MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division A
By: Senator(s) Williams, Boyd
AN ACT TO ENACT THE WALKER MONTGOMERY PROTECTING CHILDREN ONLINE ACT; TO DEFINE TERMS; TO SPECIFY THE TYPES OF DIGITAL SERVICE PROVIDERS TO BE AFFECTED BY THIS ACT; TO PROHIBIT DIGITAL SERVICE PROVIDERS FROM ENTERING AGREEMENTS TO CREATE ACCOUNTS WITH INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE NOT REGISTERED THEIR AGE WITH THE PROVIDER; TO REQUIRE THE DIGITAL SERVICE PROVIDERS TO LIMIT COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONAL IDENTIFYING INFORMATION WHEN ENTERING INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH A KNOWN MINOR; TO PROHIBIT A DIGITAL SERVICE PROVIDER FROM COLLECTING A MINOR'S PRECISE GEOLOCATION DATA, DISPLAYING TARGETED ADVERTISEMENTS INVOLVING HARMFUL MATERIAL TO A KNOWN MINOR, OR SHARING, DISCLOSING OR SELLING A KNOWN MINOR'S PERSONAL IDENTIFYING INFORMATION UNLESS REQUIRED BY CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES; TO REQUIRE A DIGITAL SERVICE PROVIDER TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A STRATEGY TO PREVENT A KNOWN MINOR'S EXPOSURE TO HARMFUL MATERIAL; TO NOTE THAT THIS ACT DOES NOT CREATE A PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION FOR A VIOLATION EXCEPT FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES; TO AMEND SECTION 75-24-5 TO INCLUDE SECTIONS 1 THROUGH 8 OF THIS ACT IN A LIST OF PROHIBITED UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES OR ACTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. This Act shall be known and may be cited as the "Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act."
SECTION 2. For purposes of this act, the following words shall have the meanings ascribed herein unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
(a) "Digital service" means a website, an application, a program, or software that collects or processes personal identifying information with internet connectivity.
(b) "Digital service provider" means a person who:
(i) Owns or operates a digital service;
(ii) Determines the purpose of collecting and processing the personal identifying information of users of the digital service; and
(iii) Determines the means used to collect and process the personal identifying information of users of the digital service.
(c) "Harmful material" means material that is harmful to minors as defined by Section 11-77-3(d).
(d) "Known minor" means a child who is younger than 18 years of age who has not had the disabilities of minority removed for general purposes and that a digital service provider knows to be a minor.
(e) "Personal identifying information" means any information, including sensitive information, that is linked or reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable individual. The term includes pseudonymous information when the information is used by a controller or processor in conjunction with additional information that reasonably links the information to an identified or identifiable individual. The term does not include deidentified information or publicly available information.
SECTION 3. (1) This act applies only to a digital service provider who provides a digital service that:
(a) Connects users in a manner that allows users to socially interact with other users on the digital service;
(b) Allows a user to create a public, semi-public, or private profile for purposes of signing into and using the digital service; and
(c) Allows a user to create or post content that can be viewed by other users of the digital service, including sharing content on:
(i) A message board;
(ii) A chat room; or
(iii) A landing page, video channel, or main feed that presents to a user content created and posted by other users.
(2) This act does not apply to:
(a) A digital service provider who processes or maintains user data in connection with the employment, promotion, reassignment, or retention of the user as an employee or independent contractor, to the extent that the user's data is processed or maintained for that purpose;
(b) A digital service provider's provision of a digital service that facilitates e-mail or direct messaging services, if the digital service facilitates only those services; or
(c) A digital service provider's provision of a digital service that:
(i) Primarily functions to provide a user with access to news, sports, commerce, or content primarily generated or selected by the digital service provider; and
(ii) Allows chat, comment, or other interactive functionality that is incidental to the digital service.
(3) Unless an internet service provider, internet service provider's affiliate or subsidiary, search engine, or cloud service provider is responsible for the creation of harmful material or other content described by Section 6 of this act, the internet service provider, internet service provider's affiliate or subsidiary, search engine, or cloud service provider is not considered to be a digital service provider or to offer a digital service if the internet service provider or provider's affiliate or subsidiary, search engine, or cloud service provider solely provides access or connection, including through transmission, download, intermediate storage, access software, or other service, to an internet website or to other information or content:
(a) On the internet; or
(b) On a facility, system, or network not under the control of the internet service provider, provider's affiliate or subsidiary, search engine, or cloud service provider.
