Bill > H3450

This bill, known as the "Stop Social Media Censorship Act," aims to address the issue of social media censorship. The key provisions of the bill include: 1. Establishing a private right of action for social media users in South Carolina against social media websites that purposefully delete or censor their religious or political speech, or use algorithms to disfavor, shadowban, or censure such speech. Users may be awarded damages, including a minimum of $75,000 in statutory damages for each purposeful deletion or censoring, as well as actual and punitive damages. 2. Prohibiting social media websites from banning or restricting users or disallowing them from participating, including commenting, posting, or sharing, on personal and commercial pages. 3. Defining important terms such as "algorithm," "hate speech," "political speech," and "religious speech," and setting the scope of the law to apply to social media websites with more than 75 million subscribers that are not affiliated with a specific religion or political party. 4. Providing exceptions to the law, such as when the speech calls for immediate violence, is obscene or harmful to minors, or involves false impersonation or criminal conduct. 5. Granting the state Attorney General the authority to bring civil actions on behalf of social media users whose religious or political speech has been censored. The overall goal of the bill is to "level the playing field" between consumers and major social media websites, encourage the free flow of political and religious ideas, and deter social media companies from engaging in unfair practices or maliciously interfering with elections.