SB 581

This bill prohibits a social media Internet site from censoring, deplatforming,

or shadow banning a journalistic enterprise on the basis of the content of its

publication or broadcast. The bill applies to social media Internet sites or

applications that enable users to communicate with each other and that have more

than 150 million users. The bill defines a “journalistic enterprise” as an entity that

publishes more than 10,000 words online with at least 5,000 paid subscribers or

10,000 monthly active users; publishes more than 100 hours of audio or video online

with at least 100 million viewers annually; operates a cable television channel that

provides more than 40 hours of content per week to more than 100,000 cable

television subscribers; or operates under a broadcast license issued by the Federal

Communications Commission.

Under the bill, a social media Internet site must also provide a mechanism for

a journalistic enterprise to request the number of other individual users who were

provided or shown the journalistic enterprise's content or posts, and to provide that

number to the journalistic enterprise upon request.

The bill also allows a journalistic enterprise to bring a private cause of action

against a social media Internet site if the Internet site violates the bill's

requirements. The bill provides that, in a private cause of action, a court may award

statutory damages of up to $100,000 for each proven violation; actual damages;

punitive damages if aggravating factors exist; other forms of equitable relief; and

costs and attorney fees.