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State Children's Privacy Law Tracker / South Carolina

South Carolina Children's Privacy Laws (2026)

2 laws & bills tracked · overall: In force · current as of July 18, 2026

South Carolina has 2 tracked children's privacy laws and bills, each listed below with its status, the ages it covers, litigation posture, and a link to the official primary source. For the interactive view, open South Carolina in the tracker map.

South Carolina Age-Appropriate Code Design Act (H.3431 / Act No. 96, R100) · H.3431 (Act No. 96, R100)

In force: Effective and enforceable today. · 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 COPPA-preemption defects and moved for a preliminary injunction (filed Mar. 9, 2026; briefing completed Apr. 20, 2026). The court has NOT ruled on the PI motion and no injunction is in effect, so the Act remains enforceable; docket activity through Jul. 28, 2026 is administrative (attorney withdrawal, a letter). Section 39-80-70(A) sets a recurring annual audit-report deadline of July first, and the statute set July 1, 2026 as the first such deadline.

Primary source

Entry last reviewed

Stop Harm from Addictive Social Media (SHASM) Act · H.4591 / Act No. 237 (R.251)

Enacted, not yet effective: Signed into law; its effective date is still in the future. · Social media · effective 2027-01-01 · binds operators, platforms

Ages: minors under 16

Requires: South Carolina's SHASM Act applies to social media platforms with at least one billion dollars in global annual advertising revenue. Covered platforms must use reasonable means to estimate an account holder's age and obtain verifiable parental consent before letting a user they determine is likely under 16 create or keep an account. For under-16 accounts, platforms must default to maximum privacy settings, strip out addictive design features such as autoplay, infinite scroll, push notifications, and visible like counts, and stop profile-based targeted advertising to those minors. It also creates a private right of action letting minors and parents sue for violations, with statutory damages up to $10,000.

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.

Primary source

Entry last reviewed

Also on the books (out of scope): H.3424 / Act No. 198: Child Online Safety Act (S.C. Code 37-1-310). Out-of-scope mandates (like adult-content age-gates) are tracked separately and don't set this state's status.

Federal · COPPAapplies here too

Regardless of state law, COPPA governs personal information collected from children under 13: notice, verifiable parental consent, data minimization, and (under the 2025 amended Rule) limits on retention and third-party sharing.

Source

How South Carolina compares

Not legal advice. I build products for a living; I'm not a lawyer. Compiled from primary sources and reviewed monthly as part of the State Children's Privacy Law Tracker; AI-assisted research, verified against each law's official source, but laws and injunctions change fast, so confirm the latest before relying on it. Related: COPPA's Gray Areas.

Cite this page: Calvo, Isaac A. "South Carolina: Children's Privacy Laws." isaaccalvo.com/child-privacy-laws/south-carolina (data as of 2026-07-18).