South Carolina S 1103: Sym Singh

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 1103 Text of Previous Version (Apr. 01, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 1103

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS SO AS TO ENACT 
THE "STOP HARM FROM ADDICTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA (SHASM) ACT"; AND BY ADDING ARTICLE 
9 TO CHAPTER 5, TITLE 39 SO AS TO REQUIRE COVERED SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS TO USE 
REASONABLE MEANS TO ESTIMATE THE AGE OF CERTAIN ACCOUNT HOLDERS, TO VERIFY THE 
AGE OF CERTAIN ACCOUNT HOLDERS, TO CREATE DEFAULT ACCOUNT SETTINGS FOR CERTAIN 
USERS, AND TO CREATE CERTAIN PARENTAL CONSENTS.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "Stops Harm from Addictive Social Media 
(SHASM) Act".

SECTION 2. Chapter 5, Title 39 of the S.C. Code is amended by 
adding:

Article 9

Stop Harm from Addictive Social Media

 Section 
39-5-910. As used in this article:

 (1) 
"Account holder" means a South Carolina resident who has an account or a 
profile with a covered social media platform that is associated by the covered 
social media platform with a unique identifier during any period in which a 
covered social media platform knows or should reasonably know is physically 
located in this State.

 (2) 
"Addictive interface features" means:

 (a) 
infinite scrolling, which means:

 (i) 
continuously loading content, or content that loads as the account holder 
scrolls down the page without the need to open a separate page; or

 (ii) 
seamless content or the use of pages with no visible or apparent end or page 
breaks;

 (b) 
display of a profile-based feed;

 (c) 
push notifications, whether audible, visual, or tactile, designed to call the 
attention of the account holder to newly posted content, or to user responses 
to content posted by the account holder, or to inform the account holder about 
other specific activities or events related to the account holder's account. 
Push notifications do not include a notification for the purpose of alerting 
the account holder to incoming calls, text messages, email messages, or similar 
messages sent by human contacts and delivered by means of any application;

 (d) 
auto-play video or video that begins to play without the account holder first 
clicking on the video or on a play button for that video;

 (e) 
display of personal metrics that indicate the number of times other users have 
clicked a button or taken other action to indicate their reaction to content 
posted by the account holder, or have shared or reposted content posted by the 
account holder; or

 (f) 
display of awards, badges, tiers, or any form of recognition of the account 
holder based on hours spent by the account holder on the social media platform, 
numbers of followers, numbers of postings, frequency or regularity of postings, 
or any other metric of usage or performance on the social media platform.

 (3) 
"Child" means a South Carolina resident under the age of sixteen.

 (4) 
"Covered social media platform" means a social media platform, including any 
parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of the social media platform, that 
collectively generated at least one billion dollars in advertising revenues 
annually, worldwide in one or more of the preceding three years.

 (5) "First 
trigger date" means, with respect to each account holder and each covered 
social media platform, the date upon which it first becomes true that the 
account holder has been on the covered social media platform for twenty-five 
hours or more within a six-month period following the effective date of this 
act.

 (6) "Paid 
commercial advertising" is advertising for which the social media platform 
receives compensation of any sort in return for displaying the advertising and 
that seeks to encourage the account holder to purchase a product or service or 
otherwise engage in a commercial transaction or to follow a link to a website 
that encourages the account holder to engage in a commercial transaction.

 (7) "Notice 
to a parent" has the meaning established in the Children's Online Privacy 
Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 6501 and implementing regulations at 16 
C.F.R. Part 312.4.

 (8) "Parent" 
includes any legal guardian of a child who is a South Carolina resident.

 (9)(a) "Personal information" means 
information about an account holder collected online that comprises "personal 
information" within the meaning of the Children's Online Privacy Protection 
Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 6501(8) and implementing regulations and:

 (i) 
any record of or derived from online activity or history, search history, or 
online communications of an account holder with respect to any application, 
website, or social media platform;

 (ii) 
any photograph or biometric information that is used or could reasonably be 
used to iden