South Carolina H 5138: Chatbot Regulation

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 5138 Text of Previous Version (Feb. 10, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 5138

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 "CHATBOT PROTECTION ACT"; AND BY ADDING CHAPTER 80 TO TITLE 39 SO AS TO 
PROVIDE RESTRICTIONS ON CERTAIN CHATBOT ACTIVITIES AND TO PROVIDE FOR CIVIL 
ACTIONS.

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

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "Chatbot Protection Act."

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

CHAPTER 80

Chatbot Protection

 Section 
39-80-10. As used in this chapter:

 (1)(a) "Advertisement" means any written 
or oral statement, illustration, or depiction that is displayed in exchange for 
monetary or other valuable consideration if the written or oral statement, 
illustration, or depiction:

 (i) 
promotes the sale or use of a good or service; or

 (ii) 
is designed to increase interest in a brand, good, or service.

 (b) 
"Advertisement" includes access to data between the chatbot provider and a 
brand, good, or service.

 (2)(a) "Affirmative consent" means a clear 
affirmative act that signifies a user's freely given information and 
unambiguous authorization for an act or practice in response to a specific 
request from a chatbot provider, if:

 (i) 
The request is provided to the user in a clear and conspicuous stand-alone 
disclosure.

 (ii) 
The request includes a description that is written in easily understandable 
language.

 (iii) The request is made in a manner 
that is reasonably accessible and available by users with disabilities.

 (iv) 
The request is made available to the user in each language in which the chatbot 
provider provides a chatbot.

 (v) 
The option to decline consent is at least as prominent as the option to give 
consent, and the option to decline consent takes the same or fewer number of 
steps as the option to give consent.

 (vi) 
Affirmative consent to an act or practice may not be inferred from the inaction 
of the user or the user's continued use of a chatbot.

 (b) 
"Affirmative consent" does not include:

 (i) 
acceptance given by general or broad terms of use;

 (ii) 
hovering over, muting, pausing, or closing a given piece of content;

 (iii) an agreement that is obtained 
through the use of a false, fraudulent, or materially misleading statement or 
representation; or

 (iv) 
an agreement that is obtained through the use of other dark patterns.

 (3) 
"Chatbot" means an algorithmic or automated system that generates information 
through text, audio, image, or video in a manner that simulates interpersonal 
interactions or conversations including artificial intelligence.

 (4) 
"Chatbot provider" means any person that creates, distributes, or otherwise 
makes a chatbot available to a user.

 (5) 
"Chat log" means:

 (a) 
input data or a record of the input data; and

 (b) 
output data that is generated by a chatbot or from interactions with a chatbot.

 (6) 
"Dark pattern" means a user interface that is designed or manipulated to 
subvert or impair a user's autonomy, decision making, or choice.

 (7) 
"Deidentified data" means information that:

 (a) 
cannot reasonably be used to infer or derive the identity of a user;

 (b) 
does not identify a user; and

 (c) 
is not linked or is not reasonably linkable to a user.

 (8) 
"Input data" means information including texts, photos, audio files, video 
files, and any type of file that is provided to a chatbot by a user.

 (9) 
"Model" means an engineered or machine-based system underlying a chatbot that 
is based on the input data that it receives and that can infer how to generate 
output data that can influence physical or virtual environments.

 (10)(a) "Personal data" means:

 (i) 
any information, including derived data, that is linked or is reasonably 
linkable either by itself or in combination with other information to an 
identified or identifiable user; or

 (ii) 
a device that identifies or is linked or is reasonably linkable to a user.

 (b) 
"Personal data" does not include deidentified data or publicly available 
information.

 (11)(a) "Publicly available information" 
means information that has been lawfully made available to the public subject 
to a public records request.

 (b) 
"Publicly available information" does not include:

 (i) 
obscene items;

 (ii) 
biometric data;

 (iii) personal data that is created 
through the combination of personal data and publicly available information;

 (iv) 
genetic data, unless the genetic data was made available to the public by the 
user to whom the genetic data pertains;

 (v) 
information that is made available to the public by a user who uses a website 
or online platform on which the user has restricted the information