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A06789 Summary:

BILL NOA06789B
 
SAME ASSAME AS S00895-B
 
SPONSORLee
 
COSPNSRDickens, Brown K, Shimsky, Gonzalez-Rojas, Weprin, Colton, Simone, Glick, Simon, Lavine, Seawright, Burdick, Rajkumar, Rozic, Rosenthal L, Epstein, Raga, Novakhov
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Add Art 42 §§1100 - 1104, Gen Bus L
 
Requires social media companies to post terms of service for each social media platform owned or operated by the company in a manner reasonably designed to inform all users of the social media platform of the existence and contents of the terms of service; requires social media companies to submit to the attorney general certain terms of service reports; provides remedies for violations.
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A06789 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                         6789--B
                                                                   R. R. 243
 
                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                       May 8, 2023
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by M. of A. LEE, DICKENS, K. BROWN, SHIMSKY, GONZALEZ-ROJAS,
          WEPRIN, COLTON, SIMONE,  GLICK,  SIMON,  LAVINE,  SEAWRIGHT,  BURDICK,
          RAJKUMAR, ROZIC, L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee  on  Consumer Affairs and Protection -- committee discharged, bill
          amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said  commit-
          tee -- recommitted to the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection
          in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- reported and referred to
          the  Committee  on  Codes -- reported and referred to the Committee on
          Ways and Means -- reported and referred to the Committee on  Rules  --
          ordered  to  a  third reading -- amended on the special order of third
          reading, ordered reprinted as amended,  retaining  its  place  on  the
          special order of third reading
 
        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  general  business law, in relation to requiring
          disclosure of certain social media terms of service
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new article
     2  42 to read as follows:
     3                                 ARTICLE 42
     4                        SOCIAL MEDIA TERMS OF SERVICE
     5  Section 1100. Definitions.
     6          1101. Required disclosure of terms of service.
     7          1102. Terms of service report.
     8          1103. Violations and remedies.
     9          1104. Application.
    10    § 1100. Definitions. For purposes of this article, the following defi-
    11  nitions apply:
    12    1. "Actioned" means a social media company, that due to a suspected or
    13  confirmed  violation  of  the  terms  of service, has taken some form of
    14  action, including, but not limited to, removal, demonetization, deprior-
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03659-05-4

        A. 6789--B                          2
 
     1  itization, or banning, against the relevant user  or  relevant  item  of
     2  content.
     3    2. "Content" means statements or comments made by users and media that
     4  are  created, posted, livestreamed, shared, or otherwise interacted with
     5  by users on an internet-based service or application. "Content" does not
     6  include media put on  a  service  or  application  exclusively  for  the
     7  purpose of cloud storage, transmitting files, or file collaboration.
     8    3.  "Public  or  semipublic  internet-based  service  or  application"
     9  excludes a service or application used to facilitate communication with-
    10  in a business or enterprise among employees or affiliates of  the  busi-
    11  ness  or  enterprise, provided that access to the service or application
    12  is restricted to employees or affiliates of the business  or  enterprise
    13  using the service or application.
    14    4.  "Social media company" means a person or entity that owns or oper-
    15  ates one or more social media platforms.
    16    5. "Social media platform" means a public or semipublic internet-based
    17  service or application that has users in New York and that meets both of
    18  the following criteria:
    19    (a) A substantial function of the service or application is to connect
    20  users in order to allow users to interact socially with each other with-
    21  in the service or application. A service or  application  that  provides
    22  email  or direct messaging services shall not be considered to meet this
    23  criterion on the basis of that function alone.
    24    (b) The service or application allows users to do all of  the  follow-
    25  ing:
    26    (i)  construct  a public or semipublic profile for purposes of signing
    27  into and using the service or application;
    28    (ii) populate a list of other users with whom an individual  shares  a
    29  social connection within the system; and
    30    (iii)  create  or  post  content  viewable  or audible by other users,
    31  including, but not limited to, livestreams, on message boards,  in  chat
    32  rooms,  or  through  a  landing page or main feed that presents the user
    33  with content generated by other users.
    34    6. "Terms of service" means a policy or set of policies adopted  by  a
    35  social  media  company  that  specifies, at least, the user behavior and
    36  activities that are permitted on the  internet-based  service  owned  or
    37  operated  by  the social media company, and the user behavior and activ-
    38  ities that may subject the user or an item of content to being actioned.
    39    § 1101. Required disclosure of terms of service.  1.  A  social  media
    40  company shall post terms of service for each social media platform owned
    41  or operated by the company in a manner reasonably designed to inform all
    42  users  of the social media platform of the existence and contents of the
    43  terms of service.
    44    2. The terms of service posted pursuant to  subdivision  one  of  this
    45  section shall include all of the following:
    46    (a)  contact  information for the purpose of allowing users to ask the
    47  social media company questions about the terms of service;
    48    (b) a description of the  process  that  users  must  follow  to  flag
    49  content,  groups,  or other users that they believe violate the terms of
    50  service, and the social media  company's  commitments  on  response  and
    51  resolution time; and
    52    (c)  a  list  of  potential  actions the social media company may take
    53  against an item of content or a user, including,  but  not  limited  to,
    54  removal, demonetization, deprioritization, or banning.
    55    3.  The  terms  of  service posted pursuant to subdivision one of this
    56  section shall  be  available  in  the  twelve  most  common  non-English

