The California Legislature is advancing Senate Bill 771, which would have a chilling effect on free speech on social media. Under the bill, which sits in the state Assembly after being passed by the Senate in May, large social media companies will be subject to legal challenges and fines if their algorithms "relay content to users" that violates the state's civil rights protections, such as hate speech. Platforms that knowingly violate the law could face fines up to $1 million. The bill would also implement a separate "civil penalty" fine of up to $500,000 for reckless violations.
The Legislature says the bill is needed because of a rise in documented hate crimes. It cites a report by the Human Rights Campaign that found "anti-LGBTQ+ disinformation and harmful rhetoric" increased by 400 percent following the passage of Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill in 2022, as well as a report by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations that found that "hate crimes involving anti-immigrant slurs increased by 31 percent" in FY 2024, the highest number since tracking began in 2007.
The bill additionally cites the Anti-Defamation League's 2024 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, which found an 893 percent increase in antisemitic incidents over the previous 10 years, and a 2023 study by nonprofit Global Witness, which found that paid advertisements promoting violence toward women were placed and distributed across social media platforms.
