Texas § BC.509.053 - DIGITAL SERVICE PROVIDER DUTY TO PREVENT HARM TO KNOWN MINORS

§ BC.509.053. DIGITAL SERVICE PROVIDER DUTY TO PREVENT HARM TO KNOWN MINORS

DIGITAL SERVICE PROVIDER DUTY TO PREVENT HARM TO KNOWN MINORS. (a) In relation to a known minor's use of a digital service, a digital service provider shall develop and implement a strategy to prevent the known minor's exposure to harmful material and other content that promotes, glorifies, or facilitates: (1) suicide, self-harm, or eating disorders; (2) substance abuse; (3) stalking, bullying, or harassment; or (4) grooming, trafficking, child pornography, or other sexual exploitation or abuse. (b) A strategy developed under Subsection (a): (1) must include: (A) creating and maintaining a comprehensive list of harmful material or other content described by Subsection (a) to block from display to a known minor; (B) using filtering technology and other protocols to enforce the blocking of material or content on the list under Paragraph (A); (C) using hash-sharing technology and other protocols to identify recurring harmful material or other content described by Subsection (a); (D) creating and maintaining a database of keywords used for filter evasion, such as identifiable misspellings, hash-tags, or identifiable homoglyphs; (E) performing standard human-performed monitoring reviews to ensure efficacy of filtering technology; (F) making available to users a comprehensive description of the categories of harmful material or other content described by Subsection (a) that will be filtered; and (G) except as provided by Section 509.058 , making available the digital service provider's algorithm code to independent security researchers; and (2) may include: (A) engaging a third party to rigorously review the digital service provider's content filtering technology; (B) participating in industry-specific partnerships to share best practices in preventing access to harmful material or other content described by Subsection (a); or (C) conducting periodic independent audits to ensure: (i) continued compliance with the digital service provider's strategy; and (ii) efficacy of filtering technology and protocols used by the digital service provider. Added by Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 795 (H.B. 18 ), Sec. 2.01, eff. September 1, 2024.