Assigned to TAT AS PASSED BY COW
ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Sixth Legislature, First Regular Session
AMENDED
FACT SHEET FOR S.B. 1106
social media platforms; standards; notification
Purpose
Establishes standards for social media platforms relating to deplatforming candidates, user
censorship, algorithm categorization and notification requirements, and prescribes legal remedies
to a violation of standards.
Background
A social media platform is an organization that provides a service for public users to
disseminate speech, expression, information or other content to other users or the public and
includes both the organization and any of its officers, agents, employees, contractors or any other
person employed by or acting on behalf of the social media platform, as well subcontractors or
entities used to conduct fact-checking or any other activities relating to content modulation.
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this
legislation.
Provisions
Candidates
1. Prohibits, during the duration of their candidacy, a social media platform from willfully
deplatforming an individual that the social media platform knows to be a candidate.
2. Specifies that the duration of candidacy begins on the date of the candidate's qualification and
ends on the date of election or the date the candidate ceases to be a candidate.
3. Requires a social media platform to provide a method:
a) by which a user can be identified as a candidate; and
b) that provides the social media platform with sufficient information to confirm the
candidate's qualification by reviewing the candidate's statement of organization, as filed.
4. Requires a social media platform that willfully provides free advertising for a candidate to
inform the candidate of the in-kind contribution.
5. Excludes, from being considered free advertising, posts, content, material and comments by a
candidate that are shown on the social media platform in the same or similar manner as the
content of other users. FACT SHEET – Amended
S.B. 1106
Page 2
6. Prohibits a social media platform from using postprioritization or shadow banning algorithms
for content and material posted by or about a user who is known to be a candidate during the
duration of their candidacy.
7. Specifies that postprioritization of certain content or material from or about a candidate based
on payments to the social media platform by the candidate or a third party is not a violation.
Censorship Standards
8. Requires a social media platform to publish the standards, including detailed definitions, that
the social media platform uses or has used to determine how it will censor, deplatform and
shadow ban the social media platform's users.
9. Requires that standards for censoring, deplatforming and shadow banning be applied in a
consistent manner among a social media platform's users.
10. Requires a social media platform to inform each user about any changes to the social media
platform's user rules, terms and agreements before implementing the changes.
11. Limits, to no more than once every 30 days, changing a social media platform's user rules,
terms and agreements.
12. Prohibits a social media platform from censoring or shadow banning a user's content or
material or deplatforming a user from the social media platform without notifying the user or
in a manner that violates censorship standards.
13. Specifies that the user notification must:
a) be in writing;
b) be delivered via email or direct electronic notification to the user within seven days after
the censor;
c) include a thorough rationale explaining the reason the social media platform censored the
user; and
d) include a precise and thorough explanation of how the social media platform became aware
of the censored content and material, including a thorough explanation of any algorithm
used to identify or flag the user's content or material as objectionable.
14. Requires a social media platform to provide a mechanism that allows a user to request the
number of other individual social media platform participants who were provided or shown
the user's content or posts.
15. Requires the social media platform to grant a user's request for the number of other individual
social media platform participants who were provided or shown the user's content or posts.
16. Requires a social media platform to categorize the algorithms used for postprioritization and
shadow banning and allow a user to opt out of these algorithm categories to allow sequential
or chronological posts and content.
17. Requires the social media platform to annually provide notice on algorithms used for
postprioritization and shadow banning and reoffer the opt-out opportunity. FACT SHEET – Amended
S.B. 1106
Page 3
18. Requires a social media platform 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 the
user has received the required notice.
19. Prohibits a social media company from censoring, deplatforming or shadow banning a
journalistic enterprise based on the content of the publication or broadcast, unless said content
or material is obscene.
20. Stipulates that a social media platform is not required to notify a user if the censored content
or material is obscene.
21. States that a social media platform that censors, shadow bans, deplatforms or applies
postprioritization algorithms to users in Arizona is conclusively presumed to be engaged in
substantial and not isolated activities within Arizona and operating, conducting, engaging in
or carrying on a business and doing business in Arizona, and the social media platform is
therefore subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of Arizona.
22. Excludes, from social media platform standards, a publisher, broadcaster, printer or other
person engaged in disseminating information or reproducing printed or pictorial matter if the
information or matter has been disseminated or reproduced on behalf of others without
knowledge of violation.
