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AB-2657 Social Media Commission.(2023-2024)



Current Version: 03/21/24 - Amended Assembly

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AB2657:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 21, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2657

Introduced by Assembly Member Arambula

February 14, 2024

An act to add Division 21 (commencing with Section 27000) 22 (commencing with Section 28000) to the Health and Safety Code, relating to social media.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2657, as amended, Arambula. Social Media Commission.
Existing law regulates social media platforms, through various acts, including the Cyberbullying Protection Act, which requires a social media platform to, among other things and subject to specified exceptions, disclose all cyberbullying reporting procedures in the terms of service, and the Online Violence Prevention Act, which requires a social medial platform to, except as specified, clearly and conspicuously state whether it has a mechanism for reporting violent posts that is available to users and nonusers of the platform.
This bill would establish the Social Media Commission and would require the commission to investigate the impacts on the mental health of children and adolescents of the methods and tools used by social media companies and to make recommendations on how best to mitigate these impacts. for the purpose of bringing together a diverse group of experts and invested stakeholders to provide a comprehensive report with formal recommendations for regulation of social media as it relates to child and adolescent mental health and well-being. The bill would require the Secretary of California Health and Human Services, or the secretary’s designee, to chair the commission. The bill would require that the commission be composed of 7 subcommittees, including among others, a subcommittee of parents, a subcommittee of adolescents, a subcommittee of educators, and subcommittees of researchers and subject matter experts, as specified.
This bill would request the University of California to send an informational briefing to committee members containing, among other things, a review of research on the outcomes of enacted legislation on adolescent social media use and mental health. The bill would require the commission to meet for the first time on or before March 30, 2025. The bill would require the commission to submit its report to the Legislature and the Governor on or before April 1, 2026.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) Social media are internet-based channels that allow users to create profiles and interact, either in real time or asynchronously, with audiences searching for interaction with others or user-generated content.
(2) Mental health is a state of well-being where the individuals can realize their own abilities, cope with life stressors, work productively, and contribute to their community.
(3) Children and adolescents, or individuals collectively referred to as minors, are considered as vulnerable populations with respect to their experience of mental health and their abilities to understand and process mediated content, particularly through social media channels.
(4) Research has demonstrated that social media usage among children and adolescents is associated with poor mental health, including increases in depression and anxiety, and decreases in body image.
(5) More than 20 states have enacted, or are considering, regulations to social media in order to protect the mental health of children and adolescents. This is a timely topic of clear societal interest regarding the health and well-being of the next generation.
(6) Legislation considered across all states has included the following:
(A) Stricter age verifications.
(B) Requiring consent of parents or guardians to open a social media account among those 13 to 17 years of age, inclusive.
(C) Allowing parents or guardians to set limitations on the hours an adolescent user may access their account.
(D) Providing parents or guardians with full access to their child’s account and all its content.
(E) Limiting the obtaining and sharing of adolescent users’ personal information and accounts by social media companies.
(F) Preventing users under 18 years of age from receiving targeted ads.
(G) Banning algorithms and design features which may promote harmful content on adolescent users’ feeds, including the sale of weapons or drugs, self-harm, and other content.
(H) Blocking all pornographic content from users under 18 years of age.
(I) Requiring that certain apps be blocked entirely to protect user data from foreign companies.
(7) Beyond the United States, countries around the world have enacted various social media regulations to protect the mental health of children and adolescents, including South Korea, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, India, and Brazil.
(8) To date, social media use in the United States, with respect to the enforcement of age verifications, limitations on the content to which minors are exposed, the ability of proprietary algorithms to freely recommend content to children and adolescents, and advertising to vulnerable youth, remains largely unregulated.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that social media content and social media companies are regulated in such a way to promote the health and well-being of the vulnerable population of children and adolescents.

SEC. 2.

