Personal rights: liability: social media platforms.

Senator Stern's legislation establishes new civil penalties for social media platforms whose algorithms facilitate violations of California civil rights laws. The measure applies to platforms generating over $100 million in annual revenue and creates liability for algorithmic content delivery that aids or abets discrimination based on protected characteristics like race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation.

The bill sets maximum civil penalties of $1 million for intentional violations and $500,000 for reckless violations, with penalties doubled in cases involving minors. Platforms are deemed to have actual knowledge of their algorithmic operations, including how and why content reaches certain users but not others. The legislation specifies that deploying algorithms to relay content can constitute an independent act separate from the content itself.

Drawing on data from civil rights organizations, the bill's findings document recent increases in hate-motivated incidents across California, including a 31% rise in anti-immigrant hate crimes in Los Angeles County and a documented 400% increase in anti-LGBTQ+ content on major platforms. The measure aims to apply existing civil rights protections to digital spaces while maintaining that its purpose is not to regulate speech but to prevent platforms from knowingly facilitating prohibited conduct through their systems.