LRB-1186/2
JAM:wlj
2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
August 4, 2023 - Introduced by Representatives Steffen, Armstrong, Gundrum,
Maxey, Murphy, Rozar, Schmidt, Stubbs, Tittl, Tusler and Wichgers,
cosponsored by Senators Cowles and Cabral-Guevara. Referred to
Committee on Consumer Protection.
AB373,1,2 1An Act to create 100.75 of the statutes; relating to: use of social media
2platforms by minors, granting rule-making authority, and providing a penalty.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill creates requirements related to social media companies' and social
media platforms' treatment of account holders on the basis of age.
Under the bill, social media companies must ensure that all accounts created
on or after January 1, 2019, are designated as a youth accounts that comply with the
youth account requirements of the bill. A social media company may remove the
youth account designation from an account if 1) the social media company estimates
that the account holder is not a minor through employment of a process or program
that provides a 95 percent accuracy rate of estimating age within 24 months of actual
age; 2) the social media company verifies that the account holder is not a minor; or
3) a parent or guardian of a minor account holder requests for the youth account
designation to be removed from the minor's account.
Under the bill, a social media company shall do all of the following in regards
to a youth account: 1) prevent direct messaging between the account holder and
other account holders or users with whom the youth account holder is not connected;
2) refrain from showing information about the youth account to any person not
connected to the youth account holder; 3) prevent advertising from being shown to
the youth account holder; 4) refrain from collecting or using personal information
from the youth account; 5) refrain from the use of targeted or suggested groups or
content on the youth account; and 6) ensure that the youth account cannot be used
between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

The bill also provides to parents of minor account holders certain access,
including full access to the account and all its posts and messages, the ability to
change the time limits on the account, and to opt out the minor's account from the
youth account designation.
A violation of the requirements of the bill may result in the social media
platform being required to forfeit $100 per violation per day, an award of damages
to an injured account holder, and an injunction preventing further violations.
For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as
an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
AB373,1 1Section 1. 100.75 of the statutes is created to read:
AB373,2,3 2100.75 Social media company requirements. (1) Definitions. In this
3section:
AB373,2,44 (a) “Account” means a social media platform account or profile.
AB373,2,55 (b) “Account holder” means a person who has, or opens, an account.
AB373,2,66 (c) “Educational entity” means any of the following:
AB373,2,77 1. A public school, as defined in s. 115.01 (1).
AB373,2,88 2. A charter school, as defined in s. 115.001 (1).
AB373,2,99 3. A tribal school, as defined in s. 115.001 (15m).
AB373,2,1010 4. A private school participating in a program in s. 118.60 or 119.23.
AB373,2,1111 5. The Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
AB373,2,1312 6. The Wisconsin Educational Services Program for the Deaf and Hard of
13Hearing.
AB373,2,1514 7. A school of a parochial or denominational character that offers a course with
15a sectarian objective.
AB373,2,1716 8. A technical college under the authority of a district board, as defined in s.
1738.01 (6).
AB373,3,1
19. A college campus, as defined in s. 36.05 (6m).
AB373,3,22 10. An institution, as defined in s. 36.05 (9).
AB373,3,33 11. A tribally controlled college located in this state.
AB373,3,54 12. A private, nonprofit postsecondary institution that is a member of the
5Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
AB373,3,116 (d) “Interactive computer service” means an information service, an
7information system, or information access software that provides access to the
8Internet or provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer
9server. “Interactive computer service” includes a web service, a web system, a
10website, a web application, and a web portal. “Interactive computer service” does not
11include an Internet service provider.
AB373,3,1312 (e) “Minor” means a resident under the age of 18. “Minor” does not include an
13emancipated minor, as defined in s. 48.375 (2) (e).
AB373,3,1514 (f) “Post” means content that an account holder or user makes available on a
15social media platform for other account holders or users to view.
AB373,3,1616 (g) “Resident” means an individual who resides in this state.
AB373,3,1817 (h) “Social media company” means an interactive computer service that makes
18available a social media platform that has 5,000,000 or more account holders.
AB373,3,2219 (i) 1. “Social media platform” means an online forum that a social media
20company makes publicly available and for which the primary purpose of is enabling
21an account holder to open a profile, upload a post, view a post of another account
22holder, or interact with other account holders or users.
AB373,3,2523 2. Notwithstanding subd. 1., “social media platform” does not include an online
24service, website, or application for which the predominant or exclusive function is
25any of the following:
AB373,4,1
1a. Electronic mail.
