Proposed California ballot measure could be used to censor LGBTQ people online, group warns

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EFF ARGUES PROPOSED BALLOT MEASURE COULD LEAD TO ANTI-LGBTQ CENSORSHIP

An attempt to hold social media companies accountable could result in anti-LGBTQ censorship, according to a letter from a civil liberties advocacy group sent to California Attorney General Rob Bonta last week.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote to Bonta opposing a proposed ballot measure that is intended to hold social media companies financially liable for any harms that young people experience on their platforms.

The proposed measure is currently being vetted by the AG’s office before being cleared for petition circulation. Once that office approves the wording of the measure, proponents will have to gather 546,651 signatures to put the measure on the November ballot, with a deadline of June 27.

The initiative proponent is James Steyer of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that advocates for child safeguards in media.

“This initiative would protect California kids and teens from specific online injuries by holding large social media platforms financially accountable for offering products that foreseeably cause injury to kids,” according to the proposed summary.

The ballot measure would allow individuals to sue social media companies for $5,000 per violation, up to $1 million per child.

In a statement, Steyer said that “it is long past time that parents in California had protections for their children who experience harms through social media platforms.”

Steyer said that it provides a simple method of giving parents the right to hold large tech companies accountable for negligence.

“It would be up to the courts to decide the merits of a parent’s claim. Tech companies have avoided any accountability for their profit-driven actions and it is time to change that, either through the Legislature or through the ballot,” he said.

In a letter opposing the measure, EFF policy analyst Joe Mullin and senior staff attorney Aaron Mackey wrote that the initiative “is a misguided and unconstitutional proposal that will restrict all Californians’ access to online information.

“Should it become law, it will also be ineffective because a federal law preempts Californians’ ability to hold online services civilly liable for harm caused by user-generated content,” the authors wrote.

The proposed ballot measure would allow for lawsuits “based on the vaguest claims” that a child was harmed, the letter argues.

While the authors concede that children can be harmed online, they contend that the proposed measure “takes a deeply flawed and punitive approach to protecting children that will disproportionately harm everyone’s ability to speak and to access information online.”

The letter warns that Californians cannot agree on what constitutes harmful behavior, and that it could lead to censorship.

“For example, elected officials in both California and other states have said that access to LGBTQ+ content harms children,” the authors wrote, adding, “Lawsuits would likely push online services to restrict access to medical, health, and sexual information that many LGBTQ+ children need.”

GAVIN NEWSOM, RED STATE AMBASSADOR?

Via Lindsey Holden...

Gov. Gavin Newsom will be heading out of California this week to support President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of elections in South Carolina and Nevada.

Voters will cast ballots in both states in early February. South Carolina holds the first party-sanctioned Democratic primary Feb. 3, followed by Nevada three days later. Biden will not be on the ballot when New Hampshire hosts its contest on Tuesday, as the Democratic National Committee says the state is flouting a rule change giving South Carolina the first official spot on the calendar.

The governor’s trip is unsurprising, given the months he has spent as one of Biden’s biggest boosters.

Newsom has continually emphasized his surrogate status during numerous Fox News appearances, even as host Sean Hannity tried to push him into admitting he would be the better candidate. And the governor stridently defended Biden’s record during his debate with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Newsom will be part of three events for rural voters in the Low Country and Midlands as part of the South Carolina Democratic Party’s “We Go First” state tour, said Kevin Munoz, a Biden campaign spokesman.

He will participate in a town hall with a state senator, appear at a get out the vote rally and meet with students at Morris College, a historically Black college in Sumter.

In Nevada, Newsom will work with volunteers in Las Vegas to urge voters to cast ballots in their state’s primary, held just after South Carolina’s election.

On Friday night, the governor will also appear on “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO, another appearance to stump for Biden, Politico reported.

CALIFORNIA GETS A ‘C’ FOR ELECTION POLICIES

California’s Democratic politicians have touted the state’s efforts to make elections more accessible, but a new report from the Institute for Responsive Government says that the result leaves much to be desired.

The group’s annual scorecard awarded California a measly “C” for its efforts.

The institute, which according to Influence Watch is managed by center-left consulting firm Arabella Advisors, dinged California lawmakers for failing to upgrade the state’s automatic voter registration system for the third year in a row, “leaving more than 4.5 million eligible voters unregistered to vote in the state.”

The group adds that the state also failed to join the Electronic Registration Information Center, that ensures that voter rolls are accurate and up-to-date.

“Although the state has a reputation as a national leader on elections, other western states have continued to pass more substantial pro-voter policies while California falls behind,” according to the report.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“If someone had told me when I first came to California that I would be here today, I probably would have laughed out loud at how crazy that sounded. I had always been too different. Too poor. Too country. Too gay.”

- Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, who on Friday announced her candidacy for governor in 2026.

Best of The Bee:

• State Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, announced Friday that she will run for California governor in the 2026 election, via Jenavieve Hatch and Lindsey Holden.

• Faculty and maintenance staff across most of the 23 California State University campuses will likely welcome the new term with a picket line this week, via Maya Miller.

• Most Californians see the state headed in the wrong direction, and voters have mixed feelings about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s leadership, a new poll shows, via Lindsey Holden.