California law changes the right of certain users to delete online posts, prohibits certain marketing starting in 2015

by | Sep 28, 2013 | Advertising, Content, Internet, Technology and Privacy Law, Privacy Law, Uncategorized

Beginning in 2015, any website or mobile service that is directed to minors under the age of 18 and allows them to post content, will have to delete that content on request of the minor user.  SB 568 provides in part that a site directed to minors must “(1) Permit a minor who is a registered user of the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application to remove or, if the operator prefers, to request and obtain removal of, content or information posted on the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application by the user. (2) Provide notice to a minor who is a registered user of the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application that the minor may remove or, if the operator prefers, request and obtain removal of, content or information posted on the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application by the registered user. (3) Provide clear instructions to a minor who is a registered user of the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application on how the user may remove or, if the operator prefers, request and obtain the removal of content or information posted on the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application. (4) Provide notice to a minor who is a registered user of the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application that the removal described under paragraph (1) does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information posted on the operator’s Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application by the registered user”

Some exemptions to this requirement apply (such as data that must be retained for law enforcement, data that is posted by a third party about the minor, and data that is anonymized).  It is not clear (to this writer) that the law would apply after a minor reaches his or her 18th birthday.  In other words – it is not clear a minor who does not make the request before their 18th birthday could make the deletion request after their 18th birthday.

That law also prevents a site “directed to minors” from presenting any content or advertising in the following enumerated categories:

(1) Alcoholic beverages
(2) Firearms or handguns
(3) Ammunition or reloaded ammunition
(4) Handgun safety certificates
(5) Aerosol container of paint that is capable of defacing property
(6) Etching cream that is capable of defacing property
(7) Any tobacco, cigarette, or cigarette papers, or blunt wraps, or any other preparation of tobacco, or any other instrument or paraphernalia that is designed for the smoking or ingestion of tobacco, products prepared from tobacco, or any controlled substance
(8) BB device
(9) Dangerous fireworks
(10) Tanning in an ultraviolet tanning device
(11) Dietary supplement products containing ephedrine group alkaloids
(12) Tickets or shares in a lottery game
(13) Salvia divinorum or Salvinorin A, or any substance or material containing Salvia divinorum or Salvinorin A
(14) Body branding
(15) Permanent tattoo
(16) Drug paraphernalia
(17) Electronic cigarette
(18) Obscene matter
(19) A “less lethal weapon”
 
A site is directed to minors if “[the] Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application, or a portion thereof, [] is created for the purpose of reaching an audience that is predominately comprised of minors, and is not intended for a more general audience comprised of adults.”
 
This rule also reaches “advertising services” if the website/mobile operator advises the advertising service that the site is “directed to minors.”  Advertisers therefore will need to obtain certification from their customers that the site they are servicing is not directed to minors, or, they will need to add the above filters for such sites.
 
The California law appears to be the first law that has used the age of 18 in regulating website/platform content; prior to this, under the FTC COPPA act, the applicable age was “less than 13.”
 
Sites and services that are “directed to minors” will need to begin technologically addressing the issues raised by SB 568 in 2014, to be ready in 2015.
 
For more information, contact Mike Oliver