SB2064 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 09138 SPS 19194 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
SB2064

Introduced 2/6/2025, by Sen. Karina Villa

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act
815 ILCS 505/2HHHH new

Creates the Youth Social Media Engagement Act. Creates the Commission on Youth Social Media Engagement. Provides that the Commission shall develop a resource bank of existing evidence-based and research-based scholarly articles pertaining to the mental and physical health impacts of social media use by youth, Internet safety, and cybersecurity and make recommendations to the General Assembly. Sets forth provisions concerning membership; terms; compensation; and administrative support. Provides that, on and after January 1, 2027, a social media platform operating in the State shall establish a function to provide users who are under the age of 18 with information about the user's engagement with social media. Provides that a violation of specified provisions is an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Amends the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act to make conforming changes. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning health.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Youth Social Media Engagement Act.

Section 5. Findings and intent. The General Assembly finds and declares:

(a) On May 23, 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a Social Media and Youth Mental Health advisory to recognize the growing impact of social media on youth mental health and well-being as a significant public health challenge that requires immediate awareness and action.

(b) The advisory includes recommendations for policymakers to address this issue, including to "strengthen protections to ensure greater safety for children interacting with all social media platforms".

(c) In the United States, up to 95% of youth ages 13 to 17 report using social media platforms, and a third of youth report using social media "almost constantly".

(d) A study of youth in the United States ages 12 to 15 found that youth who spend 3 or more hours a day on social media had double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes, including experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety. As of 2021, the average time spent on social media for this age group is 3.5 hours a day, with one in 4 youth spending 5 or more hours a day on the platforms, and one in 5 youth spending 7 or more hours a day on social media.

(e) A systematic review of 42 studies on the effects of excessive social media use found a consistent relationship between social media use and poor sleep quality, reduced sleep duration, sleep difficulties, and depression among youth.

(f) Social media sites are designed to maximize user engagement, which can encourage excessive social media use and behavioral dysregulation. Youth undergo critical periods of brain development, and social media exposure and frequent use may be associated with distinct changes in the developing brain, including overstimulation of the amygdala, triggering pathways similar to those in individuals with substance use or gambling addictions.

(g) The Illinois Children's Mental Health Partnership developed goals in 2022. One of the goals was to "increase public awareness on all issues connected to child mental health and wellness to decrease stigma and promote acceptance, and strengthen children, families, and communities to identify needs and access support with resources and funding".

(h) Understanding more about how technology and health intersect can help solve certain societal problems and improve the mental and physical health of Illinois youth.

(i) It is a matter of statewide concern to provide research-based education and interventions, including resources on the effects of social media use on brain development, how to mitigate the risks associated with social media use, and how to maintain well-being while interacting in online environments, to help youth make informed decisions on responsible social media use.

Section 10. Commission on Youth Social Media Engagement.

(a) The Commission on Youth Social Media Engagement is created. The Commission shall develop a resource bank of existing evidence-based and research-based scholarly articles pertaining to the mental and physical health impacts of social media use by youth, Internet safety, and cybersecurity and make recommendations to the General Assembly concerning practical avenues to inform local community organizations, parents, youth, and the general public about the resource bank in a manner that allows for the collection of disaggregated data on how often the materials are accessed.

(b) The Commission shall consist of the following members:

(1) the Director of the Department of Public Health or the Director's designee, who shall serve as Chair of the Commission;

(2) the Director of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services or the Director's designee;

(3) the State Superintendent of Education or the State Superintendent's designee;

(4) 4 members appointed by the Governor, of which 3 members shall represent the interests of social media platforms;

(5) 5 members appointed by the President of the Senate, of which one member shall represent the interests of parents, one member shall be between the ages of 16 and 25 years of age, one member with experience as a youth mental health professional such as a social worker, child adolescent psychiatrist, or other professional specializing in youth mental health, and not more than one of whom may be a current member of the General Assembly;

(6) 5 members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, of which one member shall represent the interests of parents, one youth member shall be between the ages of 16 and 25 years of age, one member shall have experience as a youth mental health professional such as a social worker, child adolescent psychiatrist, or other professional specializing in youth mental health, and not more than one of whom shall be a current member of the General Assembly;

(7) 5 members appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate, of which one member shall represent the interests of parents, one youth member shall be between the ages of 16 and 25 years of age, one member shall have experience as a youth mental health professional such as a social worker, child adolescent psychiatrist, or other professional specializing in youth mental health, and not more than one of whom shall be a current member of the General Assembly; and

(8) 5 members appointed by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, of which one member shall represent the interests of parents, one youth member shall be between the ages of 16 and 25 years of age, one member shall have experience as a youth mental health professional such as a social worker, child adolescent psychiatrist, or other professional specializing in youth mental health, and not more than one of whom shall be a current member of the General Assembly.

(c) The Commission shall have the following duties:

(1) establish and adopt goals and guiding principles for conducting a review of relevant research to compile a resource bank that will be used to inform youth, parents, and the greater community of the mental health risks associated with youth social media use;

(2) develop a review and selection process for the resource bank materials;

(3) identify the scholarly articles and materials that will be a part of the resource bank by following the process outlined by the Commission;

(4) ensure, to the extent possible, the resource bank materials are youth-friendly, culturally sensitive, and available in both English and Spanish, and may include Internet links to scholarly articles, resources, and materials about the mental and physical health impacts of social media use, Internet safety, and cybersecurity from entities that the Commission finds reliable;

(5) when possible, as part of the resource bank, identify what grade or age-group materials are appropriate for;

(6) engage with relevant community stakeholders, including youth, for input on what type of information should be included within the resource bank; and

(7) consider what avenues of distribution for the resource bank will inform local community organizations, parents, youth, and the general public about the resource bank in a manner that allows for the collection of disaggregated data on how often the materials are accessed.

