September 30, 2021 - Introduced by Representatives Sortwell, Cabral-Guevara,
Allen, Armstrong, Brandtjen, Edming, Horlacher, Knodl and Kuglitsch,
cosponsored by Senators Roth, Stroebel, Felzkowski and Darling. Referred
to Committee on Judiciary.
AB591,1,3 1An Act to create 895.053 of the statutes; relating to: creating a civil cause of
2action against the owner or operator of a social media Internet site that restricts
3religious or political speech.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill creates a civil cause of action against the owner or operator of a social
media Internet site that is available to the public and that has more than 150 million
users, if the owner or operator of the site intentionally does any of the following:
1. Deletes or censors, or uses an algorithm to delete, censor, disfavor, or
censure, the religious speech or political speech of a person that is a resident of this
state, as defined in the bill, and that subscribes to or has an account with the social
media Internet site (a user). The bill defines “religious speech" as “speech relating
to a set of unproven answers, truth claims, faith-based assumptions, and naked
assertions that attempt to explain such greater questions as how the world was
created, what constitutes right and wrong actions by individuals, and what happens
after death.” The bill defines “political speech" as “speech relating to the state,
government, body politic, or public administration as it relates to governmental
policy or policy making,” including speech by the government or a candidate for office
and any discussion of social issues.
2. Fails to notify a user that the user's religious speech or political speech has
been deleted, censored, disfavored, or censured, or that the user has been
deplatformed. The bill defines “deplatforming” as deleting or banning a user from
the social media Internet site for more than 60 days.

3. Fails to allow a user who has been deplatformed to access or retrieve all of
the user's information, content, material, and data for at least 60 days after being
deplatformed.
4. Fails to publish the standards, including detailed definitions, that it uses or
has used for determining how to delete, censor, disfavor, and censure speech on the
social media Internet site and how to deplatform and shadow ban users on the social
media Internet site. The bill defines “shadow banning” as limiting or eliminating the
exposure of a user, or content posted by a user, to other users of the social media
Internet site.
5. Applies censorship, deplatforming, and shadow banning standards in a
manner that is not consistent among its users on the social media Internet site.
6. Fails to inform each user about any changes to the social media Internet site's
user rules, terms, and agreements.
7. Makes changes to its user rules, terms, and agreements more than once
every 180 days.
8. Fails to provide a mechanism for a user to request the number of other users
who were provided or shown the user's content or posts and provide that number to
the user upon request.
The bill provides that it is not a defense to such an action that an owner or
operator of the social media Internet site considered a user's religious speech or
political speech to be related to content that is offensive on the basis of the owner's
or operator's personal moral code.
In addition to a user's cause of action, the bill authorizes the attorney general
or any district attorney to bring a civil cause of action on behalf of the user or on
behalf of the state, or both, with respect to an owner's or operator's intentional
censorship of a user's religious speech or political speech. Each party may bring a
cause of action independently from or in conjunction with one another.
If a user, the attorney general, or a district attorney prevails in a civil action,
the court may award all of the following relief:
1. Any economic and noneconomic damages suffered by the user, which are
awarded to the user regardless of whether the user participated in the action.
2. Statutory damages in an amount of not less than $75,000 for each intentional
act described in items 1 to 8 above. Statutory damages related to intentional
censorship are awarded to the state if the attorney general or a district attorney is
a prevailing party. Statutory damages related to other intentional acts are awarded
to the user if a prevailing party.
3. If aggravating factors are present, punitive damages. Any punitive damages
are awarded to the state if the attorney general or a district attorney is a prevailing
party.
4. Injunctive relief.
Regardless of who prevails in the civil action, the court may award the
prevailing party costs and reasonable attorney fees but may not assess costs or
attorney fees against the state.
The bill creates certain exceptions to liability for owners and operators of social
media Internet sites. For example, an owner or operator is not liable for actions in

relation to speech that calls for immediate acts of violence, that is obscene or
pornographic in nature, or that entices criminal conduct.
For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as
an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
AB591,1 1Section 1. 895.053 of the statutes is created to read:
AB591,3,3 2895.053 Social media censorship; action for. (1) Definitions. In this
3section:
AB591,3,44 (a) “Algorithm" means a set of instructions designed to perform a specific task.
AB591,3,65 (b) “Deplatform" means to delete or ban a user from a social media Internet site
6for more than 60 days.
AB591,3,87 (c) “Hate speech" means speech concerning content that a person finds
8offensive on the basis of the person's personal moral code.
AB591,3,99 (d) “Obscene" means that all of the following apply to content:
AB591,3,1110 1. An average individual, applying contemporary community standards, would
11find that the content, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest.
AB591,3,1212 2. The content depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way.
AB591,3,1413 3. The content, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or
14scientific value.
AB591,3,1815 (e) “Political speech" means speech relating to the state, government, body
16politic, or public administration as it relates to governmental policy or policy making.
17“Political speech” includes speech by the government or a candidate for office and any
18discussion of social issues.
AB591,4,219 (f) “Religious speech" means speech relating to a set of unproven answers, truth
20claims, faith-based assumptions, and naked assertions that attempt to explain such

