Establishes the NY digital choice act requiring social media companies to provide covered users with a copy of the covered user's social graph at the request of the covered user; defines terms; provides requirements for the interoperability of covered users' data; grants the attorney general the authority to promulgate rules and regulations and enforce such provisions.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8850
IN SENATE
January 9, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Internet and Technology
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to establishing
the NY digital choice act
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 48 to read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 48
4 NY DIGITAL CHOICE ACT
5 Section 1800. Short title.
6 1801. Definitions.
7 1802. Portability.
8 1803. Interoperability.
9 1804. Data rights.
10 1805. Rulemaking authority.
11 1806. Enforcement by attorney general.
12 1807. Severability.
13 § 1800. Short title. This article shall be known and may be cited as
14 the "NY digital choice act".
15 § 1801. Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms
16 shall have the following meanings:
17 1. "Open protocol" means a publicly available set of technical rules
18 that:
19 (a) enables interoperability and data exchange between social media
20 platforms by providing a common data infrastructure where multiple
21 social media platforms can access a covered user's social graph;
22 (b) is free from licensing fees and patent restrictions; and
23 (c) governs how social media platforms communicate and exchange data.
24 2. (a) "Social graph" means:
25 (i) a covered user's social connections with secondary users;
26 (ii) content created by a covered user;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13423-07-5
S. 8850 2
1 (iii) the covered user's responses to secondary users' content,
2 including comments, reactions, mentions, reports, shares, and other
3 engagements;
4 (iv) secondary users' responses to the covered user's content;
5 (v) metadata for subparagraphs (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) of this
6 paragraph; and
7 (vi) relational references sufficient to maintain the associations
8 among data elements described in subparagraphs (i), (ii), (iii), and
9 (iv) of this paragraph.
10 (b) "Social graph" does not include a secondary user's content and
11 responses that have been designated private by such secondary user,
12 including private messages.
13 3. "Content" has the same meaning as in section eleven hundred of this
14 chapter.
15 4. "Social media company" has the same meaning as in section eleven
16 hundred of this chapter.
17 5. "Social media platform" has the same meaning as in section eleven
18 hundred of this chapter.
19 6. "Covered user" has the same meaning as in section fifteen hundred
20 of this chapter.
21 7. "Secondary user" means a user of a website, online service, online
22 application, or mobile application that is developed, deployed, or oper-
23 ating in whole or in part in the state and that is not acting as an
24 operator, or agent or affiliate of an operator, of such website, online
25 service, online application, or mobile application, or any portion ther-
26 eof, irrespective of such user's physical location.
27 8. "Data portability" means the ability of covered users of social
28 media platforms to retain existing social graphs without impairment of
29 quality, reliability, or convenience when such information is trans-
30 ferred from one social media platform or third party to another.
31 § 1802. Portability. 1. If a covered user requests a copy of such
32 covered user's social graph under this article, a social media company
33 shall, within five business days, provide the social graph or user-se-
34 lected parts of the social graph, in a format that:
35 (a) allows for data portability, to the extent technically feasible;
36 (b) is readily viewable by the covered user; and
37 (c) allows the covered user to transmit the data to another social
38 media platform or third party without impediment if the social media
39 platform or third party processes the data by automated means.
40 2. A social media company shall adopt an accessible, prominent, and
41 persistent method for covered users to request their social graph data.
42 § 1803. Interoperability. 1. A social media company shall implement a
43 transparent, third-party-accessible interoperability interface or inter-
44 faces to allow covered users to choose to:
45 (a) share a covered user's social graph or user-selected parts of the
46 social graph between the social media platforms designated by the
47 covered user; and
48 (b) enable third parties to access social graph data created by the
49 covered user and to be notified when new or updated social graph data is
50 available, with the covered user's permission.
51 2. To achieve interoperability under subdivision one of this section,
52 a social media company shall:
53 (a) utilize an open protocol;
54 (b) facilitate and maintain interoperability and continuous, real-time
55 data sharing with other social media platforms through an interoperabi-
S. 8850 3
1 lity interface, based on reasonable terms that do not discriminate
2 between social media platforms;
3 (c) establish reasonable and proportionate thresholds related to the
4 frequency, nature, and volume of requests, beyond which the social media
5 company may assess a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory fee for
6 such access; and
7 (d) make available to other social media companies a functionally
8 equivalent version of any internal interoperability interfaces created
9 by the social media company for the social media company's own social
10 media platforms; and
11 (e) disclose to other social media companies complete, accurate, and
12 regularly updated documentation describing access to the interoperabi-
13 lity interface required under this section.
14 3. A social media company or third party that accesses an interoper-
15 ability interface shall take reasonable steps to meet platform integrity
16 standards, including data security, data privacy, and abuse-mitigation
17 practices necessary to preserve user protections and secure any data
18 such company or third party acquires, processes, or transmits.
19 4. A social media company or third party may not share or receive a
20 covered user's social graph through the interoperability interface,
21 except with the covered user's consent.
22 5. A social media company shall adopt an accessible, prominent, and
23 persistent method for covered users to give consent for data sharing
24 with other social media platforms or third parties through the interop-
25 erability interface and shall implement such user's instructions within
26 five business days of receipt of such request.
27 6. A social media company is not required to:
28 (a) provide access to:
29 (i) inferences, analyses, or derived data that the social media compa-
30 ny has generated internally about a user; or
31 (ii) proprietary algorithms, ranking systems, or other internal oper-
32 ating mechanisms; or
33 (b) transmit data that meets all of the following criteria:
34 (i) such data is stored or structured in a proprietary format;
35 (ii) no open, industry-standard format is reasonably available; and
36 (iii) transmitting the data would disclose information described in
37 paragraph (a) of this subdivision.
38 7. A social media company shall give secondary users an opportunity to
39 opt out, through a prominent notification at the time of a request, by a
40 covered user, of transferal of such secondary user's public data from
41 one social media platform or third party to another.
42 § 1804. Data rights. Upon specific request from a covered user, a
43 social media company shall allow such covered user to delete the data in
44 such covered user's social graph, as well as any data that has been
45 designated private by such covered user.
46 § 1805. Rulemaking authority. The attorney general may promulgate such
47 rules and regulations as are necessary to identify open protocols that
48 satisfy the requirements of this article.
49 § 1806. Enforcement by attorney general. In addition to any other
50 remedies provided by law, whenever there shall be a violation of this
51 article, application may be made by the attorney general in the name of
52 the people of the state of New York to a court or justice having juris-
53 diction by a special proceeding to issue an injunction, and upon notice
54 to the defendant of not less than five days, to enjoin and restrain the
55 continuance of such violations. If it shall appear to the satisfaction
56 of the court or justice that the defendant has, in fact, violated this
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1 article, an injunction may be issued by such court or justice enjoining
2 and restraining any further violation, without requiring proof that any
3 person has, in fact, been injured or damaged thereby. In any such
4 proceeding, the court may make allowances to the attorney general as
5 provided in paragraph six of subdivision (a) of section eighty-three
6 hundred three of the civil practice law and rules. Whenever the court
7 shall determine that a violation of this article has occurred, the court
8 may impose a civil penalty of not more than twenty-five hundred dollars
9 for each violation.
10 § 1807. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision,
11 section or part of this article shall be adjudged by any court of compe-
12 tent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair,
13 or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its opera-
14 tion to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, or part
15 thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment
16 shall have been made.
17 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
18 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
19 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
20 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
21 on or before such effective date.
