Protections for Users of Social Media

The act establishes certain requirements for social media companies and social media platforms in order to protect users. Specifically, the act:

• Relocates, with amendments, certain language requiring a social media platform to include a function that provides minor users information about their engagement in social media, which language was enacted in 2024 by House Bill 24-1136;
• Requires a social media company to publish policies for each social media platform owned or operated by the social media company (published policies) and establishes mandatory contents for published policies;
• Requires a social media company to submit to the department of law an annual report that includes, for each social media platform owned or operated by the social media company, information concerning the published policies and violations of the published policies;
• Requires a social media company to annually make publicly available a report that includes, for each social media platform owned or operated by the social media company, certain data concerning how minor users used the social media platform;
• In satisfying the reporting requirements described in the act, requires a social media company to make commercially reasonable efforts to identify the age categories of users;
• Requires a social media company, upon the notification of a user's alleged violation of the published policies or of state law, to determine within 48 hours whether the violation occurred and, if so, to remove the user from the applicable social media platform within 24 hours after the determination is made;
• Requires a social media platform with at least one million discrete monthly users to provide a streamlined process to allow Colorado law enforcement agencies to contact the social media company that operates the social media platform and, under certain conditions, to comply with a search warrant within 72 hours after receiving the search warrant;
• Makes a violation of the new requirements an unfair or deceptive trade practice under the "Colorado Consumer Protection Act", to be punished accordingly; and
• Authorizes the attorney general to adopt rules to carry out the new requirements.