HF3858

Purpose

• Establishes a consumer protection framework called the Minnesota Digital Choice Act to give individuals greater control over their personal data on social media platforms.
• Creates data rights for users, requires interoperability between platforms through an open protocol, and authorizes penalties and rulemaking to enforce the act.

Key Definitions (essential terms)

• Open protocol: a publicly available set of rules that enables interoperability and data exchange between social media platforms via a shared data layer, with no licensing fees or patent restrictions.
• Personal data: information linked or reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable person, including the person’s social graph.
• Social graph: data representing a person’s connections, interactions, and engagements on a social media platform, including content generated by the person, connections, responses, mentions, reposts, shares, metadata, and relational references; excludes private messages designated as private by others.
• Social media company/platform: entities that own or operate social media platforms.
• User: an individual whose personal data and social graph are involved.
• Social media platform: as defined within the act’s context (the specific statute reference is included in the bill text).

Data Rights and Access (What individuals can do)

• Deletion and portability: Users have the right to delete personal data held by a social media company and to obtain a copy of their personal data in a portable, readily usable format that supports data transfer to another user or service, when processing is automated, and not requiring disclosure of trade secrets.
• How to exercise: Users may submit requests at any time to specify the rights they want to exercise.
• Response time: Social media companies must fulfill data-right requests within five business days of receipt.

Data Interoperability and Interchange (What must be done to enable cross-platform data sharing)

• Interoperability interface: Social media companies must implement a transparent, third-party-accessible interoperability interface that allows users to share a common set of their current social graph (or chosen parts) between designated platforms with the user’s permission.
• Real-time data sharing: The interoperability interface must enable continuous, real-time data sharing among platforms.
• Open protocol requirement: Interoperability must be based on an open protocol; platforms must maintain reasonable, non-discriminatory terms and set thresholds for frequency, nature, and volume of data requests.
• Fees and documentation: They may charge reasonable fees for requests beyond established thresholds and must provide complete, accurate, and up-to-date documentation about the interface.
• Data handling rules: Personal data obtained through the interface must be protected, and social media companies or third parties may not collect, share, or use this data beyond protecting privacy/security or maintaining interoperability.
• Consent and control: Sharing through the interface requires user consent; providers must adopt a prominent, persistent method for obtaining and honoring user consent and must implement user instructions within five business days.
• Exclusions: No access to internal inferences, analyses, proprietary algorithms, or other internal operating mechanisms; no transmission of data stored in proprietary formats that aren’t in an open standard, where disclosure would reveal protected information.

Limitations and Protections

• Privacy and security: Social media companies and third parties must reasonably secure any personal data acquired through interoperability.
• Consent-driven sharing: Personal data can be shared or received only with the user's consent.
• Non-disclosure of sensitive internal data: Access to inferences, proprietary algorithms, or formats not widely available as open standards is not required.

Rulemaking and Enforcement (How the law is applied)

• Rulemaking authority: The attorney general can identify open protocols through rulemaking that meet the act’s requirements.
• Rebuttable presumption: If a social media company uses an open protocol identified by rules, it is presumed to provide access on reasonable, non-discriminatory terms (rebuttable if shown otherwise).
• Penalties and remedies: Violating the act can trigger an injunction and civil penalties up to $2,500 per affected user, with penalties pursued by the attorney general under section 8.31.
• Cost recovery: If the state prevails, the court may award the reasonable value of the state’s litigation expenses to offset enforcement costs, and penalties/expenses are deposited into the special revenue fund to support the attorney general’s enforcement efforts.
• Private right of action: The act does not authorize a private right of action; enforcement is through the attorney general and related civil processes.

Impact and Scope (What changes may occur)

• Introduces a broader framework for data portability and cross-platform data sharing across social media networks via an open standard.
• Shifts some control of personal data from platforms toward users, emphasizing consent, portability, and interoperable access.
• Establishes a concrete enforcement mechanism with monetary penalties and state-backed oversight, but limits private litigation.

Practical Considerations

• Platforms would need to implement or integrate an interoperability interface, maintain documentation, and respond to data-right requests within five business days.
• Organizations must balance user access with privacy, data security, and protection of trade secrets or proprietary systems.

Relevant Terms - Minnesota Digital Choice Act - open protocol - interoperability interface - social graph - personal data - social media platform / social media company - data rights - data portability - data sharing consent - five business days - reasonable terms - non-discrimination - thresholds (frequency, nature, volume) - documentation - privacy and security - rebuttable presumption - attorney general - civil penalty - injunction - section 8.31 - special revenue fund