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Please see http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov for the production version.
AB895,4,1816 1. The person is an individual who is a U.S. citizen and has resided in this state
17for at least 28 consecutive days before the deletion, censoring, disfavoring, or
18censuring that is the basis of the person's cause of action under sub. (2).
AB895,4,2019 2. The person is not an individual and the person has its commercial domicile,
20as defined in s. 71.22 (1g), in this state.
AB895,4,23 21(2) Cause of action. Except as provided in sub. (6), a user of a social media
22website has a civil cause of action against the owner or operator of the social media
23website if the owner or operator intentionally does any of the following:
AB895,4,2524 (a) Deletes or censors the user's religious speech or political speech on the social
25media website.
AB895,5,2
1(b) Uses an algorithm to delete, censor, disfavor, or censure the user's religious
2speech or political speech on the social media website.
AB895,5,53 (c) Fails to notify a user that the user's religious speech or political speech has
4been deleted, censored, disfavored, or censured or that the user has been
5deplatformed.
AB895,5,86 (d) Fails to allow a user who has been deplatformed to access or retrieve all of
7the user's information, content, material, and data for at least 60 days after being
8deplatformed.
AB895,5,129 (e) Fails to publish the standards, including detailed definitions, that it uses
10or has used for determining how to delete, censor, disfavor, and censure the speech
11of users on the social media website and how to deplatform and shadow ban users
12on the social media website.
AB895,5,1413 (f) Applies censorship, deplatforming, and shadow banning standards in a
14manner that is not consistent among its users on the social media website.
AB895,5,1615 (g) Fails to inform each user about any changes to the social media website's
16user rules, terms, and agreements.
AB895,5,1817 (h) Makes changes to its user rules, terms, and agreements more than once
18every 180 days.
AB895,5,2119 (i) Fails to provide a mechanism for a user to request the number of other users
20who were provided or shown the user's content or posts and provide that number to
21the user upon request.
AB895,5,24 22(3) Unavailable defense. It is not a defense to an action brought under this
23section that the owner or operator of a social media website considered a user's
24religious speech or political speech to be hate speech.
AB895,6,7
1(4) Enforcement by attorney general or district attorneys. (a) If the owner
2or operator of a social media website intentionally censors a user's religious speech
3or political speech as described under sub. (2) (a), in addition and supplementary to
4the user's cause of action that exists under sub. (2), the attorney general or any
5district attorney, on behalf of the user or on behalf of the state or both, may commence
6and maintain an action with respect to the intentional censorship, separately or in
7conjunction with an action brought under sub. (2) or under this paragraph.
AB895,6,108 (b) In an action under this section, the user who has the cause of action under
9sub. (2), the attorney general, or any district attorney may intervene in the action as
10a matter of right.
AB895,6,13 11(5) Remedies. (a) If a user, or the attorney general or district attorney under
12sub. (4), prevails in a civil action under this section, the court may award appropriate
13relief, including all of the following:
AB895,6,1614 1. Any economic and noneconomic damages suffered by the user, which the
15court shall award to the user regardless of whether the user participated in the
16action.
AB895,6,2117 2. Statutory damages in an amount of not less than $75,000 for each intentional
18act described under sub. (2). If the attorney general or district attorney under sub.
19(4) is a prevailing party, the court shall award statutory damages related to
20intentional censorship to the state. If the user is a prevailing party, the court shall
21award any other statutory damages to the user.
AB895,6,2422 3. If aggravating factors are present, punitive damages. If the attorney general
23or district attorney under sub. (4) is a prevailing party, the court shall award any
24punitive damages to the state.
AB895,6,2525 4. Injunctive relief.
AB895,7,4
1(b) The court may award a prevailing party, including the state, in a civil action
2under this section costs and, notwithstanding s. 814.04 (1), reasonable attorney fees.
3The court may not assess costs or attorney fees under this paragraph against the
4state.
AB895,7,75 (c) The owner or operator of a social media website may mitigate damages
6available under par. (a) by doing any of the following within a reasonable amount of
7time:
AB895,7,98 1. Restoring from deletion or disfavor or removing the censoring or censuring
9of a user's religious speech or political speech.
AB895,7,1110 2. Notifying a user that the user's religious speech or political speech has been
11deleted, censored, disfavored, or censured or that the user has been deplatformed.
AB895,7,1312 3. Allowing a user who has been deplatformed to access or retrieve all of the
13user's information, content, material, and data.
AB895,7,1714 4. Publishing the standards, including detailed definitions, that it uses or has
15used for determining how to delete, censor, disfavor, and censure speech on the social
16media website and how to deplatform and shadow ban users on the social media
17website.
AB895,7,2118 5. Taking actions to apply censorship, deplatforming, and shadow banning
19standards in a manner that is consistent among its users on the social media website,
20and to reverse any previous actions that were taken in a manner that was
21inconsistent among users.
AB895,7,2322 6. Informing each user about any changes to the social media website's user
23rules, terms, and agreements.
AB895,7,2524 7. Reversing any changes to its user rules, terms, and agreements that were
25made more frequently than once every 180 days.
AB895,8,3
18. Providing a mechanism for a user to request the number of other users who
2were provided or shown the user's content or posts and providing that number to the
3user upon request.
AB895,8,4 4(6) Exceptions. This section does not apply to any of the following:
AB895,8,75 (a) The owner or operator of a social media website that takes an action under
6sub. (2) in relation to a user's speech on the social media website to which any of the
7following applies:
AB895,8,88 1. The speech calls for immediate acts of violence.
AB895,8,99 2. The speech is obscene or pornographic in nature.
AB895,8,1110 3. The speech is the result of a court order or the sharing of the speech violates
11a court order.
AB895,8,1212 4. The speech comes from an inauthentic source or involves false personation.
AB895,8,1313 5. The speech entices criminal conduct.
AB895,8,1414 6. The speech involves bullying minors.
AB895,8,1515 7. The speech involves financial fraud.
AB895,8,1916 (b) The owner or operator of a social media website that is affiliated with a
17particular religion and that deletes or censors a user's religious speech, or that uses
18an algorithm to delete, censor, disfavor, or censure a user's religious speech, on the
19social media website.
AB895,8,2320 (c) The owner or operator of a social media website that is affiliated with a
21particular political party and that deletes or censors a user's political speech, or that
22uses an algorithm to delete, censor, disfavor, or censure a user's political speech, on
23the social media website.
AB895,8,2424 (d) The deleting or censoring by a user of another user's speech.
AB895,2 25Section 2. Initial applicability.
AB895,9,2
1(1) This act first applies to an action by the owner or operator of a social media
2website that occurs on the effective date of this subsection.
AB895,3 3Section 3. Effective date.
AB895,9,44 (1) This act takes effect on the 30th day after the day of publication.
AB895,9,55 (End)
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