BILL NUMBER: S8850A
SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general business law, in relation to establishing
the NY digital choice act
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL::
To establish interoperability and portability standards pertaining to a
user's social graph and to allow covered users to delete certain data.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS::
Section one of this bill creates a new Article 48 with the following
sections:
Section 1800: Provides a short title Section 1801: Provides definitions
Section 1802: Establishes portability standards for the social graphs of
covered users
Section 1803: Establish an interoperability interface that utilizes an
open protocol and allows for synchronous data sharing. Provides security
and privacy guidelines and establishes exemptions.
Section 1804: Provides covered users with the ability to delete data
associated with their social graph and social media accounts.
Section 1805: Provides rulemaking authority to identify open protocols
as are necessary to effectuate section 1803 of this act.
Section 1806: Provides for Attorney General enforcement.
Section 1807: Severability
Section 1808: Safe harbor for temporary loss of synchronous data shar-
ing.
Section two of this bill sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION::
With over 250 million Americans on at least one social media platform,
living our lives online is more common than ever. These platforms allow
Americans to connect with family and friends and to meet new people. For
some, engaging on social media platforms has become how they make a
living. However, if a new social media company arises with better
features, users face a stark choice: begin anew on a platform, losing
their previous connections, work, and digital identity or brand, or stay
on a substandard platform. This anticompetitive practice has hurt both
users and startups that want to offer new features.
The Digital Choice Act would require that platforms, upon a user's
request, allow users to export their "social graph" - a shared set of a
user's actions on social media. By requiring all platforms to allow
users to download their social graphs in an interoperable format, the
Digital Choice Act lets users easily transfer their data elsewhere,
expanding consumer choice. Key to this data aggregation is consent and
privacy. No data can be aggregated in this fashion except at the explic-
it behest of the primary user downloading their social graph. For
secondary users included in a primary user's social graph, any compo-
nents of the social graph, such as direct messages (DMs) or secondary
user posts or photos marked private, will be excluded from the social
graph automatically. Additionally, platforms must give all secondary
users an opportunity to opt their data out of a primary user's social
graph before such primary user downloads it.
The Digital Choice Act further affords users the ability to delete their
data from social media platforms. Finally, this bill requires platforms
to utilize an accessible, interoperable interface for users and other
platforms to port their social graphs, similar to how cell phone custom-
ers can "unlock" their phones to switch over to a new carrier after a
certain amount of time. While cell carriers used to disallow this prac-
tice, selling devices with special software that prevented them from
functioning on another carrier network even when such network was tech-
nologically compatible with the phone, Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) regulations later put an end to this anti-competitive practice.
Consumers now have true choice among carriers in a healthier and more
competitive marketplace. That same concept applies here.
The Digital Choice Act is far from novel as any social media company
operating in Utah, which is to say virtually all of them, already need
to comply with every major provision of this bill. By providing
increased rights to users, maintaining privacy and security, facilitat-
ing data exchange, and adding no new compliance burden, the Digital
Choice Act offers effective and balanced regulation in a space where it
is badly needed.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::
None
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS::
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE::
This act shall take effect on July 1st, 2027.