No official summary available for this bill.
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6253 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6253
To require online platforms to disclose policies and provide options
relating to personalized recommendations systems to minors, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 21, 2025
Mrs. Cammack introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require online platforms to disclose policies and provide options
relating to personalized recommendations systems to minors, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Algorithmic Transparency and Choice
Act''.
SEC. 2. NOTICE AND ALGORITHM PREFERENCE REQUIREMENTS FOR COVERED ONLINE
PLATFORMS TO PROVIDE TO MINORS.
(a) Requirements.--Beginning on the date that is 1 year after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the provider of a covered online
platform shall do the following:
(1) Provide covered users of the platform with the
following:
(A) A notice that the platform uses a personalized
recommendation system to select the content the covered
user sees, presented in a clear and conspicuous manner
on the platform whenever the covered user interacts
with a personalized recommendation system for the first
time.
(B) A notice, included in the terms and conditions
of the platform, in a clear, accessible, and easily
comprehensible manner that is updated whenever the
platform makes a material change, that includes the
following:
(i) A description of any feature, input,
and parameter essential to the operation of the
personalized recommendation system.
(ii) How any user-specific data used by the
personalized recommendation system is collected
or inferred about a covered user of the
platform and each category of such data.
(iii) Any option that the platform makes
available for a covered user of the platform to
opt out or exercise an option under
subparagraph (C) or (D), modify the profile of
the covered user, or to influence any feature,
input, or parameter used by the personalized
recommendation system.
(iv) Any quantity (such as time spent using
a product or specific measure of engagement or
social interaction) that the personalized
recommendation system is designed to optimize,
as well as a general description of the
relative importance of each quantity for such
ranking.
(C) An option to easily switch between the
personalized recommendation system and an input-
transparent algorithm in their use of the platform.
(D) An option to limit the type or category of
recommendations from a personalized recommendation
system.
(2) Provide an input-transparent algorithm as the default
setting for a covered user of the platform.
(b) Enforcement by Federal Trade Commission.--
(1) Unfair or deceptive acts or practices.--A violation of
this section shall be treated as a violation of a rule defining
an unfair or deceptive act or practice prescribed under section
18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C.
57a(a)(1)(B)).
(2) Powers of commission.--
(A) In general.--The Federal Trade Commission shall
enforce this section in the same manner, by the same
means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and
duties as though all applicable terms and provisions of
the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.)
were incorporated into and made a part of this section.
(B) Privileges and immunities.--Any person who
violates this section shall be subject to the penalties
and entitled to the privileges and immunities provided
in the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et
seq.).
(C) Authority preserved.--Nothing in this section
shall be construed to limit the authority of the
Commission under any other provision of law.
(c) Rules of Construction.--
(1) Disclosure of proprietary and privileged information
prohibited.--Nothing in this section may be construed to
require a covered online platform to disclose any information,
including data or any personalized recommendation system--
(A) relating to a trade secret or other protected
intellectual property;
(B) that is confidential business information; or
(C) that is privileged.
(2) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this section may be
construed to limit or prohibit the ability of a covered online
platform to, at the direction of a covered user or group of
covered users, restrict another covered user from searching
for, finding, accessing, or interacting with the account,
content, data, or online community of such covered user or
group.
(d) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Approximate geolocation information.--The term
``approximate geolocation information'' means information that
identifies the location of an individual, but with a precision
of less than 5 miles.
(2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal
Trade Commission.
(3) Connected device.--The term ``connected device'' means
an electronic device that--
(A) is capable of connecting to the internet,
either directly or indirectly through a network, to
communicate information at the direction of an
individual;
(B) has computer processing capabilities for
collecting, sending, receiving, or analyzing data; and
(C) is primarily designed for or marketed to
consumers.
(4) Covered online platform.--The term ``covered online
platform'' means an online platform that uses a personalized
recommendation system.
(5) Covered user.--The term ``covered user'' means, with
respect to an online platform, a minor who registers an account
or creates a profile on the covered platform.
(6) Fully automated system.--The term ``fully automated
system'' means an operation or set of operations performed on
data with minimal or no direction, instruction, prompting,
oversight, involvement, or intervention by a natural person.
(7) Input-transparent algorithm.--
(A) In general.--The term ``input-transparent
algorithm'' means a fully automated system that does
not use the user-specific data of a covered user to
determine the selection, order, relative
prioritization, or relative prominence of information
that is furnished to such covered user on an online
platform, unless the user-specific data is expressly
provided to the platform by the covered user for such
purpose.
(B) Data expressly provided to the platform.--For
purposes of subparagraph (A), user-specific data that
is provided by a covered user for the express purpose
of determining the selection, order, relative
prioritization, or relative prominence of information
that is furnished to such user on an online platform--
(i) includes any search term, filter, and
speech pattern supplied by the covered user (if
provided for the purpose of enabling the
platform to accept spoken input or selecting
the language in which the covered user
interacts with the platform), saved preference,
the resumption of a previous search, and the
current precise geolocation information that is
supplied by the covered user;
(ii) includes the current approximate
geolocation information of the covered user;
(iii) includes data affirmatively submitted
to the platform by the covered user that
expresses the clear desire of the covered user
to receive particular information;
(iv) does not include the history of the
connected device of the covered user, including
the history of web searches and browsing,
previous geographical locations, physical
activity, device interaction, and financial
transactions of the covered user; and
(v) does not include inferences about the
covered user or the connected device of the
covered user, without regard to whether such
inferences are based on data described in
clauses (i) or (iii).
(8) Minor.--The term ``minor'' means an individual under
the age of 18.
(9) Online platform.--The term ``online platform''--
(A) means a public-facing website, internet
application, or mobile internet application, including
a social network, or video sharing service--
(i) that serves the public; and
(ii) that primarily provides a forum for
user-generated content, including messages,
videos, images, games, and audio files; and
(B) does not include--
(i) a provider of broadband internet access
service (as described in section 8.1(b) of
title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or
successor regulation); or
(ii) electronic mail.
(10) Personalized recommendation system.--The term
``personalized recommendation system''--
(A) means a fully automated system that determines
the selection, order, relative prioritization, or
relative prominence of information that is furnished to
a covered user on an online platform based, in whole or
part, on user-specific data that was not expressly
provided by the covered user to the platform for such
purpose; and
(B) does not include a fully automated system used
by an online platform if--
(i) the only user-specific data, including
any inference about the covered user, that the
system uses is--
(I) information relating to the age
of the covered user; and
(II) such information is only used
to fulfill a request to restrict the
access of a covered user to content on
the basis that the content is not age-
appropriate for the covered user; or
(ii) such system is designed to block or
filter spam, prevent or detect fraud or other
illegal activity, or preserve the security of
any system, product, or service.
(11) Precise geolocation information.--The term ``precise
geolocation information'' means geolocation information that
identifies the location of an individual to within a range of 5
miles or less.
(12) User-specific data.--The term ``user-specific data''
means information relating to a covered user or a specific
connected device that would not necessarily be true of every
individual or device.
(e) Relationship to State Laws.--No State or political subdivision
of a State may prescribe, maintain, or enforce any law, rule,
regulation, requirement, standard, or other provision having the force
and effect of law, if such law rule, regulation, requirement, standard,
or other provision covers the requirements of subsection (a).
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade.
Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee by Voice Vote.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line