Social media users would be required to provide identifying information if their posts have been seen (ever) by more than 25,000 users – the media says “followers” but the text of the bill itself says if viewed by 25,000 or more (see text link, below).
Under SB 1228, authored by State Sen. Steve Padilla, D-Chula Vista, social media companies would be required to verify “influential” users with 25,000 to 100,000 followers through their names, telephone numbers, and email addresses. Social media companies would be required to verify “Highly influential” users with more than 100,000 followers via their government-issued identification.
California proposes restricting ‘influential’ anonymous online speech (msn.com)
Here is the text of the proposed bill: Bill Text – SB-1228 Large online platforms: user identity authentication.
(a) “Highly influential user” means a user of a large online platform that meets either of the following criteria:
(1) Content authored, created, or shared by the user has been seen by more than 100,000 users over the lifetime of the accounts that they control or administer on the platform.
(2) Accounts controlled or administered by the user have posted or sent more than 5,000 pieces of content, whether text, images, audio, or video, that are found to be 90 percent or more likely to contain content generated by artificial intelligence, as assessed by the platform using state-of-the-art tools and techniques for detecting AI-generated content.
(b) “Influential user” means a user of a large online platform that meets either of the following criteria:
(1) Content authored, created, or shared by the user has been seen by more than 25,000 users over the lifetime of the accounts that they control or administer on the platform.
(2) Accounts controlled or administered by the user have posted or sent more than 1,000 pieces of content, whether text, images, audio, or video, that are found to be 90 percent or more likely to contain content generated by artificial intelligence, as assessed by the platform using state-of-the-art tools and techniques for detecting AI-generated content.
Basically it requires most social media accounts eventually be registered with authenticated identification and that the social media platform publicly identify accounts as authenticated or not authenticated.
This proposed law would apply only to California companies – but that would likely include Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter and so on – and thus, would likely end up applying to everyone worldwide who uses these services.
