Creating a civil cause of action against the owner or operator of a social media website that restricts religious or political speech. (FE)

2. Fails to notify a user that the user's religious speech or political speech has been deleted, censored, disfavored, or censured, or that the user has been deplatformed. The bill defines “deplatforming” as deleting or banning a user from the social media website for more than 60 days.

3. Fails to allow a user who has been deplatformed to access or retrieve all of the user's information, content, material, and data for at least 60 days after being deplatformed.

4. Fails to publish the standards, including detailed definitions, that it uses or has used for determining how to delete, censor, disfavor, and censure speech on the social media website and how to deplatform and shadow ban users on the social media website. The bill defines “shadow banning” as limiting or eliminating the exposure of a user, or content posted by a user, to other users of the social media website.

5. Applies censorship, deplatforming, and shadow banning standards in a manner that is not consistent among its users on the social media website.

6. Fails to inform each user about any changes to the social media website's user rules, terms, and agreements.

7. Makes changes to its user rules, terms, and agreements more than once every 180 days.

8. Fails to provide a mechanism for a user to request the number of other users who were provided or shown the user's content or posts and provide that number to the user upon request.

The bill provides that it is not a defense to such an action that an owner or operator of the social media website considered a user's religious speech or political speech to be related to content that is offensive on the basis of the owner's or operator's personal moral code.

In addition to a user's cause of action, the bill authorizes the attorney general or any district attorney to bring a civil cause of action on behalf of the user or on behalf of the state, or both, with respect to an owner's or operator's intentional censorship of a user's religious speech or political speech. Each party may bring a cause of action independently from or in conjunction with one another.

If a user, the attorney general, or a district attorney prevails in a civil action, the court may award all of the following relief:

1. Any economic and noneconomic damages suffered by the user, which are awarded to the user regardless of whether the user participated in the action.

2. Statutory damages in an amount of not less than $75,000 for each intentional act described in items 1 to 8 above. Statutory damages related to intentional censorship are awarded to the state if the attorney general or a district attorney is a prevailing party. Statutory damages related to other intentional acts are awarded to the user if a prevailing party.

3. If aggravating factors are present, punitive damages. Any punitive damages are awarded to the state if the attorney general or a district attorney is a prevailing party.

4. Injunctive relief.

Regardless of who prevails in the civil action, the court may award the prevailing party costs and reasonable attorney fees but may not assess costs or attorney fees against the state.

The bill creates certain exceptions to liability for owners and operators of social media websites. For example, an owner or operator is not liable for actions in relation to speech that calls for immediate acts of violence, that is obscene or pornographic in nature, or that entices criminal conduct.