        A. 6789--B                          3
 
     1  languages spoken by limited-English proficient individuals in the state,
     2  as  outlined in section two hundred two-a of the executive law, in which
     3  the social media platform offers product features,  including,  but  not
     4  limited to, menus and prompts.
     5    § 1102. Terms  of  service report. 1. On a semiannual basis in accord-
     6  ance with subdivision two of this section, a social media company  shall
     7  submit  to  the attorney general a terms of service report. The terms of
     8  service report shall include, for each social media  platform  owned  or
     9  operated by the company, all of the following:
    10    (a)  The  current  version of the terms of service of the social media
    11  platform.
    12    (b) If a social media company has filed its first report,  a  complete
    13  and  detailed  description  of any changes to the terms of service since
    14  the previous report.
    15    (c) A statement of whether the current version of the terms of service
    16  defines each of the following categories of content,  and,  if  so,  the
    17  definitions of those categories, including any subcategories:
    18    (i) hate speech or racism;
    19    (ii) extremism or radicalization;
    20    (iii) disinformation or misinformation;
    21    (iv) harassment; and/or
    22    (v) foreign political interference.
    23    (d) A detailed description of content moderation practices used by the
    24  social  media  company for that platform, including, but not limited to,
    25  all of the following:
    26    (i) any existing  policies  intended  to  address  the  categories  of
    27  content described in paragraph (c) of this subdivision;
    28    (ii) how automated content moderation systems enforce terms of service
    29  of  the  social  media  platform  and  when  these systems involve human
    30  review;
    31    (iii) how the  social  media  company  responds  to  user  reports  of
    32  violations of the terms of service;
    33    (iv)  how  the  social media company would remove individual pieces of
    34  content, users, or groups that violate the terms  of  service,  or  take
    35  broader  action against individual users or against groups of users that
    36  violate the terms of service; and
    37    (v) the languages in which the social media  platform  does  not  make
    38  terms  of service available, but does offer product features, including,
    39  but not limited to, menus and prompts.
    40    (e) (i) Information on content that was flagged by  the  social  media
    41  company as content belonging to any of the categories described in para-
    42  graph (c) of this subdivision, including all of the following:
    43    (A) the total number of flagged items of content;
    44    (B) the total number of actioned items of content;
    45    (C)  the  total  number  of actioned items of content that resulted in
    46  action taken by the social media company against the user  or  group  of
    47  users responsible for the content;
    48    (D)  the  total number of actioned items of content that were removed,
    49  demonetized, or deprioritized by the social media company;
    50    (E) the number of times actioned items of content were viewed or heard
    51  by users;
    52    (F) the number of times actioned items of content were shared, and the
    53  number of users that viewed or heard the content before it was actioned;
    54  and

