Connecticut HB 5037: AN ACT REQUIRING ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT.

Bill Text

LCO 1 of 8

General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 5037
February Session, 2026

AN ACT PROMOTING THE SAFETY OF MINORS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
PLATFORMS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective January 1, 2028) (a) As used in this section: 1
(1) "Covered minor" means any covered user who is younger than 2
eighteen years of age; 3
(2) "Covered operator" (A) means any operator who operates or 4
provides a covered platform, and (B) does not include the federal 5
government, any state or municipal government or any agency or 6
instrumentality of the federal government or of any state or municipal 7
government; 8
(3) "Covered platform" (A) means any platform that, as a significant 9
part of the services offered, recommends, selects or prioritizes for 10
display, either concurrently or sequentially, media items generated or 11
shared on a platform by users of such platform, and (B) does not include 12
any platform that (i) primarily facilitates the sale of goods, or (ii) is used 13
solely for educational purposes pursuant to a contract required under 14
section 10-234bb of the general statutes; 15
(4) "Covered user" means any user of a covered platform in this state 16
who is not acting as the covered operator, or as an agent or affiliate of 17
the covered operator, of the covered platform; 18

Substitute Bill No. 5037

LCO 2 of 8

(5) "Media item" means any text, image or video; 19
(6) "Operator" means any individual, corporation, limited liability 20
company, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, 21
association, joint stock company, unincorporated organization or other 22
legal entity that operates or provides a platform; 23
(7) "Platform" means any Internet web site, online service, online 24
application, mobile application or social media platform, or any portion 25
thereof; and 26
(8) "Sensitive content" means any content that the covered operator 27
of a covered platform deems to be in violation of the community 28
standards, or any similar guidelines or standards, such covered operator 29
has established for the covered platform. 30
(b) (1) No covered operator of a covered platform shall allow a 31
covered user to access any portion of the covered platform that 32
recommends, selects or prioritizes for display, either concurrently or 33
sequentially, media items generated or shared by users of such covered 34
platform if such recommendation, selection or prioritization is based, in 35
whole or in part, on any information associated with the covered user 36
or such covered user's device, unless: 37
(A) (i) The covered operator has used commercially reasonable and 38
technically feasible methods to determine that the covered user is not a 39
covered minor; or 40
(ii) If the covered user is a covered minor, the covered operator has 41
obtained verifiable consent from the covered minor's parent or legal 42
guardian to recommend, select or prioritize media items for such 43
covered minor in the manner set forth in this subdivision; 44
(B) The recommendation, selection or prioritization (i) is based on 45
information that is not persistently associated with the covered user or 46
the covered user's device, and (ii) does not concern the covered user's 47
previous interactions with media items generated or shared by other 48

Substitute Bill No. 5037

LCO 3 of 8

users of such covered platform; 49
(C) The recommendation, selection or prioritization is based on (i) 50
privacy or accessibility settings selected by the covered user, or (ii) 51
technical information concerning the covered user's device; 52
(D) The covered user has expressly and unambiguously requested 53
the display, blocking, prioritization or deprioritization of any specific 54
media item, media items from a specific author, creator or poster to 55
whom, or source to which, the covered user has subscribed or media 56
items shared by users to a specific page or group to which the covered 57
user has subscribed; 58
(E) The recommended, selected or prioritized media item is a direct 59
and private communication; 60
(F) The media item is recommended, selected or prioritized solely in 61
response to a specific search inquiry made by the covered user; 62
(G) The media item is recommended, selected or prioritized for 63
display solely because the media item (i) immediately follows any other 64
media item in a preexisting sequence, and (ii) is from the same author, 65
creator, poster or source; or 66
(H) The recommendation, selection or prioritization is necessary to 67
comply with any other provision of this section. 68
(2) (A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B) of this subdivision, a 69
covered operator that has used commercially reasonable and technically 70
feasible methods to determine a covered user's age and is unable to 71
determine whether the covered user is a covered minor shall presume 72
that such covered user is not a covered minor for the purposes