 Division 22 (commencing with Section 28000) is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

DIVISION 22. Social Media

28000.
 (a) There is hereby established the Social Media Commission for the purpose of bringing together a diverse group of experts and invested stakeholders to provide a comprehensive report with formal recommendations for regulation of social media as it relates to child and adolescent mental health and well-being.
(b) (1) The commission shall be composed of seven subcommittees, each with five total members, including one subcommittee chair. Each subcommittee chair shall be responsible for leading meetings and writing the subcommittee recommendation reports.
(2) The subcommittee chairs shall consist of the following:
(A) The Secretary of California Health and Human Services, or the secretary’s designee, who shall serve as the chairperson and as subcommittee chair of one of the subcommittees.
(B) Two subcommittee chair members, appointed by the Governor.
(C) Two subcommittee chair members, appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
(D) Two subcommittee chair members, appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
(3) All appointees shall have appropriate knowledge and experience regarding social media, or other relevant expertise.
(c) Subcommittees shall consist of the following:
(1) A subcommittee of parents, divided into two groups:
(A) The first group shall consist of parents of children 8 to 12 years of age, inclusive.
(B) The second group shall consist of parents of children 13 to 17 years of age, inclusive.
(2) A subcommittee of adolescents 13 to 17 years of age, inclusive.
(3) A subcommittee of educators, divided into two groups:
(A) Educators of pupils in second grade to fifth grade, inclusive.
(B) Educators of pupils in sixth grade to twelfth grade, inclusive.
(4) A subcommittee of researchers with expertise that collectively covers the following subject areas:
(A) Communication.
(B) Human development.
(C) Psychology.
(D) Neuroscience.
(E) Pediatrics.
(5) A subcommittee of media and technology experts in the following subject areas:
(A) Computer science.
(B) Data privacy.
(C) User experience (UX) researchers.
(6) A subcommittee of policy experts in the following subject areas:
(A) Communication law.
(B) Policy research.
(C) Economics.
(7) A subcommittee of mental health professionals, consisting of the following:
(A) Therapists.
(B) Psychiatrists.
(C) Addiction specialists.

28001.
 (a) The commission shall meet for the first time on or before March 30, 2025, and shall convene meetings at least quarterly at locations that are easily accessible to the public in accordance with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).
(b) The University of California is requested to send, prior to the initial subcommittee meeting, an informational briefing to each committee’s members for review that contains a summary document containing all of the following:
(1) A list and description of proposed, enacted, and failed legislation by each state relating to social media and child or adolescent well-being.
(2) A review of other countries’ existing legislation relating to social media and child or adolescent well-being.
(3) A review of research on the outcomes of enacted legislation on adolescent social media use and mental health.
(4) A description of the goals and processes of the commission.
(5) A description of the legislative process with respect to the commission’s purpose.
(c) (1) Subcommittees shall meet a minimum of two times prior to the first commission-wide chairs’ meeting.
(2) During the first commission-wide chairs’ meeting, each subcommittee chair shall share the thoughts of their respective committee and receive feedback from the group.
(3) A final subcommittee meeting shall occur following the commission-wide chairs’ meeting to discuss any new information or recommendations from other committees. At this final subcommittee meeting, subcommittees shall draft their official recommendation report.
(4) At a final commission-wide chairs’ meeting, subcommittee chairs shall create a summary of recommendations that will be sent to commission leaders to draft a final report.
(d) The commission may establish advisory committees that include members of the public with relevant knowledge and experience that support stakeholder engagement and an analytical process by which key design options are developed. A member of an advisory committee need not be a member of the commission.
(e) The commission and each advisory committee shall keep official records of all of their proceedings.

28002.
 (a) On or before April 1, 2026, the commission shall submit a report to the Legislature and the Governor that includes both of the following:
(1) A summary and analysis of the robust, multidisciplinary research and current regulatory practices regarding child and adolescent social media use and mental health with special consideration for parental, youth, and industry perspectives.
(2) A formal set of policy recommendations for legislators on how to effectively regulate social media to enhance youth safety and well-being. The recommendations may also include identifying areas where further investigation is needed to provide ongoing governance recommendations, particularly as technology and research in adolescent well-being co-evolve.
(b) The report to be submitted to the Legislature pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

SECTION 1.Division 21 (commencing with Section 27000) is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:
21.Social Media
27000.

(a)The Legislature finds and declares that despite the potential benefits to society of online social networks, there is substantial evidence of adverse mental health impacts on the users of the many tools designed to increase time spent on these networks.

(b)There is hereby established the Social Media Commission.

(c) The commission shall investigate the impacts on the mental health of children and adolescents of the methods and tools used by social media companies and shall make recommendations on how best to mitigate these impacts.