Social Media and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety.

The term 'minor' was replaced with 'child' throughout the bill, and a new definition for 'addictive social media platform' was added based on specific user engagement metrics.

Exemptions for social media platforms were expanded to include services with exclusive functions for email, audio communication, or direct messaging.

The requirement for push notifications was changed to mandate that they must be capable of being disabled by the user.

The definition of 'anonymous age verification' was strengthened to explicitly prohibit the retention of personal identifying information after verification and require that such information remain anonymous.

The bill's primary focus shifted from protecting minors on social media to requiring public schools to adopt AI education standards and policies.

All provisions restricting social media access for minors under 14 and defining 'social media platforms' were deleted.

New mandates were added requiring the State Board of Education to update computer science standards to include AI instruction and the Department of Public Instruction to partner with The Friday Institute for AI educator training.

New requirements were added for governing bodies of public school units to adopt their own AI use policies.

A new requirement was added for the Department of Public Instruction to establish a framework for evaluating generative AI-powered educational tools.

The definitions section was reorganized and expanded to include terms relevant to AI, such as 'generative AI-powered educational tools', replacing the previous social media-specific definitions.

The definition of 'social media platform' was modified to include news, sports, and entertainment sites where chat or comments are incidental to the content.

The exemption for interactive video games was changed; the previous requirement that parental controls must be deactivated for a minor to use the service was removed.

The document metadata was updated to reflect a new committee substitute version with a revised page number and date.

Added a new definition for 'anonymous age verification' to specify that it must be conducted by an independent third party not owned by a foreign entity.

Added a new definition for 'standard age verification' to allow platforms to use their own commercially reasonable methods.

Modified the definition of 'social media platform' to add specific exemptions for customer support forums, parental-controlled games, online shopping, and e-commerce.

Added a new addictive feature (live-streaming) to the list of criteria that determine if a platform is subject to the bill.

Added a new Chapter 114B titled 'Social Media Protections for Minors' to the General Statutes.

Added detailed definitions for 'Account holder', 'Daily active users', 'Minor', 'Resident', and 'Social media platform' including specific criteria for addictive features.

Added requirements for platforms to prohibit minors under 14 from entering contracts and to terminate accounts for 14-15 year olds without parental consent.

Changed the effective date from January 1, 2027 (in the amendment) to March 1, 2025 (in the new bill).

Added specific criteria for what constitutes a 'social media platform' subject to the law, including algorithms and addictive features like infinite scrolling and push notifications.

Added an exemption for foreign-owned social media platforms that have received a national security determination from CFIUS or maintain a valid national security agreement.

Added a provision stating that internet service providers, search engines, and cloud service providers are not in violation of the law if they provide access to addictive social media platforms they do not control.

Changed the effective date of the bill from March 1, 2025, to January 1, 2027.