SECTION 4. A digital service provider may not enter into an agreement with a person to create an account with a digital service unless the person has registered the person's age with the digital service provider.
SECTION 5. A digital service provider that enters into an agreement with a known minor for access to a digital service:
(a) Shall:
(i) Limit collection of the known minor's personal identifying information to information reasonably necessary to provide the digital service; and
(ii) Limit the use of the known minor's personal identifying information to the purpose for which the information was collected; and
(b) May not:
(i) Use the digital service to collect the known minor's precise geolocation data;
(ii) Use the digital service to display targeted advertising involving harmful material to the known minor; or
(iii) Share, disclose or sell the known minor's personal identifying information unless required to:
1. Comply with a civil, criminal or regulatory inquiry, investigation, subpoena or summons by a governmental entity;
2. Comply with a law enforcement investigation;
3. Detect, block, or prevent the distribution of unlawful, obscene, or other harmful material to a known minor;
4. Block or filter spam;
5. Prevent criminal activity; or
6. Protect the security of a digital service.
SECTION 6. In relation to a known minor's use of a digital service, a digital service provider shall develop and implement a strategy to prevent the known minor's exposure to harmful material and other content that promotes, glorifies, or facilitates:
(a) Suicide, self-harm or eating disorders;
(b) Substance abuse or use of illegal drugs;
(c) Stalking, bullying or harassment;
(d) Grooming, trafficking, child pornography or other sexual exploitation or abuse;
(e) Incitement of violence; or
(f) Any other illegal activity.
SECTION 7. (1) Except as provided by subsection (2) of this section, this act may not be construed as providing a basis for, or being subject to, a private right of action for a violation of this act.
(2) If a digital service provider violates this act, the parent or guardian of a known minor affected by that violation may bring a cause of action seeking:
(a) A declaratory judgment under Rule 57 of Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure; or
(b) An injunction against the digital service provider.
(3) A court may not certify an action brought under this section as a class action.
SECTION 8. Section 75-24-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
75-24-5. (1) Unfair methods of competition affecting commerce and unfair or deceptive trade practices in or affecting commerce are prohibited. Action may be brought under Section 75-24-5(1) only under the provisions of Section 75-24-9.
(2) Without limiting the scope of subsection (1) of this section, the following unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive trade practices or acts in the conduct of any trade or commerce are hereby prohibited:
(a) Passing off goods or services as those of another;
(b) Misrepresentation of the source, sponsorship, approval, or certification of goods or services;
(c) Misrepresentation of affiliation, connection, or association with, or certification by another;
(d) Misrepresentation of designations of geographic origin in connection with goods or services;
(e) Representing that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits, or quantities that they do not have or that a person has a sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation, or connection that he does not have;
(f) Representing that goods are original or new if they are reconditioned, reclaimed, used, or secondhand;
(g) Representing that goods or services are of a particular standard, quality, or grade, or that goods are of a particular style or model, if they are of another;
(h) Disparaging the goods, services, or business of another by false or misleading representation of fact;
(i) Advertising goods or services with intent not to sell them as advertised;
(j) Advertising goods or services with intent not to supply reasonably expectable public demand, unless the advertisement discloses a limitation of quantity;
(k) Misrepresentations of fact concerning the reasons for, existence of, or amounts of price reductions;
(l) Advertising by or on behalf of any licensed or regulated health care professional which does not specifically describe the license or qualifications of the licensed or regulated health care professional;
(m) Charging an increased premium for reinstating a motor vehicle insurance policy that was cancelled or suspended by the insured solely for the reason that he was transferred out of this state while serving in the United States Armed Forces or on active duty in the National Guard or United States Armed Forces Reserve. It is also an unfair practice for an insurer to charge an increased premium for a new motor vehicle insurance policy if the applicant for coverage or his covered dependents were previously insured with a different insurer and canceled that policy solely for the reason that he was transferred out of this state while serving in the United States Armed Forces or on active duty in the National Guard or United States Armed Forces Reserve. For purposes of determining premiums, an insurer shall consider such persons as having maintained continuous coverage. The provisions of this paragraph (m) shall apply only to such instances when the insured does not drive the vehicle during the period of cancellation or suspension of his policy;
(n) Violating the provisions of Section 75-24-8;
(o) Violating the provisions of Sections 1 through 8 of this act; and
( * * *p) Violating the provisions of Section
73-3-38.
SECTION 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.