South Carolina H 5209: South Carolina Social Media Regulation Act

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 5209 Text of Previous Version (Feb. 18, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 5209

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 ADDING ARTICLE 9 TO CHAPTER 5, TITLE 39 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT SOCIAL MEDIA 
COMPANIES SHALL VERIFY THE AGE OF ACCOUNT HOLDERS, TO PROVIDE FOR CERTAIN 
REQUIREMENTS FOR MINOR ACCOUNT HOLDERS, TO PROVIDE FOR PARENTAL CONSENT, TO 
PROVIDE THAT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL MAY RECEIVE COMPLAINTS, TO PROVIDE FOR A 
PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION, AND TO PROVIDE FOR EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS.

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

SECTION 1. Chapter 5, Title 39 of the 
S.C. Code is amended by adding:

Article 9

South Carolina 
Social Media Regulation

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

 (1) "Account holder" means a person who 
has, or opens, an account or profile to use a social media company's platform.

 (2) "Interactive computer service" 
means an information service, information system, or information access 
software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to 
a computer server and provides access to the internet. An interactive computer 
service includes a web service, a web system, a website, a web application, or 
a web portal.

 (3) "Minor" means an individual under 
circumstances where a social media company reasonably believes or has actual 
knowledge that the individual is under the age of sixteen. A social media 
company shall treat an individual as a minor if the social media company 
verifies that the individual is under the age of sixteen as provided in this 
chapter.

 (4) "Office" means the South Carolina 
Office of Attorney General.

 (5) "Post" means content that an 
account holder makes available on a social media platform for other account 
holders or users to view.

 (6) "Social media company" means a 
person or entity that provides a social media platform that has at least five 
million account holders worldwide and is an interactive computer service.

 (7)(a) "Social media platform" means a 
public or semipublic internet-based service or application that has users in 
South Carolina and that meets all of the following:

 (i) The service or application connects 
users in order to allow users to interact socially with each other within the 
service or application. A service or application that provides email or direct 
messaging services, enterprise cloud storage services, enterprise cybersecurity 
services, educational devices, or enterprise collaboration tools for K-12 
schools are not considered to meet this criterion on the basis of that function 
alone.

 (ii) The service or application allows 
users to do all of the following:

 (A) construct a public or semipublic 
profile for the purposes of signing into and using the service or application;

 (B) populate a list of other users with 
whom an individual shares a social or virtual connection within the system, 
including subscribing to content related to another user; and

 (C) create or post content viewable by 
other users including, but not limited to, on message boards, in chat rooms, on 
video channels, or through a landing page or main feed that presents the user 
with content generated by other users.

 (b) "Social media platform" may not 
include an online service, website, or application where the predominant or 
exclusive function is any of the following:

 (i) electronic mail;

 (ii) a service that, pursuant to its 
terms of use, does not permit minors to use the platform and utilizes 
commercially reasonable age assurance mechanisms to attempt to prohibit minors 
from becoming an account holder or user;

 (iii) a streaming service that 
provides only licensed media in a continuous flow from the service, website, or 
application to the end user and does not obtain a license to the media from a 
user or account holder by agreement to its terms of service;

 (iv) news, sports, entertainment, or 
other content that is preselected by the provider and not user generated, and 
any chat, comment, or interactive functionality that is provided incidental to, 
directly related to, or dependent upon provisions of the content;

 (v) online shopping, electronic 
commerce, or self-service support if the interaction with other users or 
account holders is generally limited to the ability to upload a post and 
comment on reviews, the ability to seek support related to products or services, 
the ability to display lists or collections of goods for sale or wish lists, or 
any other function that is focused on online shopping, electronic commerce, or 
self-service support rather than interaction between users or account holders;

 (vi) interactive gaming, virtual 
gaming, or an online service that allows the creation and uploadi