HB 301 — Social Media and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA SESSION 2025 H 21 HOUSE BILL 301 Committee Substitute Favorable 4/1/25 Short Title:

Representatives Zenger, N.

Jackson, Almond, and Willis (Primary Sponsors).

For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.

Judiciary 2, if favorable, Commerce and Economic Development, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House March 6, 2025 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT TO PROVIDEPROTECT SOCIAL MEDIA PROTECTIONS FOR MINORS UNDER SIXTEEN YEARS OF AGE.AGE FROM HARMFUL ONLINE SOCIAL MEDIA.

TheEffective March 1, 2025, the General Statutes are amended by adding a new Chapter to read:

– A personresident who opens an account or creates a profile or is identified by the social media platform by a unique identifier while using or accessing a social media platform when the social media platform knows or has reason to believe the personresident is alocated residentin of this State.

(2) AnonymousDaily ageactive verification.users.

– A commercially reasonable method used by a government agency or a business for the purpose of age verification, that is conductedbyanongovernmental, independent thirdpartyorganized under the laws of a state of the United States that meets all of the following criteria:

a.

Has its principal place of business in a state of the United States.

b.

Is not owned or controlled by a company formed in a foreign country, a government of a foreign country, or any other entity formed in a foreign country.

(3) Daily active users.

(4)(3) Department.

(5)(4) Minor.

(6)(5) Resident.

(7)(6) Social media platform or platform.

– An online forum, website, or application that satisfies alleach of the following criteria:

*H301-v-2* General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025 a.

Allows users to upload content or view the content or activity of other users.users;

Ten percent (10%) or more of the daily active users who are younger than 16 years of age spend on average two hours per day or longer on the online forum, website, or application on the days when using the online forum, website, or application during the previous 12 months *H301-v-1* General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025 or, if the online forum, website, or application did not exist during the previous 12 months, during the previous month.month;

Employs algorithms that analyze user data or information on users to select content for users.users;

and d.

5.

The term does not include (i) an online service, website, or application where the exclusive function is email or direct messaging consisting of text, photographs, pictures, images, or videos shared only between the sender and the recipients, without displaying or posting publicly or to other users not specifically identified as the recipients by the sender,sender. (ii) a community forum where the primary purpose of the forum is for customer self-service support related to products, sellers, services, events, or places, or any combination thereof, (iii) an interactive video game service equipped with parental controls that must be deactivated for a minor to use, (iv) online shopping, or (v) e-commerce.

(8) Standard age verification.

– Any commercially reasonable method of age verification approved by the social media platform.

– A social media platform shall prohibit a minor who is 14 or 15 years of age from entering into a contract with the platform to become an account Page 2 House Bill 301-Second Edition General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025 holder unless the minor's parent or guardian provides consent for the minor to become an account holder and shall do all of the following:

Page 2 House Bill 301-First Edition General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025 (c) Violations.

– If the Department has reason to believe that a social media platform is in violation of subsection (a) of this section, the Department, as the enforcing entity, may bring an action against the platform for an unfair or deceptive act or practice.

Any knowing or reckless violation of subsection (a) of this section is deemed an unfair and deceptive trade practice actionable under Chapter 75 of the General Statutes actionable solely by the Department against a social media platform.

When the social media platform's failure to comply with subsection (a) of this section is a consistent pattern of knowing or reckless conduct, punitive damages maymaybe be assessed against the platform.

A social media platform that knowingly or recklessly violates subsection (a) of this section is liable to the minor account holder, including court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees.

House Bill 301-Second Edition Page 3 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025 Upon failure of an entity or person without lawful excuse to obey a subpoena and upon reasonable notice to all persons affected, the Department may apply to the superior court for an order compelling compliance.

House Bill 301-First Edition Page 3 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025 Any entity or person upon whom a subpoena is served pursuant to this subsection shall comply with the terms thereof unless otherwise provided by order of the court.

Age verification for socialonline mediaaccess platforms.to materials harmful to minors.

(a) AThe socialfollowing mediadefinitions platformapply must use either anonymous age verification or standard age verification to verify that an account holder is 16 years of age or older and, except as provided in G.S.this section:

114B-2(b),(1) preventAnonymous creationage ofverification. an account by a person younger than 16 years of age.

The– socialA mediacommercially platformreasonable mustmethod offerused anonymousby agea verificationgovernment andagency standardor agea verification,business andfor athe personpurpose attemptingof toage createverification anwhich accountis mayconductedbyanongovernmental, selectindependent whichthirdpartyorganized methodunder willthe belaws usedof toa verifystate of the person'sUnited age.States which: