South Carolina H 3405: Instructional days

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3405 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 06, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3405

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 BY ENACTING THE 
"APP STORE ACCOUNTABILITY ACT" BY ADDING CHAPTER 31 TO TITLE 37 SO AS TO 
PROVIDE DEFINITIONS, TO PROVIDE THAT APP STORE PROVIDERS DETERMINE CERTAIN AGE CATEGORIES 
AND CERTAIN PARENTAL CONSENT, TO PROVIDE THAT CERTAIN INFORMATION MUST BE 
PROMINENTLY DISPLAYED, TO PROVIDE THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS SHALL 
ISSUE CERTAIN GUIDANCE, TO PROVIDE FOR CONFLICTING SIGNALS, TO ESTABLISH AN 
ADVISORY COMMITTEE, TO PROVIDE FOR ENFORCEMENT, AND TO PROVIDE FOR REMEDIES.

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

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "App Store Accountability Act."

SECTION 2. The 
General Assembly of South Carolina finds that:

 (1) Minors are 
not legally empowered in this State to enter into contracts or binding 
agreements without their parents or guardian's consent.

 (2) Many 
internet apps allow in-app purchases by minors without confirming that an adult 
has consented to such a purchase.

 (3) Many apps 
contain content the dissemination of which is illegal for minors such as 
obscene or sexually explicit material that is harmful to minors.

 (4) Many apps 
contain content that have addictive features and age-inappropriate material 
such as violence or adult themes.

 (5) As many as 
ninety-five percent of American teenagers own a smartphone and thus have access 
to apps through an app store.

 (6) Certain app 
stores offer some means for parents to oversee their minors' use of apps but 
these efforts are generally inadequate.

 (7) Certain app 
stores offer some form of age rating for apps but those ratings have proven to 
be inaccurate, vague, deceptive, or otherwise unhelpful to parents.

 (8) Some 
developers claim to limit or prohibit use of their app by minors, but their 
policies are frequently not enforced or enforced inadequately to prevent 
children from accessing the apps.

 (9) There are 
online services that offer the capability to verify the age of a user of an 
app.

 (10) App stores 
can verify the age of their users if they choose to do so.

 (11) App store 
providers that also own the mobile operating system also publicly claim that 
they offer parental controls to limit the use of certain apps and filter 
sexually explicit material and fail to do so after the parent has employed 
those services. 

 (12) Requiring 
age verification by app store providers will empower parental oversight of 
minors' use of apps while not limiting access to the apps by adults.

 (13) The 
technology industry has argued that industry-initiated voluntary filtering or 
age verification is protecting children from apps that harm them, but this has 
been proven to be incorrect and inadequate.

 (14) This 
legislation seeks to ensure adults retain unimpeded access to content while 
providing protections for minors, with the understanding that parental 
involvement remains essential for safeguarding children online.

 (15) This 
legislation does not favor or benefit the products sold in this State or 
disfavor products produced in other states and available in this State, nor 
does it purport to regulate interstate commerce or commerce in other states or 
impose regulations governing conduct outside this State.

 (16) This 
legislation explicitly regulates only conduct occurring within this State.

SECTION 3. Title 37 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

CHAPTER 31

App Store Accountability

 Section 
37-31-10. As used in this Chapter:

 (1) 
"Age category" means the category of an individual based on their age, 
including:

 (a) 
"Legal adult" means an individual who is at least twenty-one years of age.

 (b) 
"Adult" means an individual who is at least eighteen years of age and under the 
age of twenty-one.

 (c) 
"Older teenager" means an individual who is at least seventeen years of age and 
under eighteen years of age.

 (d) 
"Teenager" means an individual who is at least thirteen years of age and is 
under seventeen years of age.

 (e) 
"Child" means an individual who is under the age of thirteen.

 (2) 
"App" means a software application or electronic service that may be run or 
directed by a user on a computer, a mobile device, a tablet, or any other 
general purpose computing device.

 (3) 
"App store" means a publicly available website, software application, or other 
electronic service that distributes apps from third-party developers to users 
of a computer, a tablet, a mobile device, or any other general-purpose 
computing device.

 (4) 
"Department" means the Department of Consumer Affairs.

 (5) 
"Developer" means any person that owns or controls an app made available