Cybersecurity Policy Report, S.C. Senate Votes to Advances Proposed Social Media Bill, (May 15, 2026)
Organizations Mentioned:NetChoice, LLC
The State Carolina state Senate voted this week to pass a bill that would require social media platforms to estimate the age of certain account holders, verify the age of certain account holders, and create default account settings for some users and other parental controls.
The Stop Harm from Addictive Social Media (SHASM) Act would require large social media platforms with at least $1 billion in annual advertising revenue to take steps to protect children under 16 from potentially harmful and addictive features. The bill would direct these platforms to use “reasonable means to estimate and verify the ages of account holders,” with specific confidence thresholds and timelines triggered by user activity.
HB 4591 would direct platforms to obtain verifiable parental consent before allowing children to create or maintain accounts and set all privacy settings for child accounts to the most private by default. The bill gives parents the option to monitor and limit their children’s usage, and platforms would be prohibited from displaying addictive interface features such as infinite scrolling and auto-play videos.
The act would provide for a private right of action for children and parents to seek damages, including statutory damages of at least $10,000 for reckless or knowing violations, and allow for punitive damages in cases of consistent misconduct. The attorney general would be empowered to enforce the act.
NetChoice LLC had urged lawmakers to vote against the bill, saying it would “force social media platforms to collect vast amounts of South Carolinians’ sensitive data—including government-issued identification from minors and parents alike—creating far greater privacy risks than the ones this bill claims to solve.”
“This bill presents at least two independent First Amendment violations. First, it infringes on the rights of users to receive protected expression without first having their age ‘estimated’ by the platform and, if determined to be a minor, securing parental consent. Second, it infringes on the rights of platforms to disseminate their own ‘distinctive expressive offering’ to users without engaging in invasive age estimation and verification processes,” according to NetChoice.
The bill would take effect Jan. 1, 2027.
Rep. Brandon Guffey (R.) is the primary sponsor of the bill (H.B. 4591, Reg Sess.).
News: StateLegislation DataPrivacy