Newsom Signs New Transparency Law for Social Media Platforms

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a new law Tuesday establishing transparency requirements for social media platforms’ content moderation practices (see 2208310049). Social media transparency was a major focal point during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday (see 2209140067).Newsom signed AB-587, saying Californians “deserve to know” how platforms shape public discourse and how social media might be “weaponized” to spread disinformation and hate. The new law violates the First Amendment, “hands online predators a ‘roadmap’ to evade child protection measures, hinders platforms’ rapid response to online threats, and harms California’s small businesses, innovation, and competitiveness,” NetChoice said in a statement. The new law will “pull back the curtain and require tech companies to provide meaningful transparency into how they are shaping our public discourse and addressing hate speech, disinformation, and dangerous conspiracy theories,” said Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D), lead author.