United States of America: Introduced Prohibiting Social Media Manipulation Act (HF 4400)

On 28 February 2024, the Prohibiting Social Media Manipulation Act (HF 4400) was introduced to the Minnesota House of Representatives. The Act would regulate social media platforms that do business in Minnesota or provide products or services to residents in the state and have more than 10'000 monthly active users. Under the Act, a social media platform would be required to develop criteria to designate an account holder who created an account within the last 30 days. For these account holders, the platform must set daily numerical limits on forms of engagement with users equivalent to the 50th percentile of all platform account holders. Transparency requirements would obligate social media platforms to publicly post an explanation of how the platform designates new account holders and an explanation of the workings and effect of usage limits that are applicable to new account holders. Furthermore, the Act would require social media platforms to provide an accessible user interface that allows users to clearly indicate whether a particular piece of content is of high or low quality and complies with the user's expressed preferences. The attorney general may investigate breaches of this Act.