Civil Action
23. Specifies that a violation of social media platform standards constitutes an unlawful practice
and is in addition to all other causes of action, remedies and penalties available to Arizona.
24. Allows the Attorney General to investigate a violation of standards and take appropriate action
pursuant to consumer fraud statutes.
25. Allows a user who is harmed by a social media platform's violation of standards to bring a
private case of action for the violation for which the court may award:
a) up to $100,000 in statutory damages for each claim;
b) actual damages;
c) punitive damages, if aggravating factors are present;
d) other forms of equitable relief, including injunctive relief; and
e) costs and reasonable attorney fees, if the user was deplatformed in violation of the
requirement to apply censorship, deplatforming and shadow banning in a consistent
manner among users.
26. Requires, to be treated as a separate violation, act or practice, each failure of a social media
platform to comply with algorithm categorization and opt-out requirements.
27. Allows the Secretary of State (SOS), if the SOS finds that a social media platform violates the
deplatform prohibition, to impose a civil penalty of $250,000 per day for a statewide office
candidate and $25,000 per day for a candidate for any other office.
FACT SHEET – Amended
S.B. 1106
Page 4
Definitions
28. Defines social media platform as any information service, system, internet search engine or
access software provider that meets all of the following:
a) provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including an
internet platform or social media site;
b) operates as a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, corporation,
association or other legal entity;
c) does business in Arizona; and
d) has either annual gross revenues of more than $100,000,000, as adjusted in January of each
odd-numbered year to reflect any increase in the consumer price index, or at least
100,000,000 monthly individual platform participants annually, or both.
29. Excludes, from the definition of social media platform, an online service, application or
website:
a) that consists primarily of news, sports, entertainment or other information or content that
is not user-generated but is preselected by the provider; and
b) for which any chat, comments or interactive functionality is incidental to, directly related
to or dependent on the provision of preselected content.
30. Defines user as a person who resides or is domiciled in this state and who has an account on a
social media platform, regardless of whether this person posts or has posted content or material
to the social media platform.
31. Defines candidate as an individual who receives contributions or makes expenditures or who
gives consent to another person to receive contributions or make expenditures on behalf of that
individual in connection with the candidate's nomination, election or retention for any public
office.
32. Defines censor as any action taken to:
a) delete, regulate, restrict, edit, alter, inhibit the publication or reproduction of, or suspend a
right to post, remove or post an addendum to any content or material posted by a user;
b) inhibit the ability of a user to be viewable by or to interact with another user of the social
media platform; or
c) add or take away credibility to political speech that could have the effect of swaying
political views including fact checking, issuing warnings, flagging, highlighting or
cautioning users to believe or disbelieve content based on political views.
33. Defines deplatform as the act or practice by a social media platform of permanently deleting
or banning a user or temporarily deleting or banning a user for more than 14 days from the
social media platform.
34. Defines shadow ban as any action taken by a social media platform through any means,
whether the action is determined by a natural person or algorithm, to limit or eliminate the
exposure of a user or content or material posted by a user to other users of the social media
platform, including any action that is taken by a social media platform to limit or eliminate
content or material and that is not readily apparent to a user. FACT SHEET – Amended
S.B. 1106
Page 5
35. Defines algorithm as a mathematical set of rules that specifies how a group of data behaves
and that will assist in ranking search results and maintaining order or that is used in sorting or
ranking content or material based on relevancy or other factors instead of using published time
or chronological order of material.
36. Defines postprioritization as any action taken by a social media platform to place, feature or
prioritize certain content or material ahead of, below or in a more or less prominent position
than other content or material in a newsfeed, feed or view or in search results.
37. Excludes, from the definition of postprioritization, any action taken by a social media platform
to place, feature or prioritize the content and material of a third party, including other users,
based on payments by that third party to the social media platform.
38. Defines journalistic enterprise.
39. Makes conforming changes.
40. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Amendments Adopted by Committee of the Whole
1. Adds exceptions to the definition of social media platform.
2. Makes conforming changes.
Senate Action
TAT 2/6/23 DP 4-3-0
Prepared by Senate Research
February 21, 2023
KJA/CB/sr