Hoylman takes aim at social media hate speech, disinfo
BY STEPHEN WITT
State Sen. Brad Hoylman
(D-Manhattan) on Monday
announced new legislation
(S.7568) to hold social
media platforms accountable
for knowingly promoting disinformation,
violent hate speech,
and other unlawful content that
could harm others.
The proposed measure comes
the week before the fi rst anniversary
of the notorious Jan. 6
insurrection by pro-Trump supporters
at the U.S. Capitol, and
as vaccine hesitancy continues to
fuel the Omicron variant.
While Section 230 of the
Communications Decency Act
protects social media platforms
from being treated as publishers
or speakers of content shared by
users on their apps and websites,
this legislation instead focuses
on the active choices these companies
make when implementing
algorithms designed to promote
the most controversial and
harmful content, which creates
a general threat to public health
POLITICS
Sen. Brad Hoylman
and safety.
“Social media algorithms
are specially programmed to
spread disinformation and hate
speech at the expense of the
public good. The prioritization
of this type of content has real
life costs to public health and
More political coverage online at
safety. So when social media
push anti-vaccine falsehoods
and help domestic terrorists plan
a riot at the U.S. Capitol, they
must be held accountable. Our
new legislation will force social
media companies to be held accountable
for the dangers they
promote,” said Holyman.
Hoyman’s legislation comes
as Congress is also looking to
rein in social media companies
through increased regulations.
In October 2021, Frances Haugen,
a former Facebook employee,
provided testimony to U.S.
Senators alleging that the company
knew of research proving
that its product was harmful to
teenagers but purposefully hid
that research from the public.
She also provided testimony that
the company was willing to use
hateful content to retain users on
the social media website.
Social media amplifi cation
has been linked to many societal
ills, including vaccine disinformation,
encouragement of
self-harm, bullying, and bodyimage
issues among youth, and
extremist radicalization leading
to terrorist attacks like the January
6th insurrection against the
U.S. Capitol.
Specifi cally, Hoylman’s proposed
legislation will provide a
tool for the Attorney General,
city corporation counsels, and
private citizens to hold social
media companies and others
accountable when they promote
content they know or reasonably
should know the content:
Advocates for the use of
force, is directed to inciting or
producing imminent lawless
action, and is likely to produce
such action;Advocates for selfharm,
is directed to inciting or
producing imminent self-harm,
and is likely to incite or produce
such action; orIncludes a false
statement of fact or fraudulent
medical theory that is likely to
endanger the safety or health of
the public.
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12 December 30, 2021 Schneps Media