Senate passes revised data-portability bill after technical feasibility fight
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Summary
After hours of technical questioning and a failed repeal substitute, the Senate passed a revised third substitute to House Bill 408 requiring social platforms to support user-selected data portability and interoperability, with safe-harbor provisions and a later effective date for implementation.
Senate members passed a third substitute to House Bill 408, a measure intended to expand social-media data portability and interoperability while building in protections for companies facing short-term technical failures.
Sponsor Senator Mikell introduced the bill as a follow-up to last year’s data-portability work, saying it “strengthens user control over social media” and allows users to “select and transfer portions of their social media data — pictures, posts, comments, connections — to another platform” while protecting privacy during transfers. Mikell also said the bill provides safe-harbor language for temporary technical failures and narrows the court-access provisions to constitutional and injunctive relief issues.
Opponents questioned how platforms could implement an open technical standard and meet tight timelines for transfers. Senator Johnson asked whether the bill prescribes a specific data standard and warned: “So you’re basically saying then that if I decide one day I want to be on Truth Social instead of Facebook, I need to just push a button and all of my posts … my friends and everything are gonna transfer over.” Johnson also moved a substitute that would have repealed the portability framework; the repeal substitute failed on the floor.
Proponents said the bill is primarily policy — setting the rules for portability and leaving implementation details to engineers and industry work. Senator Mikell said the bill builds on 2025 legislation and “provides more safeguards than before.” Lawmakers also negotiated changes to effective dates and added clarifying language before returning the bill to the House.
The Senate adopted the third substitute and passed the bill on a roll-call vote; the official tally for the adopted substitute as recorded on the floor was favorable and the measure will be returned to the House for further consideration.
The next steps are technical: supporters expect additional stakeholder work to refine interoperability standards and implementation plans ahead of the bill’s effective date.