United States of America: Rejected Censorship of Social Media Bill (SB 1453)

On 27 May 2022, the Censorship of Social Media Bill (SB 1453) was rejected after failing to pass before the legislature session adjourned. The Bill prohibited social media websites from deleting or censoring content that is classified as political or religious speech and from using algorithms to suppress such type of speech. In case of non-compliance, the companies could be held liable and the user that was censored or had his content deleted could claim damages of a maximum of USD 75'000. Furthermore, the Bill outlined the type of content that platforms could delete and not face civil actions, this includes calls for violence, copyright or intellectual property violations or bullying of minors.