South Carolina Children’s Privacy Laws (2026)

H.3431 (Act No. 96, R100)

In force · Design code · effective 2026-02-05 · binds operators, platforms

Ages: Minors under 18 (covered online services reasonably likely to be accessed by minors)

Requires: Covered online services reasonably likely to be accessed by minors must exercise reasonable care in the use of minors' personal data and in service design/operation to prevent harms (compulsive usage, severe psychological harm, identity theft, privacy intrusions, discrimination, financial/physical injury); minimize minors' data, refrain from facilitating targeted advertising to minors, bar profiling except in limited circumstances, and restrict precise-geolocation collection. Requires easy controls to disable covered design features (infinite scroll, autoplay, gamification), time and purchase limits, tighter default visibility/contact settings for minors, and public third-party audit reports submitted to the Attorney General. Treble damages; personal liability for wilful/wanton violations.

Litigation: NetChoice v. Wilson, No. 3:26-cv-00543 (D.S.C.). NetChoice sued Feb. 9, 2026 alleging First/Fourteenth Amendment, Commerce Clause, and Section 230 and COPPA preemption defects, and moved for a preliminary injunction on Mar. 9, 2026 (State's opposition Apr. 6, NetChoice's reply Apr. 20, two amicus briefs opposing the motion Apr. 30, and leave granted May 7 for NetChoice to respond to one of them). The court has NOT ruled on the PI motion and no injunction is in effect, so the Act remains enforceable; later docket entries are non-dispositive (letters attaching Sixth and Fifth Circuit opinions, attorney withdrawals, and an Aug. 13, 2026 corrected declaration supporting the PI motion, the most recent docket entry). Section 39-80-70(A) sets a recurring annual audit-report deadline of July first.

Entry last reviewed 2026-10-01

H.4591 / Act No. 237 (R.251)

Enacted, not yet effective · Social media · effective 2027-01-01 · binds operators, platforms

Ages: minors under 16

Requires: Applies to social media platforms that, with their affiliates, earned at least $1 billion in worldwide advertising revenue in any of the preceding three years: they must require a birth date at sign-up, may not create or keep an account for a child under 16 without verifiable parental consent, and once a user has spent 25 hours on the platform must estimate the user's age, treating them as a child unless 80% confident (90% at 50 hours) that they are over 15. Children's accounts must default to the most private settings and may not show addictive features (infinite scroll, profile-based feeds, push notifications, autoplay, reaction counts, usage badges) or profile-based paid ads. Children and parents can sue for negligent, reckless or knowing violations, recovering the greater of $10,000 or actual damages for reckless or knowing ones (punitive damages for a consistent pattern); a platform that used reasonable means and efforts to comply is not liable to a child or parent, and the Attorney General may enforce violations under the Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Litigation: none: no lawsuit has been filed against this specific Act. NetChoice submitted testimony opposing the bill during the legislative process, and separately sued over the SC Age-Appropriate Code Design Act (H.3431, NetChoice v. Wilson), but that suit does not challenge H.4591/SHASM.

Entry last reviewed 2026-10-01