{"data":{"id":"us-sc/s.c.-code-ann.-39-80-10","jurisdiction":"us-sc","citation":"S.C. Code Ann. § 39-80-10","heading":"Definitions.","body":"As used in this chapter:\n(1) \"Compulsive usage\" means the persistent and repetitive use of a covered online service that substantially limits one or more of a user's major life activities including, but not limited to, sleeping, eating, learning, reading, concentrating, communicating, or working.\n(2) \"Connected account\" means an account on a covered online service that is directly connected to:\n(a) the user's account; or\n(b) an account that is directly connected to the user's account.\n(3) \"Covered design feature\" means any feature or component of a covered online service that will encourage or increase a minor's frequency, time spent, or activity on a covered online service including, but not limited to:\n(a) infinite scroll or any design feature that automatically loads and displays content other than what the user prompted, requested, or searched for;\n(b) auto-playing videos or any design feature in which videos automatically begin playing when a user navigates to or scrolls through a set of videos;\n(c) gamification or any design feature that emulates gameplay including, but not limited to, streaks, badges, or rewards, that motivate or cause more frequent or more extensive use of a covered online service;\n(d) quantification of engagement including, but not limited to, providing a visible count of how many likes, comments, clicks, views, or reactions any user-generated item has received;\n(e) notifications and push alerts;\n(f) in-game purchases or any design feature in which digital items or tokens are purchased with virtual currency or other forms of payment, including where the purchased digital item can be shared with another user; or\n(g) appearance-altering filters.\n(4)(a) \"Covered online service\" means a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, association, or other legal entity that owns, operates, controls, or provides an online service that conducts business in this State, is reasonably likely to be accessed by minors, determines the purposes and means of the processing of consumer's personal data alone, or jointly with its affiliates, subsidiaries, or parent company and either:\n(i) has annual gross revenues in excess of twenty-five million dollars, adjusted every odd-numbered year to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index;\n(ii) annually buys, receives, sells, or shares the personal data of fifty thousand or more consumers, households, or devices alone or in combination with its affiliates, subsidiaries, or parent company; or\n(iii) derives at least fifty percent of its annual revenue from the sale or sharing of consumers' personal data; and\n(b) \"Covered online services\" include:\n(i) an entity that controls or is controlled by a business that shares a name, service mark, or trademark that would cause a reasonable consumer to understand that two or more entities are commonly owned; and\n(ii) a joint venture or partnership composed of businesses in which each business has at least a forty percent interest in the joint venture or partnership.\n(5) \"Dark pattern\" means a user interface designed or manipulated with the substantial effect of subverting or impairing user autonomy, decision making, or choice.\n(6)(a) \"Expressed preferences\" means a freely given, considered, specific, and unambiguous indication of a user's preferences regarding the user's engagement with a covered online service.\n(b) Expressed preferences cannot be based on the user's time spent engaging on the covered online service, nor on the usage of features that do not indicate explicit preference, such as comments made, posts reshared, or similar actions that are commonly taken on disliked media.\n(7) \"Known to be a minor\" means the covered online service has actual knowledge that a particular consumer is a minor. For purposes of this act, actual knowledge includes all information and inferences known to the covered online service relating to the age of the individual including, but not limited to, self-identified age, and including any age the covered online service has attributed or associated with the individual for any purpose including, but not limited to, marketing, advertising, or product development purposes.\n(8) \"Minor\" means a consumer who is less than eighteen years of age.\n(9) \"Online service\" means any service, product, or feature that is accessible to the public on the internet including, but not limited to, a website or application. An online service may include any service, product, or feature that is based in part or in whole on artificial intelligence. \"Online service\" does not mean any of the following:\n(a) a telecommunications service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 153;\n(b) a broadband internet access service as defined in 47 C.F.R. Section 54.400; or\n(c) the sale, delivery, or use of a physical product.\n(10) \"Parent\" has the same meaning as defined in the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. Sections 6501-6506 and the Federal Trade Commission rules implementing that act.\n(11)(a) \"Personal data\" means any information, including derived data and unique identifiers, that is linked or reasonably linkable, alone or in combination with other information, to an identified or identifiable individual or to a device that identifies, is linked to, or is reasonably linkable to one or more identified or identifiable individuals in a household.