STATE OF NEW JERSEY
220th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2022 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator MICHAEL L. TESTA, JR.
District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes certain requirements for social media websites concerning content moderation practices; establishes cause of action against social media websites for violation of content moderation practices.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act establishing a cause of action against social media websites for the censoring or banning of certain users and supplementing Title 56 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
Algorithm means a mathematical set of rules that specify how a group of data 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 such content or material behavior.
Anonymous content or user ban means action by a social media website, through any means, whether the action is determined by a natural person or an 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 website. Anonymous content or user ban includes acts of banning by a social media website that are not readily apparent to a user.
Candidate means an individual seeking election to a public office of the State, or of a county or municipality at any election. Candidate includes an individual who runs unopposed, loses an election, withdraws from an election, or raises or spends money, or both, to run for elected office but does not appear on the ballot.
Censor means any action taken by a social media website to delete, regulate, restrict, edit, alter, inhibit the publication or republication of, suspend a right to post, remove, or post an addendum to any content or material posted by a user. Censor includes actions to inhibit the ability of a user to be viewable by or to interact with another user of the social media website.
"Consumer Price Index" means the consumer price index for all urban consumers in the New York City and Philadelphia areas as reported by the federal Department of Labor or successor index.
Office means the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General in the Department of Law and Public Safety.
Journalistic enterprise means any entity:
a. publishing words, audio, or video online and making such published material available to Internet users;
b. operating a cable television channel providing content for cable television subscribers; or
c. operating under a broadcast license issued by the Federal Communications Commission.
Obscene means material that a reasonable person, applying contemporary community ethical standards, would find that, taken as a whole, the dominant theme of the material appeals to prurient interests.
Post prioritization means action by a social media website to place, feature, or prioritize certain content or material ahead of others in a newsfeed, view, or Internet search results. Post prioritization does not include post prioritization of content and material based on payments by a third party, including other users, to the social media website.
Selective suspension means the action or practice by a social media website to permanently delete or ban a user or to temporarily delete or ban a user for more than 60 days.
Social media website means any information service, system, Internet search engine, or access software provider that does business in the State of New Jersey, and provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including an Internet website or a social media website, or both, which is a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, association, or other legal entity that is organized or operated for the profit or financial benefit of its shareholders or other owners, and that satisfies one or more of the following thresholds:
a. is open to the public;
b. has annual gross revenues in excess of $100 million, as adjusted in January of every odd-numbered year to reflect any increase in the Consumer Price Index; and
c. has at least 100 million monthly users globally.
"User" means a person who has an account on a social media website, regardless of whether the person posts or has posted content or material to the social media website.
2. It shall be an unlawful practice and violation of the New Jersey consumer fraud act, P.L.1960, c.39 (C.56:8-1 et seq.), if a social media website fails to comply with the requirements set forth in this section. A social media website shall:
a. publish the standards, including detailed definitions, it uses or has used for determining how to censor, selectively suspend, or implement anonymous content or user ban;
b. apply censorship, selectively suspend, and anonymous content or user banning standards in a consistent manner among its users on the platform;
c. notify users about any changes to user rules, terms, and agreements prior to implementing such changes;
d. not censor a user's content or material or selectively suspend a user from the social media website without providing notification to the user who posted or attempted to post the content or material, or in a way that violates State deceptive and unfair trade practices;
e. provide a mechanism for users to request the number of other users who were actually provided or shown the requesting users content or posts and provide users with the number of other users who were actually provided or shown that content or posts upon request;
f. categorize algorithms used for post prioritization and anonymous content or user banning and allow users to opt-out of post prioritization and anonymous content or user banning algorithm categories to allow sequential or chronological posts and content;
g. provide users with an annual notice on the use of algorithms used for post prioritization and anonymous content or user banning and reoffer annually the opt-out opportunity provided in subsection f. of this section;
h. not apply or use post prioritization or anonymous content or user banning algorithms for content and material posted by or about a user who is known by the social media website to be a candidate for office from the date of qualification through the date of the election or the date the candidate ceases to be a candidate before the date of election. Post prioritization of certain content or material from or about a candidate based on payments to the social media website by the candidate for office or a third party shall not be a violation of this paragraph;
i. provide users with a method to identify themselves as qualified candidates and may confirm the candidates qualification by reviewing the New Jersey Department of States Division of Elections website;
j. allow a user who has been selectively suspended to access or retrieve all of the users information, content, material, and data for at least 60 days following the date of being selectively suspended; and
k. provide journalistic enterprises with a method to identify themselves as such; and
l. not knowingly take any action to censor, selectively suspend, or anonymous content or user ban a journalistic enterprise based on the content of its publication or broadcast. Post prioritization of certain j