Florida Senate - 2024                             CS for SB 1792
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Judiciary; and Senators Grall and Garcia
       
       
       
       
       
       590-02931-24                                          20241792c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to online access to materials harmful
    3         to minors; creating s. 501.1737, F.S.; providing
    4         definitions; requiring a commercial entity that
    5         publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on
    6         a website or application that contains a substantial
    7         portion of such material to perform reasonable age
    8         verification methods, prevent access to such material
    9         by minors, and provide methods for reporting
   10         unauthorized or unlawful access; prohibiting the
   11         retention of certain personal identifying information;
   12         providing applicability and construction; authorizing
   13         the Department of Legal Affairs to bring an action for
   14         violations under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair
   15         Trade Practices Act; providing civil penalties;
   16         providing for private causes of action; providing that
   17         certain commercial entities are subject to the
   18         jurisdiction of state courts; providing construction;
   19         authorizing the department to adopt rules; providing
   20         an effective date.
   21          
   22  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   23  
   24         Section 1. Section 501.1737, Florida Statutes, is created
   25  to read:
   26         501.1737Age verification for online access to materials
   27  harmful to minors.—
   28         (1)As used in this section, the term:
   29         (a)“Commercial entity” includes a corporation, limited
   30  liability company, partnership, limited partnership, sole
   31  proprietorship, and any other legally recognized entity.
   32         (b)“Department” means the Department of Legal Affairs.
   33         (c)“Distribute” means to issue, sell, give, provide,
   34  deliver, transfer, transmit, circulate, or disseminate by any
   35  means.
   36         (d)“Material harmful to minors” means any material that:
   37         1.The average person applying contemporary community
   38  standards would find, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient
   39  interest;
   40         2.Depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way,
   41  sexual conduct as specifically defined in s. 847.001(19); and
   42         3.When taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic,
   43  political, or scientific value for minors.
   44         (e)“News-gathering organization” means any of the
   45  following:
   46         1.A newspaper, news publication, or news source, printed
   47  or published online or on a mobile platform, engaged in
   48  reporting current news and matters of public interest, and an
   49  employee thereof who can provide documentation of such
   50  employment.
   51         2.A radio broadcast station, television broadcast station,
   52  cable television operator, or wire service, and an employee
   53  thereof who can provide documentation of such employment.
   54         (f)“Publish” means to communicate or make information
   55  available to another person or entity on a publicly available
   56  website or application.
   57         (g)“Reasonable age verification methods” means any
   58  commercially reasonable method regularly used by government
   59  agencies or businesses for the purpose of age and identity
   60  verification.
   61         (h)“Substantial portion” means more than 33.3 percent of
   62  total material on a website or application.
   63         (2)A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally
   64  publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on a website
   65  or application, if the website or application contains a
   66  substantial portion of material harmful to minors, must:
   67         (a)Perform reasonable age verification methods to verify
   68  the age of a person attempting to access the material is 18
   69  years of age or older and prevent access to the material by a
   70  person younger than 18 years of age. The reasonable age
   71  verification method must be conducted by a nongovernmental,
   72  independent, third-party not affiliated with the commercial
   73  entity.
   74         (b)Provide an easily accessible link or function on its
   75  homepage, landing page, or age verification page to allow a
   76  minor user or the confirmed parent or guardian of a minor user
   77  to report unauthorized or unlawful access. Within 5 days after
   78  such report, the commercial entity must prohibit or block future
   79  access by such minor.
   80         (3)A commercial entity or third party that performs
   81  reasonable age verification methods may not retain any personal
   82  identifying information of the person seeking online access to
   83  material harmful to minors any longer than is reasonably
   84  necessary to verify the age of the person. Any personal
   85  identifying information collected for age verification may not
   86  be used for any other purpose.
   87         (4)(a)This section does not apply to any bona fide news or
   88  public interest broadcast, website video, report, or event and
   89  does not affect the rights of a news-gathering organization.
   90         (b)An Internet service provider or its affiliates or
   91  subsidiaries, a search engine, or a cloud service provider does
   92  not violate this section solely for providing access or
   93  connection to or from a website or other information or content
   94  on the Internet or a facility, system, or network not under the
   95  provider’s control, including transmission, downloading,
   96  intermediate storage, or access software, to the extent the
   97  provider is not responsible for the creation of the content of
   98  the communication which constitutes material harmful to minors.
   99         (5)(a)Any violation of subsection (2) or subsection (3) is
  100  an unfair and deceptive trade practice actionable under part II
  101  of this chapter solely by the department on behalf of a Florida
  102  minor against a commercial entity. If the department has reason
  103  to believe that a commercial entity is in violation of
  104  subsection (2) or subsection (3), the department, as the
  105  enforcing authority, may bring an action against the commercial
  106  entity for an unfair or deceptive act or practice. For the
  107  purpose of bringing an action pursuant to this section, ss.
  108  501.211 and 501.212 do not apply. In addition to any other
  109  remedy under part II of this chapter, the department may collect
  110  a civil penalty of up to $50,000 per violation of this section.
  111         (b)A commercial entity that violates subsection (2) for
  112  failing to prohibit or block a minor from future access to
  113  material harmful to minors after a report of unauthorized or
  114  unlawful access is liable to the minor for such access,
  115  including court costs and reasonable attorney fees as ordered by
  116  the court. Claimants may be awarded up to $10,000 in damages. A
  117  civil action for a claim under this paragraph must be brought
  118  within 1 year after the violation.
  119         (c)Any action under this subsection may only be brought on
  120  behalf of or by a Florida minor.
  121         (6)For purposes of bringing an action under subsection
  122  (5), a commercial entity that publishes or distributes material
  123  harmful to minors on a website or application, if the website or
  124  application contains a substantial portion of material harmful
  125  to minors and such website or application is available to be
  126  accessed in Florida, is considered to be both engaged in
  127  substantial and not isolated activities within this state and
  128  operating, conducting, engaging in, or carrying on a business
  129  and doing business in this state, and is therefore subject to
  130  the jurisdiction of the courts of this state.
  131         (7)This section does not preclude any other available
  132  remedy at law or equity.
  133         (8)The department may adopt rules to implement this
  134  section.
  135         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.