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The Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act is a legislative measure in Texas, effective from September 1, 2024, aimed at enhancing the online safety and privacy of minors. This act mandates that digital service providers, including websites, apps, and software platforms, adopt stringent measures to protect minors (individuals under 18) from harmful content and invasive data collection practices. The law applies specifically to online platforms that enable user interaction, such as social media sites, forums, chat rooms, and any digital service that allows content creation and sharing among users.
Age Verification Is Required Now
Under the SCOPE Act, digital service providers take on several key responsibilities to ensure minors’ safety online. First, they must verify and register the age of users, preventing minors from changing their registered age once it’s set. The law also limits how providers can collect, share, and sell minors’ personal information, while banning targeted advertising aimed at them. Additionally, minors are barred from making purchases or conducting financial transactions on these platforms, and providers are strictly forbidden from collecting their geolocation data.
Digital Services Providers Have A Duty
The SCOPE Act also requires digital service providers to actively prevent minors from being exposed to harmful material, such as content promoting self-harm, substance abuse, bullying, or sexual exploitation. To achieve this, providers must use filtering technologies to block such content and stay vigilant against tactics that try to bypass these filters. Furthermore, the SCOPE Act demands transparency regarding the use of algorithms, compelling providers to explain how they use personal data to curate content for minors.
Parental Oversight Is Required
To support parental oversight, the act mandates that digital service providers develop tools that allow parents or guardians to monitor and control their children’s online activities. These tools must enable parents to adjust privacy settings, restrict purchases, and manage the time their children spend online.
The Exemptions
The Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act, effective September 1, 2024, establishes significant regulations to protect minors online while also including several important exemptions. These exemptions play a crucial role in defining the scope of the law and clarifying which entities are exempt from its stringent provisions. By understanding these exemptions, stakeholders can better identify the limits of the SCOPE Act and the specific contexts where its requirements do not apply.
Public And Small Business Are Exempt
One of the primary exemptions under the SCOPE Act pertains to state agencies. These public entities are not subject to the same regulations imposed on private digital service providers, reflecting a recognition of their distinct role and purpose. Additionally, small businesses, as defined by the Small Business Administration (SBA), are also exempt. This exemption acknowledges the potential burden of compliance costs on smaller entities that may lack the resources to implement comprehensive data protection and monitoring measures required by the act.
Title V: Financial Entities
The act also exempts financial institutions and entities covered under Title V of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which already mandates stringent data privacy requirements for financial data. Similarly, covered entities or business associates governed by federal laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act are exempt. These entities are already subject to federal regulations that address privacy and security concerns, thus mitigating the need for additional state-level requirements under the SCOPE Act.
Educational Institutions
The SCOPE Act also exempts educational institutions that process data specifically for employment or educational purposes. This exemption ensures that the act’s provisions do not unduly restrict educational and professional activities, allowing these institutions to operate without implementing the same controls required for social media platforms or other interactive services. Moreover, digital service providers that only offer email or direct messaging services, without additional interactive features like chat or comments, are also exempt. This recognizes that such services generally do not pose the same risks to minors as more interactive, content-driven platforms.
And Certain Digital Service Providers
The law also exempts digital service providers that offer access to news, sports, commerce, or other content primarily generated or curated by the provider, as long as any interactive features like comments or chat remain incidental to the main service. This exemption allows traditional media outlets and certain content providers to continue their operations without the burden of additional compliance, as long as they are not primarily user-generated content platforms.
General Internet Service Providers
Finally, internet service providers (ISPs), search engines, and cloud service providers are generally exempt unless they are directly responsible for creating or distributing harmful content as defined by the SCOPE Act. This exemption acknowledges the role of these providers as intermediaries that typically do not control or originate the content accessed by users. By defining these boundaries, the SCOPE Act aims to focus its regulatory efforts on platforms where minors are most vulnerable to harmful content and data misuse, while avoiding overreach into areas covered by existing federal regulations or where the risk to minors is minimal.
Who Will Enforce This Act?
Texas enforces the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act to ensure compliance with its provisions aimed at protecting minors online. The enforcement framework plays a critical role in deterring violations and offering mechanisms to address non-compliance by digital service providers that fail to meet the Act’s requirements.
Handled By The Consumer Protection Division
The Consumer Protection Division of the Texas Attorney General’s Office primarily enforces the SCOPE Act. This division holds the authority to investigate potential violations and take legal action against digital service providers that fail to comply with the law. It can seek injunctive relief, using court orders to compel service providers to follow the Act’s requirements. Additionally, the Attorney General can pursue civil penalties, with fines reaching up to $10,000 per violation. These significant penalties aim to deter service providers from engaging in practices that could harm minors or compromise their privacy and safety online.
Does Not Grant A Private Right Of Action
It’s important to note that the SCOPE Act does not allow individuals, such as minors or their parents, to directly sue digital service providers for violations. Instead, the state’s Attorney General handles enforcement, ensuring a more uniform and consistent application of the law. However, parents and guardians of minors do have a limited legal option under the Act. They can file a suit to obtain a declaratory judgment against a digital service provider. This type of legal action doesn’t result in damages or penalties but seeks a court ruling that clarifies the rights of the parties involved under the Act.
Class Action Suits Are Not Allowed
Moreover, the SCOPE Act specifies that cases brought under this law cannot be certified as class actions. This limitation prevents large groups of individuals from collectively suing a service provider, thereby focusing enforcement efforts on individual instances of non-compliance managed by the Attorney General’s office.
How Would A Parent File Under The SCOPE Act?
Filing a suit to obtain a declaratory judgment under the SCOPE Act is a process that allows parents or guardians of minors to seek a court’s interpretation of their rights and the obligations of digital service providers under this new law. Although the SCOPE Act does not provide a private right of action for individuals to claim damages, it does permit parents and guardians to initiate legal action to clarify the application of the Act’s provisions to specific situations. This can be an important tool for parents or guardians who believe a digital service provider is not complying with the law’s requirements concerning the protection of minors.
Consult With An Attorney
To file a suit for a declaratory judgment under the SCOPE Act, a parent or guardian would first need to consult with an attorney who is knowledgeable about the Act and Texas state law. The attorney can provide guidance on the legal merits of the case, help gather necessary documentation, and prepare the appropriate legal filings. The parent or guardian would need to provide evidence that demonstrates how the digital service provider allegedly violated the SCOPE Act, such as failing to protect a minor from harmful content, improperly collecting personal information, or neglecting to provide parental control tools.
An Attorney Would File A Petition
Once the necessary documentation is prepared, the attorney would file a petition for a declaratory judgment with the appropriate Texas state court. The petition should clearly outline the facts of the case, the specific provisions of the SCOPE Act that are alleged to have been violated, and the relief sought, which in this case is a declaratory judgment. The court will then review the petition and, if it finds sufficient grounds, will issue a summons to the digital service provider, requiring them to respond to the allegations.
The Judge Would Decide
During the legal proceedings, both parties—the parent or guardian and the digital service provider—will have the opportunity to present their arguments and evidence to the judge. The court will then decide whether the service provider has complied with the SCOPE Act or if there is a breach of the Act’s requirements. If the court finds in favor of the parent or guardian, it will issue a declaratory judgment that formally states the rights of the parties under the Act. While this type of judgment does not result in damages or penalties, it serves to clarify the legal responsibilities of the digital service provider and can be a powerful tool in prompting them to comply with the law.
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SCOPE Act: Frequently Asked Questions
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