1. Deletes or censors, or uses an algorithm to delete, censor, disfavor, or censure, the religious speech or political speech of a person that is a resident of this state, as defined in the bill, and that subscribes to or has an account with the social media Internet site (a user). The bill defines “religious speech" as “speech relating to a set of unproven answers, truth claims, faith-based assumptions, and naked assertions that attempt to explain such greater questions as how the world was created, what constitutes right and wrong actions by individuals, and what happens after death.” The bill defines “political speech" as “speech relating to the state, government, body politic, or public administration as it relates to governmental policy or policy making,” including speech by the government or a candidate for office and any discussion of social issues.

2. Fails to notify a user that the user's religious speech or political speech has been deleted, censored, disfavored, or censured, or that the user has been deplatformed. The bill defines “deplatforming” as deleting or banning a user from the social media Internet site for more than 60 days.

3. Fails to allow a user who has been deplatformed to access or retrieve all of the user's information, content, material, and data for at least 60 days after being deplatformed.

4. Fails to publish the standards, including detailed definitions, that it uses or has used for determining how to delete, censor, disfavor, and censure speech on the social media Internet site and how to deplatform and shadow ban users on the social media Internet site. The bill defines “shadow banning” as limiting or eliminating the exposure of a user, or content posted by a user, to other users of the social media Internet site.

5. Applies censorship, deplatforming, and shadow banning standards in a manner that is not consistent among its users on the social media Internet site.

6. Fails to inform each user about any changes to the social media Internet site's user rules, terms, and agreements.

7. Makes changes to its user rules, terms, and agreements more than once every 180 days.

8. Fails to provide a mechanism for a user to request the number of other users who were provided or shown the user's content or posts and provide that number to the user upon request.

The bill provides that it is not a defense to such an action that an owner or operator of the social media Internet site considered a user's religious speech or political speech to be related to content that is offensive on the basis of the owner's or operator's personal moral code.

In addition to a user's cause of action, the bill authorizes the attorney general or any district attorney to bring a civil cause of action on behalf of the user or on behalf of the state, or both, with respect to an owner's or operator's intentional censorship of a user's religious speech or political speech. Each party may bring a cause of action independently from or in conjunction with one another.

If a user, the attorney general, or a district attorney prevails in a civil action, the court may award all of the following relief:

1. Any economic and noneconomic damages suffered by the user, which are awarded to the user regardless of whether the user participated in the action.

2. Statutory damages in an amount of not less than $75,000 for each intentional act described in items 1 to 8 above. Statutory damages related to intentional censorship are awarded to the state if the attorney general or a district attorney is a prevailing party. Statutory damages related to other intentional acts are awarded to the user if a prevailing party.

3. If aggravating factors are present, punitive damages. Any punitive damages are awarded to the state if the attorney general or a district attorney is a prevailing party.

4. Injunctive relief.

Regardless of who prevails in the civil action, the court may award the prevailing party costs and reasonable attorney fees but may not assess costs or attorney fees against the state.

The bill creates certain exceptions to liability for owners and operators of social media Internet sites. For example, an owner or operator is not liable for actions in relation to speech that calls for immediate acts of violence, that is obscene or pornographic in nature, or that entices criminal conduct.

For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

AB591,1 Section 1. 895.053 of the statutes is created to read:

AB591,3,3 895.053 Social media censorship; action for. (1) Definitions. In this section:

AB591,3,4 (a) “Algorithm" means a set of instructions designed to perform a specific task.

AB591,3,6 (b) “Deplatform" means to delete or ban a user from a social media Internet site for more than 60 days.

AB591,3,8 (c) “Hate speech" means speech concerning content that a person finds offensive on the basis of the person's personal moral code.

AB591,3,9 (d) “Obscene" means that all of the following apply to content:

AB591,3,11 1. An average individual, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the content, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest.

AB591,3,12 2. The content depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way.

AB591,3,14 3. The content, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.