Sacramento, CA. August 28, 2024… Several major social media platforms are not complying fully with either the letter or the spirit of a new California law aimed at holding them accountable for spreading hate and harassment. A new report released by the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) Center for Technology and Society (CTS) evaluates the first rounds of transparency reporting for social media platforms as required by this first-of-its-kind law. in California with the goal of getting social media platforms to stop hiding hate.
While most tech companies have rules against hate and harassment, they have not been held accountable to the American public for enforcing them. This changed with the signing of California Assembly Bill 587, also known as the Social Media Transparency Bill, which requires social media platforms to publicly disclose their community safety guidelines and report data around hate, harassment, misinformation, disinformation, foreign interference, and the enforcement of their policies. Prior to this law taking effect, transparency reports were published voluntarily on an ad-hoc basis, were largely inconsistent and far from transparent (see ADL’s Platform Transparency Reports – Just How Transparent?).
ADL’s report - AB 587 Revisited: How are Platforms Complying with California’s Newly-Mandated Transparency Reporting?– analyzed nine platforms’ mandated reports from January and April 2024. Though reporting has already improved from January to April, several major platforms avoided complying fully with either the letter or the spirit of the law. ADL found that Discord, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Roblox committed to addressing hate and appear to have made efforts to publish detailed, informative reports. Overall, ADL found that even with these newly produced reports, platforms do not always provide the necessary context to make sense of their numbers, putting the public at a disadvantage when making sense of these platforms’ efforts to quell hate online.
Given the alarming rise in hate online in recent years, ADL sponsored AB 587 from its inception in 2021. According to ADL’s most recent Online Hate and Harassment report, 22% of Americans experienced severe harassment on social media in the past 12 months, an increase from 18% in 2023. In addition, 61% of those harassed said at least some harassment happened on Facebook, 39% on Instagram, and 28% on Twitter.
“We know that online hate – especially unchecked hate – can and does lead to offline violence,” said Robert Trestan, Divisional Vice President of ADL West. “Studies have linked hate-motivated violence, mass shootings, and mental health issues to online activity on social media – much of which disproportionately targets and affects young people and people from marginalized communities. Most social media platforms, despite being aware of the dangers, have taken few steps to resolve them. With AB 587 in effect, these companies are now held accountable for hiding hate on their platforms.”
Platforms that do not comply with the mandated reporting may be fined up to $15,000 per day by the California Attorney General, or almost $3 million per company since the law went into force. Some platforms are pushing back, and the law is being challenged in federal court in a case led by X and is currently in appeal. These challenges are not slowing national efforts to boost more social media transparency. In July 2024, Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) introduced legislation, endorsed by ADL, to protect social media users from hate speech and increase transparency from tech companies.
ADL hopes to see continued improvement with the next round of transparency reports scheduled for October 2024.
ADL Center for Technology & Society (CTS) is a research-driven advocacy center that works to end the proliferation of antisemitism and all forms of hate and harassment online. CTS partners with industry, civil society, government and targeted communities to expose these harms, hold tech companies accountable and fight for just, equitable online spaces. More at https://www.adl.org/research-centers/center-technology-society
ADL is a leading anti-hate organization. Founded in 1913 in response to an escalating climate of antisemitism and bigotry, its timeless mission is to protect the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment for all. Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of hate with the same vigor and passion. ADL is the first call when acts of antisemitism occur. A global leader in exposing extremism, delivering anti-bias education, and fighting hate online, ADL’s ultimate goal is a world in which no group or individual suffers from bias, discrimination or hate. More at www.adl.org