State Sen. Michael Testa (R-Vineland) wants the bring the GOP’s war against social media companies to New Jersey.
The Cumberland County Republican Chairman has introduced a bill that would bar social media companies and other websites with more than 100 million monthly users and more than $100 million in annual revenue from banning candidates for elected office or deprioritizing their posts.
The prohibition on bans extends to shadow bans, a practice that stops a user’s posts from appearing to others without informing the user.
The legislation would also require social media companies publish a detailed set of disciplinary standards related to how their sites mete out bans and requires the such firms act in accordance with those standards.
The push coincides with national Republicans’ growing animus against social media companies. Nationally, GOP lawmakers and operatives claim companies like Facebook and Twitter have singled out conservatives.
“The muzzling of freedom of speech by social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, have shown that prominent conservative voices are not welcomed on the world’s leading social media platforms,” Testa said in a statement last week.
Facebook and Twitter banned President Donald Trump from their platforms in the aftermath of his supporters’ Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Since then, the sites have issued bans to other conservative commentators who advocated for violence or repeated Trump’s false claims of election rigging on their platforms.
Testa’s bill also bars social media companies from banning journalistic enterprises, which the bill defines as any entity “publishing words, audio, or video online and making such published material available to Internet users.”
There are also carveouts for cable television channels and enterprises with a broadcast license issued by the Federal Communications Commission.
The legislation would also impose a series of new disclosure and communication requirements on social media companies. It would require they notify users about bans and post deletions, provide post performance metrics upon request and allow users to opt-out of algorithms used to pick which posts to show users.
It’s not clear whether Democratic lawmakers that control both chambers of the legislature will be willing to move the bill, which plays into national Republicans’ attacks against “cancel culture” and their claims of favoritism.
The bill includes exceptions to allow the purchase and prioritization of digital ads.
Social media companies who violate the bill’s provisions would be subject to potentially costly legal action.
It would allow private users to sue social media companies over bans and receive up to $100,000 in statutory damages, plus actual and punitive damages and attorney fees.
The legislation would also give the state Attorney General the power to fine social media companies $100,000 per day for suspending statewide candidates and $10,000 per day for other candidates.