Bills · 2021-2022 Regular Session

AB 590

Died at session end Official bill text Atom feed

Relating to: prohibiting state agency employees, state elected officials, federal government agency employees, and certain state individuals holding a national office from influencing social media Internet sites to censor users and providing a penalty. (FE)

Data processing Data processing — Privacy issues Public employee Public officers United states — Congress

Introduced, stopped here
Passes Assembly, not reached
Passes Senate, not reached
Governor signs, not reached
Law, not reached

Unfamiliar terms? Glossary

What this bill does

Plain-language analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill prohibits state agency employees and state elected officials from

influencing or attempting to influence a social media Internet site to censor,

deplatform, or shadow ban users on the social media Internet site. The prohibition

also applies to a U.S. senator or representative of congress elected to his or her office

in this state and to federal government agency employees present in this state.

The bill defines “deplatforming” as deleting or banning a user from a social

media Internet site for more than 60 days, and defines “shadow banning” as limiting

or eliminating the exposure of a user, or content posted by or about a user, to other

users. The penalty for each violation of the bill's prohibitions is a forfeiture between

$1,000 and $10,000.

What it would cost

Fiscal estimates filed by state agencies, as official PDFs

Votes

Assembly: Report Assembly Amendment 2 adoption recommended by Committee on Government Accountability and Oversight, Ayes 6, Noes 3

Passed 6–3 Feb 1, 2022 official source full page

No individual roll call was recorded for this vote. Committee votes and some older sessions record totals only.

Assembly: Report passage as amended recommended by Committee on Government Accountability and Oversight, Ayes 6, Noes 3