AB373,4,52 b. The direct messaging of text, photo, or video messages that are sent between
3devices by electronic means, in which the messages shared between the sender and
4the recipient are visible only to the sender and the recipient and are not posted
5publicly.
AB373,4,86 c. A streaming service that provides only licensed media in a continuous flow
7from itself to the end user and that does not obtain a license to the media from an
8account holder or user by agreement to its terms of service.
AB373,4,129 d. News, sports, entertainment, or other content that is preselected by a social
10media platform that is not user-generated, on which any provided chat, comment,
11or other interactive functionality is incidental to, directly related to, or dependent
12upon the provision of the content.
AB373,4,1513 e. A community forum, the primary purpose of which is for customer
14self-service support related to products, sellers, services, events, or places, or any
15combination thereof.
AB373,4,2016 f. Online shopping or e-commerce if an account holder's or user's interaction
17with other account holders or users is generally limited to the ability to upload a post
18or comment on reviews, the ability to display lists or collections of goods for sale, and
19other functions that are focused on online shopping or e-commerce rather than on
20interaction between account holders or users.
AB373,4,2421 g. Interactive gaming, virtual gaming, or an online service that allows the
22creating and uploading of content for the purpose of interactive gaming, educational
23entertainment, or entertainment associated with interactive gaming or educational
24entertainment, and the communication related to that content.
AB373,5,2
1h. A professional creative network for showcasing and discovering artistic
2content if the content is required to be non-pornographic.
AB373,5,53 i. Single-purpose community groups for public safety if interaction between
4account holders or users is generally limited to the single purpose and the
5community has guidelines or policies against illegal content.
AB373,5,76 j. Providing career development opportunities, including professional
7networking, job skills, learning certificates, and job posting and application services.
AB373,5,88 k. Business-to-business software.
AB373,5,109 L. A teleconferencing or videoconferencing service that allows reception and
10transmission of audio and video signals for real-time communication.
AB373,5,1111 m. Cloud storage.
AB373,5,1212 n. Shared document collaboration.
AB373,5,1313 o. Cloud computing services.
AB373,5,1514 p. Providing access to or interfacing with data visualization platforms,
15libraries, or hubs.
AB373,5,1716 q. Permitting comments on a digital news website if the news content is posted
17only by the provider of the digital news website.
AB373,5,1818 r. Providing or obtaining technical support for a platform, product, or service.
AB373,5,1919 s. Academic or scholarly research.
AB373,5,2020 t. Genealogical research.
AB373,5,2321 u. Providing content to account holders or users if any ability of account holders
22or users to chat, comment, or interact with other account holders or users is directly
23related to the provider's content.
AB373,5,2524 v. A classified ad service that permits only the sale of goods and prohibits the
25solicitation of personal services.
AB373,6,3
1w. Use by and under the direction of an educational entity, including a learning
2management system, a student engagement program, and a subject or skill-specific
3program.
AB373,6,54 (j) “User” means a person who is not an account holder and who has access to
5view or create a post on a social media platform.
AB373,6,76 (k) “Youth account” means an account on a social media platform for use by a
7minor.
AB373,6,11 8(2) Age-based account requirements. (a) Except as provided in par. (b),
9beginning on August 1, 2024, a social media company shall ensure that all accounts
10created on or after January 1, 2019, are designated as youth accounts that comply
11with the requirements under sub. (3).
AB373,6,1412 (b) A social media company may remove a youth account designation from a
13user's account and in turn be exempted from the corresponding requirements under
14sub. (3) for the account if any of the following applies:
AB373,6,1715 1. The social media company estimates that the account holder is not a minor
16through employment of a process or program that provides a 95 percent accuracy rate
17of estimating age within 24 months of actual age.
AB373,6,1818 2. The social media company verifies that the account holder is not a minor.
AB373,6,2119 3. A parent or guardian of a minor account holder requests that the social media
20company remove the youth account designation from the minor's account as provided
21under sub. (4) (f).
AB373,6,23 22(3) Youth accounts. A social media company shall do all of the following
23regarding a youth account:
AB373,7,224 (a) Prevent direct messaging between the account holder and any other account
25holder or user that is not linked to the account through friending or another process

1through which 2 persons add each other to a list of contacts associated with the
2account holder.
AB373,7,63 (b) Refrain from showing the account or information about the account in
4search results provided to any other account holder or user that is not linked to the
5account through friending or another process through which 2 persons add each
6other to a list of contacts associated with the account holder.
AB373,7,77 (c) Prevent advertising from being shown to the account holder.
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