AI Frontier Institute

Children and Social Media

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South Carolina S. 268, introduced by Senators Bennett, Leber, and Kennedy, adds Chapter 80 to Title 39 of the S.C. Code, creating an 'Age-Appropriate Code Design' framework for covered online services. The bill defines a 'covered online service' as any internet-accessible digital product likely to be accessed by minors that meets certain revenue or data-volume thresholds (e.g., over $25 million annual gross revenue or handling data of 50,000+ consumers), and excludes educational platforms, career-development tools, compliant gaming platforms, and broadcast/streaming video services. Under Section 39-80-20, covered services must exercise reasonable care in design and data use to prevent harms to minors, including compulsive usage, psychological harm, identity theft, discrimination, and financial or physical injury. Section 39-80-30 requires services to give minors easily accessible tools to limit communications with other users, opt out of covered design features (e.g., infinite scroll, push alerts, appearance-altering filters), control personalized recommendation systems, manage in-game purchases, and restrict precise geolocation sharing. Section 39-80-40 mandates data minimization, prohibits targeted advertising to minors, bans geolocation collection by default unless necessary, prohibits push notifications between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and during school hours (8 a.m.–3 p.m., Monday–Friday, August–May), and restricts profiling of minors. Section 39-80-50 requires parental tools to be on by default for children under 13, including account management, purchase controls, and time-use monitoring. Section 39-80-60 requires harm-reporting mechanisms for parents, minors, and schools; prohibits ads for products prohibited to minors (e.g., alcohol, tobacco, gambling); and bans dark patterns that undermine parental controls. Section 39-80-70 requires covered services to file annual independent third-party audit reports with the Attorney General by July 1 each year, covering design features, data practices, algorithm descriptions, and age-verification methods. Section 39-80-80 assigns enforcement to the Attorney General, imposes treble damages for violations, and allows personal liability for officers and employees who willfully violate the chapter. Where this law conflicts with other laws, the standard offering the greatest protection to minors controls.

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