California now includes a first-in-the-nation law requiring social media firms to publicly post their policies regarding “hate speech,” “disinformation,” “harassment,” and “extremism” on their platforms, and report data on their enforcement of the policies.
Social media firms, through their Web Coalition and other trade associations, vigorously opposed the brand new law. Court challenges are being considered, trade groups said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 587—dubbed the Social Media Transparency and Accountability Act of 2021 and sponsored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Woodland Hills)—in September, saying, “California is not going to stand by as social media is weaponized to spread hate and disinformation that threaten our communities and foundational values as a rustic.”
Governor Gavin Newsom signs CARE (Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment) Court into law alongside state and native leaders and stakeholders in San Jose, Calif., on Sept. 14, 2022. (Courtesy of Office of Governor Gavin Newsom)
“Californians need to understand how these platforms are impacting our public discourse, and this motion brings much-needed transparency and accountability to the policies that shape the social media content we eat day-after-day,” Newsom added, in a press release.
The brand new law requires social media firms earning over $100 million a yr to reveal their “terms of service,” defined as a set of policies that specifies “the user behavior and activities which might be permitted” on their platforms, in line with the bill text.
These firms must specify how they define and discover hate speech and disinformation, potential actions against users who violated the policies, and call information for users with policy questions.
Also they are required to drill down on the flagged content and supply public information on the categories and numbers of violations. A semiannual terms-of-service report should be submitted to the California Attorney General no later than Jan. 1, 2024. Non-compliant firms are subject to a penalty of as much as $15,000 a day for every violation.
Facebook, Twitter, and Google representatives contacted by Epoch Times didn’t immediately reply to questions on the brand new law.
Nonetheless, Meta—the parent company of Facebook and Instagram—has been posting quarterly reports on how its “community standards” are enforced on the 2 platforms and what number of violations are present in each policy area, including “dangerous organizations: terrorism and arranged hate,” “regulated goods: drugs and firearms,” “child endangerment,” “adult nudity and sexual intercourse,” and “fake accounts.” The newest report was posted in August.
On this illustration photo taken in Los Angeles on Oct. 28, 2021, an individual watches on a smartphone Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiling the META logo. (Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images)
Chamber of Progress, an industry coalition that features Google and Meta, said last month it was “absolutely” considering court challenges, saying such mandates raise First Amendment issues.
“It’s like requiring a bookstore to report back to the federal government which books it carries, or requiring the Latest York Times to clarify which stories it publishes,” said Adam Kovacevich, the coalition’s CEO.
Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, in Silicon Valley, wrote in a recent blog post that AB 587 “has censorial consequences.”
“Amongst other problems,” Goldman said, “by prioritizing certain content categories, the bill tells social media platforms that they need to make special publication decisions in those categories to please the regulators and enforcers who’re watching them.
“The resulting distortions to the platforms’ editorial decision-making constitutes censorship. Any enforcement actions also will probably be impermissibly intrusive into the editorial practices of social media platforms, putting regulators in the midst of the editorial process and enabling them to second-guess the platforms’ editorial decisions,” Goldman said.
Jonathan Greenblatt attends Urban League Fights for You Rally on Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, Women’s Rights & Economic Justice in Washington, D.C., on July 20, 2022. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for National Urban League)
The brand new law was backed by major civil rights groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, which ran a campaign supporting the laws’s passage called “Stop Hiding Hate.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League said the law’s enactment was “a victory for web safety advocates from across not only California, however the nation.”
“From the start, [the group] has been insistent that the issue of online hate is simply too severe, and the results are too grave to take a seat by and do nothing,” Greenblatt said.
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