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ENGROSSED SENATE
BILL NO. 383 By: Standridge, Bullard and
Jett of the Senate
and
West (Kevin) and McDugle of
the House
[ censorship of social media - cause of action -
award of certain costs and fees - immunity from
liability - codification - effective date ]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STAT E OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1450.1 of Title 12, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. As used in this section:
1. "Algorithm" means a set of instruct ions designed to perform
a specific task;
2. "Hate speech" means a phrase concerning content that an
individual arbitrarily finds offensive based on his or her personal
moral code;
3. "Obscene" means that to the average person, applying
contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the mate rial
taken as a whole appeals to prurient interest;
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4. "Political speech" means speech relating to the state, the
government, the body politic, public administration or government
policymaking. Political speech includes speech by the government or
candidates for office and any discussion of social issues.
Political speech does not include speech concerning the
administration or the law of or relating to the civil aspects of
government;
5. "Religious speech" means a set of unproven answers, truth
claims, faith-based assumptions and naked assertions that attempt to
explain the greater questions like how things were created, what
humans should or should not be doing and what happens after death;
and
6. "Social media website" means a website or application that
allows a user to construct a public or semi -public profile and
enables users to communicate with each other for the primary purpose
of posting information, comments, messages or images and:
a. is open to the public,
b. has more than seventy -five million (75,000,000)
subscribers, and
c. has not been specifically affiliated with any one
political party or religion from its inception.
"Social media website " shall not include electronic m ail or any
online service, application or website consi sting primarily of news,
sports, entertainment or other information or content that is not
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user-generated but is preselected or curated by the provider and for
which any chat, comment or interacti ve functionality is inciden tal
to, directly related to or dependent on the provision of such
content.
B. The owner or operator of a social media website who
contracts with users in this state is subject to a private right of
action by a social media website user if the so cial media website
purposely:
1. Deletes or censors a social media website us er's political
speech or religious speech; or
2. Uses an algorithm to suppress political speech or religious
speech.
C. 1. Damages available to a social media website user und er
this section shall include:
a. damages in an amount not to exceed Seventy-five
Thousand Dollars ($75,000.00) per intentional deletion
or censoring of the social media website user's
speech,
b. actual damages,
c. punitive damages if aggravating factors are present ,
and
d. other applicable forms of equitable reli ef.
2. The prevailing party in a cause of action under this secti on
may be awarded costs and reasonable attorney fees.
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3. A social media website that restores from deletion or
removes the censoring of a so cial media website user's speech in a
reasonable amount of time may use such fact to mitigate any damages.
D. A social media website may not use the social media website
user's alleged hate speech as a basis for justification or defense
to the action against the social media website at trial.
E. 1. A social media website shall be immune from liability
under this section if it deletes or censors a social media website
user's speech or uses an algorithm to disfavor or censure speech
that:
a. calls for immediate acts of violence,
b. is obscene or pornographic in nature,
c. is the result of operational error,
d. is the result of a court order,
e. comes from an inauthentic source or involved false
impersonation,
f. entices criminal conduct,
g. involves the bullying of minors, or
h. violates or misappropriates copyright, tradem ark or
other intellectual property.
2. A social media website s hall not be liable under this
section for a social media website u ser's censoring of the speech of
another social media website user.
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F. Only users who are eighteen (18) years of age or older shall
have standing to bring an action pursuant to this section .
G. The Attorney General may bring a civil cause of action under
this section on behalf of social media we bsite users who reside in
this state whose political speech or religious speech has been
censored by a social media website.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 2021.
Passed the Senate the 11th day of March, 2021.
Presiding Officer of the Senate
Passed the House of Representatives the ____ day of __________,
2021.
Presiding Officer of the House
of Representatives