Regulation

YouTube is preparing to update its policies to crack down on creators’ ability to generate revenue from “inauthentic” content, including mass-produced videos and other types of repetitive content — things that have become easier to generate with the help of AI technology.

Known as the Wellness and Oversight for Psychological Resources Act, the law prohibits AI systems from delivering therapeutic treatment or making clinical decisions.

The Intercept offered a novel argument under a provision of the DMCA that forbids stripping out “copyright management information” such as a work’s title and author, which The Intercept alleges OpenAI did in building the training data for ChatGPT.

SECTION 1. Short title; table of contents. (a) Short title.—This Act may be cited as the “Kids Online Safety Act”. (b) Table of contents.—The table of contents for this Act is as follows:Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.Sec. 2. Definitions.Sec. 3. Duty of care.Sec. 4. Safeguards for minors.Sec. 5. Disclosure.Sec. 6. Transparency.Sec. 7. Independent research on social media and minors.Sec. 8. Market research.Sec. 9. Age verification study and report.Sec. 10. Guidance.Sec. 11. Enforcement.Sec. 12. Kids online safety council.Sec. 13. Filter bubble transparency requirements.Sec. 14. Effective date.Sec. 15. Rules of construction and other matters.Sec. 16. Severability. SEC. 2. Definitions. In this Act: (1) CHILD.—The term “child” means an individual who is under the age of 13. (2) COMPULSIVE USAGE.—The term “compulsive usage” means any response stimulated by external factors that causes an individual to engage in repetitive behavior reasonably likely to cause psychological distress, loss of control, anxiety, or depression. (3) COVERED PLATFORM.— (A) IN GENERAL.—The term “covered platform” means an online platform, online video game, messaging application, or video streaming service that connects to the internet and that is used, or is reasonably likely to be used, by a minor. (B) EXCEPTIONS.—The term “covered platform” does not include— (i) an entity acting in its capacity as a provider of— (I) a common carrier service subject to the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) and all Acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto; (II) a broadband internet access service (as such term is defined for purposes of section 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation); (III) an email service; (IV) a teleconferencing or video conferencing service that allows reception and transmission of audio and video signals for real-time communication, provided that— (aa) is not an online platform, including a social media service or social network; and (bb) the real-time communication is initiated by using a unique link or identifier to faciliate access; or (V) a wireless messaging service, including such a service provided through short messaging service or multimedia messaging service protocols, that is not a component of or linked to an online platform and where the predominant or exclusive function is direct messaging consisting of the transmission of text, photos or videos that are sent by electronic means, where messages are transmitted from the sender to a recipient, and are not posted within an online platform or publicly; (ii) an organization not organized to carry on business for its own profit or that of its members; (iii) any public or private preschool, elementary, or secondary school, or any institution of vocational, professional, or higher education; (iv) a library (as defined in section 213(1) of the Library Services and Technology Act (20 U.S.C. 9122(1))); (v) a news website or app where— (I) the inclusion of video content on the website or app is related to the website or app's own gathering, reporting, or publishing of news content; and (II) the website or app is not otherwise an online platform; (vi) a product or service that primarily functions as business-to-business software; or (vii) a virtual private network or similar service that exists solely to route internet traffic between locations. (4) GEOLOCATION.—The term “geolocation” means information sufficient to identify street name and name of a city or town. (5) INDIVIDUAL-SPECIFIC ADVERTISING TO MINORS.— (A) IN GENERAL.—The term “individual-specific advertising to minors” means advertising or any other effort to market a product or service that is directed to a specific minor or a device that is linked or reasonably linkable to a minor— (i) based on— (I) the personal data of— (aa) the minor; or (bb) a group of minors who are similar in sex, age, income level, race, or ethnicity to the specific minor to whom the product or service is marketed; (II) psychological profiling of a minor or group of minors; or (III) a unique identifier of the device; or (ii) as a result of use by the minor, access by any device of the minor, or use by a group of minors who are similar to the specific minor, of more than a single— (I) website; (II) online service; (III) online application; (IV) mobile application; or (V) connected device (B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term “individual-specific advertising to minors” shall not include— (i) advertising or marketing to an individual or the device of an individual in response to the individual’s specific request for information or feedback, such as a minor’s current search query; (ii) contextual advertising, such as when an advertisement is displayed based on the content of the covered platform on which the advertisement appears and does not vary based on personal information related to the viewer;