\n(b) \"Personal data\" does not include publicly available data.\n(12) \"Personalized recommendation system\" means a fully or partially automated system used to suggest, promote, or rank content, including other users, hashtags, or material from others based on the personal data of users.\n(13)(a) \"Precise geolocation information\" means any data that identifies a user's present or past location within a radius of one thousand one hundred eighty feet, the present or past location of a device that links or is linkable to a user, or any data that is derived from a device that is used or intended to be used to locate a user within a radius of one thousand one hundred eighty feet by means of technology that includes a global positioning system that provides latitude and longitude coordinates.\n(b) \"Precise geolocation information\" does not include the content of communications or any data generated or connected to advanced utility metering infrastructure systems or equipment for use by a utility.\n(14) \"Process\" means the performance of an operation, or a set of operations, by manual or automated means on personal data including, but not limited to, collecting, using, storing, disclosing, analyzing, deleting, sharing, or modifying personal data.\n(15) \"Profile\" means any form of automated processing of personal data to evaluate, analyze, or predict certain aspects relating to a user including, but not limited to, a user's economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location, or movements.\n(16)(a) \"Publicly available data\" means data that is lawfully made available from federal, state, or local government records, or data that a business has a reasonable basis to believe is lawfully made available to the general public by the individual or from widely distributed media or data made available by a person to whom the individual has disclosed the data if the individual has not restricted the data to a specific audience.\n(b) \"Publicly available data\" does not mean biometric data collected by a covered online service about a minor without the minor's knowledge.\n(17)(a) \"Reasonably likely to be accessed by a minor\" means it is reasonable to expect that the covered online service would be accessed by an individual minor or by minors based on the covered online service meeting either of the following criteria:\n(i) the individual is known to the covered online service to be a minor as defined in Section 39-80-10(7); or\n(ii) the covered online service is directed to children as defined by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. Sections 6501-6506 and the Federal Trade Commission rules implementing that act.\n(b) Where subitem (a)(i) is met, the covered online service must treat the particular individual as a minor. Where subitem (a)(ii) is met, the covered online service must treat all individuals using or visiting the covered online service as minors, except where the covered online service has actual knowledge that the individual is not a minor.\n(18) \"Sensitive personal data\" means personal data that reveals:\n(a) an individual's social security number, driver's license, state identification card, or passport number;\n(b) an individual's account log-in, financial account, debit card, or credit card number in combination with any required security or access code, password, or credentials allowing access to an account;\n(c) an individual's precise geolocation information;\n(d) an individual's racial or ethnic origin, citizenship or immigration status, religious or philosophical beliefs, or union membership;\n(e) the contents of an individual's mail, email, text messages, or other forms of communications that perform similar functions, including shared images and videos, unless the business is the intended recipient of the communication;\n(f) an individual's genetic data;\n(g) biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying an individual; or\n(h) personal data concerning an individual's health.\n(19)(a) \"Targeted advertising\" means displaying advertisements to an individual where the advertisement is selected based on personal data obtained or inferred from that individual's activities over time and across nonaffiliated websites or online applications to predict the individual's preferences or interest.\n(b) \"Targeted advertising\" does not include:\n(i) advertisements based on activities within a covered online service's own internet websites or online applications;\n(ii) advertisements based on the context of an individual's current search query, visit to an internet website, or use of an online application;\n(iii) advertisements directed to an individual in response to the individual's request for information or feedback; or\n(iv) processing personal data solely to measure or report advertising frequency, performance, or reach.\n(20) \"User\" means with respect to a covered online service an individual who uses the covered online service and who is located in South Carolina.","path":["Title 39 - TRADE AND COMMERCE","CHAPTER 80 Age-Appropriate Code Design"],"source_url":"https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t39c080.php","current_through":"2026 Session of the General Assembly","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-10-25T03:52:40Z","sha256":"35c740c5541bcdc49eea57dfcc322677728e170fb4f1ee5eb30adf3f53c73af9","source_id":"us-sc","stale":false,"prev":"us-sc/s.c.-code-ann.-39-79-100","next":"us-sc/s.c.-code-ann.-39-80-20"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}