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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
2nd Session of the 59th Legislature (2024)
SENATE BILL 1996 By: Standridge
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to censorship of social media;
defining terms; creating cause of action for deletion
or censorship of certain speech ; authorizing certain
damages; authorizing award of certain costs and fees;
prohibiting certain defense; requiring social media
website to publish certain sta ndards; requiring
consistency of application of certain standards;
prohibiting use of algorithm to take certain actions;
prohibiting certain justification or defense;
establishing immunity from liability for certain
actions; clarifying persons with standing for certain
action; authorizing Attorney General to bring certain
action; prohibiting certain action by social media
website against certain qualified candidate;
establishing fines for certain violations; requiring
notice of certain in -kind contributions; cons truing
provisions; clarifying enforcement; providing for
codification; and providing an effe ctive date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE 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 duplicatio n in numbering, reads as follows:
As used in this act:
1. “Algorithm” means a set of instruct ions designed to perform
a specific task;
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2. “Candidate” means a person who seeks to qualify for
nomination or election to or retention in a public office;
3. “Deplatform” means the action or practi ce by a social media
website to permanently delete or ban a user or to temporarily delete
or ban a user from the social media platfo rm;
4. “Hate speech” means a phrase concerning content that an
individual arbitrarily finds offensive based on his or her personal
moral code;
5. “Obscene” means that to the average person, ap plying
contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material
taken as a whole appeals to prurient interest;
6. “Political speech” means speech relating to the sta te, the
government, the body politic, public administra tion, 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 t he
administration or the law of or relating to the civil aspects of
government;
7. “Religious speech” means a set of unproven answers, tru th
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 do ing, and what happens after death;
8. “Shadow ban” means an action by a social med ia website
through any means, whether the act ion is determined by a natural
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person or an algorithm, to limit or eliminate the exposure of a user
or content or material posted by a user to other u sers of the social
media platform. Shadow ban includes acts of shadow banning by a
social media website w hich are not readily appar ent to a user;
9. “Social media website” means a website or applicati on 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 consisting primarily of news,
sports, entertainment, or other information or content that is not
user-generated but is presel ected or curated by the provider and for
which any chat, comment, or interactive functionality is inc idental
to, directly related to, or dependent on the provision of such
content; and
10. “User” means a person who resides or is domiciled in this
state and who has an account on a social media website .
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SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new sect ion of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1450.2 of Title 12, unless there
is created a duplication in numb ering, reads as follows:
A. 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 u ser’s political
speech or religious speech; or
2. Uses an algorithm to suppress political speech or religious
speech.
B. 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 med ia website user’s
speech,
b. actual damages,
c. punitive damages if aggravating factors are present ,
and
d. other applicable forms of equitable relief.
2. The prevailing party in a cause of action under this secti on
may be awarded costs and reasonable att orney 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.
C. A social media website shall publish the standards,
including detailed definitions, it uses or has used for determining
how to censor, shadow ban, or delete a user’s political or religious
speech.
D. A social media website shall apply censorship, shadow ban,
and deletion standards in a consistent manner among its users on the
platform.
E. A social media website may not use an algorithm to censor,
shadow ban, or delete political speech posted by or about a user who
is known to the social media website to be a candidate as defined by
Section 1 of this act, beginning on the date of qualification and
ending on the date of the el ection or the date the candidate ceases
to be a candidate. A social media website shall provide each user a
method by which the user may be identified as a qualified candidate
and which provides suf ficient information to allow the social media
platform to confirm the us er’s qualification as a candidate.
F. A social media website may not take any action to censor,
deplatform, or shadow ban a journalistic enterprise based on the
content of its publicatio n or broadcast.
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G. 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 a trial.
H. 1. A social media website shall be immune from liability
under this section if it deletes or censors a social med ia 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, trade mark, 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.
I. Only users who are eighteen (18) years of age or olde r shall
have standing to bring an action pursuant to this section .
J. The Attorney General may bring a civil cause of action under
this section on behalf of social media we bsite users who reside in
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this state whose political speech or religious speech has been
censored by a social media website.
SECTION 3. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1450.3 of Title 12, unless there
is created a duplica tion in numbering, reads as follows:
A. A social media websit e may not willfully deplatform a
candidate for office who is known by the social media website to be
a candidate, beginning on the date of qualification and ending on
the date of the election or the date the candidate ceases to be a
candidate. A social media website shall provide each user a method
by which the user may be identified as a qualified candidate and
which provides sufficient information to allow the social media
platform to confirm the user’s qualification as a candidate.
B. Upon a finding of a violation of subsection A of this
section, the social media platform may be fin ed Two Hundred Fifty
Thousand Dollars ($250,000.00) per day for a candidate for statewide
office and Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) per day for
candidates for other offices.
C. A social media website that willfully provides free
advertising for a candidate shall inform the candidate of such in-
kind contribution. Posts, content, material, and comments by
candidates which are shown on the social media website in the same
or similar way as other users’ posts, content, material, and
comments shall not be considered free advertising.
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D. The provisions of t his section may only be enforced to the
extent not inconsistent with federal law.
SECTION 4. This act shall become effective November 1, 2024.
59-2-2421 TEK 1/18/2024 2:55:22 PM