EU Style Censorship!? California Bill To Slap $1M Fines On Social Media For Hate Speech Moves To Newsom’s Desk

California is one pen stroke away from enacting a controversial bill that would impose fines of up to $1 million on major social media platforms that fail to censor content deemed in violation of state civil rights laws. 

On Monday, SB 771 passed bother chambers of the state legislature, where it now sits on Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk awaiting his signature. 

While critics warn that the measure will lead to EU-style censorship of lawful speech, state Democrats justify the bill by citing “rising incidents of hate-motivated harm,” including “hate crimes involving anti-immigrant slurs.”

Nothing about violent leftist groups targeting conservatives, of course. 

It’s real Gavin Newsom and his California Senators are ending Free Speech

Spencer Pratt explains California passed SB 771 through all committees and is only 1 signature away from implementing fines of up to $1 million dollars per offense for what Democrats call “Hate speech” pic.twitter.com/PzNxi6RCYO

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) September 23, 2025

The bill cites data from the Human Rights Campaign and the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), showing a 400% rise in “anti-LGBTQ+ disinformation and harmful rhetoric on major social media platforms.

According to the bill, “The purpose of this act is not to regulate speech or viewpoint but to clarify that social media platforms, like all other businesses, may not knowingly use their systems to promote, facilitate, or contribute to conduct that violates state civil rights laws.” 

So, it is to regulate speech or viewpoint. 

“If people think platforms remove their content too much now, they should expect to see the pattern significantly intensify with this law,” Shoshana Weissmann, director of digital media at the R Street Institute, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Rather than risk liability for showing users content one could argue (even if it doesn’t actually) violate a law, platforms will over-moderate and remove posts in order to stay out of court.”

As the Daily Caller notes further: 

Under the proposed law, platforms with $100 million or more in annual revenue could face $1 million in fines if they intentionally, knowingly, or willfully “relay” content that violates state law through their algorithms. Companies found to be in reckless violation could face penalties of up to $500,000.

“Courts have recognized that algorithms are protected by the First Amendment, so punishing sites for using algorithms to deliver free speech would run into problems,” Weissmann continued. “Further, the law doesn’t limit which kinds of algorithms would cause platforms to be held liable for user speech. This means even showing content in the order it was posted would have this effect under the law, as ‘reverse chronological order’ is an algorithm.”

Opponents call BS

“By exposing these companies to civil liability for content they do not remove, SB 771 creates a chilling effect on their editorial discretion. The significant, prescribed civil penalties — potentially amounting to the billions for each violation — would lead platforms to over-remove lawful content to mitigate legal exposure,”  the California Chamber of Commerce, the Computer and Communications Industry Association and TechNet wrote in their opposition to the bill.

“This violates the First Amendment rights of users and social media platforms.” 

Meanwhile, if you’re a California lawyer – Matt Taibbi would like to have a word.