        A. 6789--B                          4
 
     1    (G) the number of times users appealed social  media  company  actions
     2  taken  on  that  platform  and  the  number of reversals of social media
     3  company actions on appeal disaggregated by each type of action.
     4    (ii)  All  information  required by subparagraph (i) of this paragraph
     5  shall be disaggregated into the following categories:
     6    (A)  the  category  of  content,  including  any  relevant  categories
     7  described in paragraph (c) of this subdivision;
     8    (B)  the type of content, including, but not limited to, posts, lives-
     9  treams, comments, messages, profiles of users, or groups of users;
    10    (C) the type of media of the content, including, but not  limited  to,
    11  text, images, livestreams, and videos;
    12    (D)  how  the  content  was  flagged,  including,  but not limited to,
    13  flagged by company  employees  or  contractors,  flagged  by  artificial
    14  intelligence software, flagged by community moderators, flagged by civil
    15  society partners, and flagged by users; and
    16    (E)  how  the  content  was  actioned,  including, but not limited to,
    17  actioned by company employees or  contractors,  actioned  by  artificial
    18  intelligence  software,  actioned  by  community moderators, actioned by
    19  civil society partners, and actioned by users.
    20    2. (a) A social media company shall electronically submit a semiannual
    21  terms of service report pursuant to subdivision  one  of  this  section,
    22  covering  activity within the third and fourth quarters of the preceding
    23  calendar year, to the attorney general no later than April first of each
    24  year, and shall electronically submit  a  semiannual  terms  of  service
    25  report  pursuant  to  subdivision one of this section, covering activity
    26  within the first and second quarters of the current  calendar  year,  to
    27  the attorney general no later than October first of each year.
    28    (b)  Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subdivision, a social media
    29  company shall electronically submit its first terms  of  service  report
    30  pursuant  to  subdivision  one of this section, covering activity within
    31  the third quarter of two thousand twenty-five, to the  attorney  general
    32  no  later  than  January first, two thousand twenty-six, and shall elec-
    33  tronically submit its second terms of service report pursuant to  subdi-
    34  vision  one of this section, covering activity within the fourth quarter
    35  of two thousand twenty-five, to the attorney general no later than April
    36  first, two thousand twenty-six. A social media platform shall submit its
    37  third report no later than October first, two  thousand  twenty-six,  in
    38  accordance with paragraph (a) of this subdivision.
    39    3.  The  attorney  general  shall  make  all  terms of service reports
    40  submitted pursuant to this section available to the public in a searcha-
    41  ble repository on its official internet website.
    42    § 1103. Violations and remedies. 1. (a) A social  media  company  that
    43  violates  the  provisions  of  this  article shall be liable for a civil
    44  penalty not to exceed fifteen thousand dollars per  violation  per  day,
    45  and may be enjoined in any court of competent jurisdiction.
    46    (b)  A  social  media  company shall be considered in violation of the
    47  provisions of this article for each day the social  media  company  does
    48  any of the following:
    49    (i)  fails  to post terms of service in accordance with section eleven
    50  hundred two of this article;
    51    (ii) fails to timely submit to the attorney general a report  required
    52  pursuant to section eleven hundred two of this article; or
    53    (iii)  materially  omits  or  misrepresents  required information in a
    54  report submitted pursuant to section eleven hundred two of this article.
    55    (c) In assessing the amount of a civil penalty pursuant  to  paragraph
    56  (a)  of  this  subdivision,  the court shall consider whether the social

        A. 6789--B                          5
 
     1  media company has made a reasonable, good faith attempt to  comply  with
     2  the provisions of this article.
     3    2.  Actions  for  relief  pursuant to this article shall be prosecuted
     4  exclusively in a court of competent jurisdiction by the attorney general
     5  in the name of the people of the state of New York.
     6    3. Any social media company determined to have violated the provisions
     7  set forth in this article shall be  granted  a  cure  period  of  thirty
     8  calendar  days  from  the date of notification of such violation. During
     9  this cure period, the company must take all necessary actions to rectify
    10  the identified violation or violations and achieve full compliance  with
    11  the  requirements  delineated  in  this article. No civil penalty may be
    12  imposed against the company provided the violation is  verifiably  cured
    13  within  the  thirty-day  timeframe  to the satisfaction of the enforcing
    14  authority.
    15    § 1104. Application. This article shall not apply to  a  social  media
    16  company  that  generated  less than one hundred million dollars in gross
    17  revenue during the preceding  calendar  year  or  to  an  internet-based
    18  service  or application for which interactions between users are limited
    19  to  direct  messages,  commercial  transactions,  consumer  reviews   of
    20  products, sellers, services, events, or places, or any combination ther-
    21  eof.
    22    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    23  it shall have become a law.
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