California Big Tech bill sets stage for free speech fight

Shoshana Weissmann, director of digital media at the R Street Institute, told Reason Magazine that the bill would unfairly punish social media companies for speech protected under the First Amendment. 

“This bill includes algorithms where new posts are shown first or posts shown are only from the people one follows, without further customization,” she said. “Under this bill, any form of showing content to users would make the companies liable for user speech. This obviously makes no sense.” 

She said the bill also has not defined how social media companies can “knowingly promote hate.”

“Under the law, ‘knowingly’ seems to include anytime the platform uses an algorithm,” she said.  

By only penalizing companies with $100 million or more in annual gross profits, the bill could have the opposite effect and send users to smaller social media platforms like 4chan, which has a reputation for allowing more extreme views and content, Weissmann said.