(d) The appointing authorities shall make appointments to the Commission as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, and the Chair of the Commission shall convene the first meeting by September 15, 2025. Subsequent meetings of the Commission shall convene at the call of the Chair of the Commission. A majority of all the appointed members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business and all recommendations of the Commission shall require approval of a majority of the members of the Commission. Meetings of the Commission are subject to the Open Meetings Act.

(e) Members of the Commission shall serve without compensation.

(f) The Department of Public Health shall provide administrative support to the Commission.

(g) On or before December 31, 2025, the Commission shall submit to the General Assembly a written report that:

(1) describes the process selected by the Commission to create the resource bank;

(2) compiles the resource bank materials selected through the Commission's selected process; and

(3) makes recommendations to the General Assembly regarding practical avenues to inform local community organizations, parents, youth, and the general public about the resource bank in a manner that allows for the collection of disaggregated data on how often the materials are accessed.

(h) This Section is repealed on January 1, 2027.

Section 15. Social media platform health requirements for youth.

(a) As used in this Section, "social media platform" means an Internet-based service, website, or application that:

(1) has more than 100,000 active users in Illinois;

(2) permits an Illinois resident to become a registered user, establish an account, or create a public or semi-public profile for the purpose of allowing users to create, share, and view user-generated content through the account or profile;

(3) enables one or more users to create or post content that can be viewed by other users of the medium; and

(4) includes a substantial function to allow users to interact socially with each other within the service or application.

For the purpose of this definition, a service or application that provides electronic mail or direct messaging services does not satisfy the criteria of paragraph (4) on the basis of that function alone.

"Social media platform" does not include an Internet-based service or application in which the predominant or exclusive function is:

(1) providing electronic mail;

(2) facilitating commercial transactions, if the interaction with other users or account holders is generally limited to:

(A) the ability to upload a post and comment on reviews or the ability to display lists or collections of goods for sale or wish lists; and

(B) the primary function of the platform is focused on online shopping or e-commerce rather than interactions between users or account holders;

(3) facilitating teleconferencing and video conferencing features that are limited to certain participants in the teleconference or video conference and are not posted publicly or for broad distribution to other users;

(4) facilitating crowd-sourced content for reference guides such as encyclopedias and dictionaries;

(5) providing cloud-based electronic services, including cloud-based services that allow collaborative editing by invited users;

(6) consisting primarily of 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 provision of the content; or

(7) interactive gaming, virtual gaming, or an online service that allows the creation and uploading of content for the purpose of interactive or virtual gaming;

(8) providing information concerning businesses, products, or travel information, including user reviews or rankings of businesses or products;

(9) facilitating communication within a business or an enterprise among employees or affiliates of the business or enterprise so long as access to the service or application is restricted to employees or affiliates of the business or enterprise;

(10) selling enterprise software to businesses, governments, or nonprofit organizations;

(11) providing a streaming service that streams only licensed media in a continuous flow from the service, website, or application to the end user and does not require a user or account holder to obtain a license for the media by agreement with a social media platform's terms of service;

(12) providing an online service, website, or application that is used by or under the direction of an educational entity, including a learning management system, a student engagement program, or a subject- or skill-specific program, for which the majority of the content is created or posted by the provider of the online service, website, or application and the ability to chat, comment, or interact with other users is directly related to the provider's content;

(13) providing or obtaining technical support for a platform, product, or service;

(14) providing career development opportunities, including professional networking, job skills, learning certifications, and job posting and application services;

(15) focused on facilitating academic or scholarly research; or

(16) reporting or disseminating news information, as protected by the United States Constitution.

(b) On and after January 1, 2027, a social media platform operating in this State shall establish a function that either:

(1) meets the criteria described in subsection (c) and is informed by the standards established under subsection (d); or

(2) displays a pop-up or full screen notification to a user who attests to being under the age of 18:

(A) when the user has spent one cumulative hour on the social media platform during a 24-hour period; or

(B) when the user is on a social media platform between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The notification described in this paragraph shall repeat at least once every 30 minutes after the initial notification.

(c) A social media platform that establishes the function described in paragraph (1) of subsection (b) shall provide users who are under the age of 18 with information about youth engagement with social media that helps the user understand the impact of social media on the developing brain and the mental and physical health of youth users. The information shall be supported by data from peer-reviewed scholarly articles or the sources included in the resource bank developed by the Commission on Youth Social Media Engagement.

(d) The Department of Public Health, in consultation with the Department of Innovation and Technology, shall establish standards for the functions established by social media platforms under subsection (b). The standards shall:

(1) recommend intervals for notification frequency that are similar to those in paragraph (2) of subsection (b);

(2) provide sample messaging for the content of the notification;

(3) be informed by data and research on the efficacy of notifications;

(4) be ix nformed by the resource bank developed by the Commission on Youth Social Media Engagement; and

(5) recommend the age range of users who would most benefit from notifications.

Section 20. Enforcement. A violation of Section 15 is an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. All remedies, penalties, and authority granted to the Attorney General by that Act shall be available to him or her for the enforcement of Section 15.

Section 25. Rulemaking.

(a) The Department of Public Health may adopt necessary rules to administer and enforce this Act.

(b) The Department of Public Health shall consult with the Department of Innovation and Technology before adopting any rules that relate to the standards established under subsection (f) of Section 15.

Section 30. Severability. If any provision of this Act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity of that provision or application does not affect other provisions or applications of this Act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.

Section 90. The Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act is amended by adding Section 2HHHH as follows:

(815 ILCS 505/2HHHH new)

Sec. 2HHHH. Violations of the Youth Social Media Engagement Act. A person who violates Section 15 of the Youth Social Media Engagement Act commits an unlawful practice within the meaning of this Act.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.