Stop Harm from Addictive Social Media Act

The American Council supports S1103, the Stop Harm from Addictive Social Media Act, and urges every South Carolina legislator to vote yes. This bill addresses a documented harm to children with specific, enforceable obligations on the platforms large enough to bear them. We ask you to read this brief, contact your legislator, and add your voice to ours in support of passage.

At the heart of the bill is a straightforward protective principle: covered platforms must estimate whether a user is a child and must treat that user as a child unless they can conclude otherwise with high confidence. The bill requires an initial estimate within fourteen days of the first trigger date, using an 80 percent confidence threshold, and a revised estimate at the second trigger date requiring 90 percent confidence before a platform may treat the holder as an adult. Critically, platforms must also update each account holder's age estimate after every additional 100 hours on the platform, or whenever demographic analytics are applied for any other purpose. These are not symbolic gestures; they are recurring, auditable obligations. Just as important, the bill explicitly prohibits platforms from using compliance as a pretext to collect new data, requiring instead that age estimates be derived from information already gathered in the ordinary course of business.

Once a child is identified, the bill's protections are concrete. Platforms may not present any of six defined addictive interface features, including infinite scrolling, auto-play video, push notifications, profile-based feeds, personal reaction metrics, and awards or badges, in a child's display or feed. They may not serve profile-based paid commercial advertising to children. Every privacy setting on a child's account must default to the most private level and cannot be changed without verifiable parental consent. Parents must be offered, during the consent process, a separate parental password enabling them to monitor time spent, set daily and weekly limits, and restrict access by time of day. These are meaningful tools, not checkbox disclosures, and we believe they reflect a sound understanding of how digital environments are actually experienced by young people.

The bill also gives families the legal standing to act when platforms fail. A child or parent may bring a private right of action for declaratory or injunctive relief, actual damages including harm to mental health and emotional distress, court costs, and attorney's fees. Where a violation is reckless or knowing, the minimum statutory damages award is ten thousand dollars per violation. Punitive damages are available where violations form a consistent pattern of reckless or knowing conduct. Contracts that a child entered without adequate parental consent, including arbitration clauses and liability waivers, are void and unenforceable. And the statute of limitations is tolled during the minority of the plaintiff, so a child is not barred from relief simply because they were too young to pursue it. The American Council views these enforcement provisions as inseparable from the bill's protective intent; a right without a remedy is a promise without a foundation.

We recognize the bill includes thoughtful balance. Platforms are protected by a safe harbor for those that used reasonable means and reasonable efforts, taking into account available technology and their own data, to comply. Communications from real human contacts are carved out of the push notification restriction. Content a user affirmatively chose to follow is carved out of the profile-based feed prohibition. These carve-outs reflect legislative care, not weakness, and they make the bill more durable without compromising its core purpose. We urge the South Carolina General Assembly to pass S1103 and send a clear signal that the dignity and safety of children are not negotiable.