of harms to minors.
The public reports required of a covered platform under this section shall include— a description of the safeguards and parental tools available to minors and parents on the covered platform; a description of interventions by the covered platform when it had or has reason to believe that harms to minors could occur; a description of the prevention and mitigation measures intended to be taken in response to the known and emerging risks identified in its assessment of system risks, including steps taken to— prevent harms to minors, including adapting or removing system design features or addressing through parental controls; provide the most protective level of control over privacy and safety by default; and adapt recommendation systems to prioritize the best interests of users who are minors, as described in section 3(a); a description of internal processes for handling reports and automated detection mechanisms for harms to minors, including the rate, timeliness, and effectiveness of responses under the requirement of section 4(c); the status of implementing prevention and mitigation measures identified in prior assessments; and a description of the additional measures to be taken by the covered platform to address the circumvention of safeguards for minors and parental tools.
In conducting an inspection of the systemic risks of harm to minors under this section, an independent, third-party auditor shall— take into consideration the function of recommendation systems; consult parents and youth experts, including youth and families with relevant past or current experience, public health and mental health nonprofit organizations, health and development organizations, and civil society with respect to the prevention of harms to minors; conduct research based on experiences of minors that use the covered platform, including reports under section 4(c) and information provided by law enforcement; take account of research, including research regarding system design features, marketing, or product integrity, industry best practices, or outside research; and consider indicia or inferences of age of users, in addition to any self-declared information about the age of individuals.
To facilitate the report required by subsection (c), a covered platform shall— provide or otherwise make available to the independent third-party conducting the audit all information and material in its possession, custody, or control that is relevant to the audit; provide or otherwise make available to the independent third-party conducting the audit access to all network, systems, and assets relevant to the audit; and disclose all relevant facts to the independent third-party conducting the audit, and not misrepresent in any manner, expressly or by implication, any relevant fact.
In issuing the public reports required under this section, a covered platform shall take steps to safeguard the privacy of its users, including ensuring that data is presented in a de-identified, aggregated format such that it is reasonably impossible for the data to be linked back to any individual user. This section shall not be construed to require the disclosure of information that will lead to material vulnerabilities for the privacy of users or the security of a covered platform's service or create a significant risk of the violation of Federal or State law.
The public reports required under this section should be posted by a covered platform on an easy to find location on a publicly available website.