1greater questions as how the world was created, what constitutes right and wrong
2actions by individuals, and what happens after death.
AB591,4,83 (g) “Shadow ban" means to limit or eliminate the exposure of a user, or content
4or material posted by a user, to other users of the social media Internet site through
5any means, regardless of whether the action is determined by an individual or an
6algorithm, and regardless of whether the action is readily apparent to a user.
7“Shadow ban” does not include any action towards content or material that is viewed
8by a user if the action is taken at the request of that user.
AB591,4,119 (h) “Social media Internet site" means an Internet site or application that
10enables users to communicate with each other by posting information, comments,
11messages, or images and to which all of the following apply:
AB591,4,1212 1. The Internet site or application is available to the public.
AB591,4,1313 2. The Internet site or application has more than 150 million users.
AB591,4,1514 (i) “User” means a person that subscribes to or has an account with a social
15media Internet site and to whom any of the following applies:
AB591,4,1816 1. The person is an individual who is a U.S. citizen and has resided in this state
17for at least 28 consecutive days before the deletion, censoring, disfavoring, or
18censuring that is the basis of the person's cause of action under sub. (2).
AB591,4,2019 2. The person is not an individual and the person has its commercial domicile,
20as defined in s. 71.22 (1g), in this state.
AB591,4,23 21(2) Cause of action. Except as provided in sub. (6), a user of a social media
22Internet site has a civil cause of action against the owner or operator of the social
23media Internet site if the owner or operator intentionally does any of the following:
AB591,4,2524 (a) Deletes or censors the user's religious speech or political speech on the social
25media Internet site.
AB591,5,2
1(b) Uses an algorithm to delete, censor, disfavor, or censure the user's religious
2speech or political speech on the social media Internet site.
AB591,5,53 (c) Fails to notify a user that the user's religious speech or political speech has
4been deleted, censored, disfavored, or censured, or that the user has been
5deplatformed.
AB591,5,86 (d) Fails to allow a user who has been deplatformed to access or retrieve all of
7the user's information, content, material, and data for at least 60 days after being
8deplatformed.
AB591,5,129 (e) Fails to publish the standards, including detailed definitions, that it uses
10or has used for determining how to delete, censor, disfavor, and censure the speech
11of users on the social media Internet site and how to deplatform and shadow ban
12users on the social media Internet site.
AB591,5,1413 (f) Applies censorship, deplatforming, and shadow banning standards in a
14manner that is not consistent among its users on the social media Internet site.
AB591,5,1615 (g) Fails to inform each user about any changes to the social media Internet
16site's user rules, terms, and agreements.
AB591,5,1817 (h) Makes changes to its user rules, terms, and agreements more than once
18every 180 days.
AB591,5,2119 (i) Fails to provide a mechanism for a user to request the number of other users
20who were provided or shown the user's content or posts and provide that number to
21the user upon request.
AB591,5,24 22(3) Unavailable defense. It is not a defense to an action brought under this
23section that the owner or operator of a social media Internet site considered a user's
24religious speech or political speech to be hate speech.
AB591,6,8
1(4) Enforcement by attorney general or district attorneys. (a) If the owner
2or operator of a social media Internet site intentionally censors a user's religious
3speech or political speech as described under sub. (2) (a), in addition and
4supplementary to the user's cause of action that exists under sub. (2), the attorney
5general or any district attorney, on behalf of the user or on behalf of the state or both,
6may commence and maintain an action with respect to the intentional censorship,
7separately or in conjunction with an action brought under sub. (2) or under this
8paragraph.
AB591,6,119 (b) In an action under this section, the user who has the cause of action under
10sub. (2), the attorney general, or any district attorney may intervene in the action as
11a matter of right.
AB591,6,14 12(5) Remedies. (a) If a user, or the attorney general or district attorney under
13sub. (4), prevails in a civil action under this section, the court may award appropriate
14relief, including all of the following:
AB591,6,1715 1. Any economic and noneconomic damages suffered by the user, which the
16court shall award to the user regardless of whether the user participated in the
17action.
AB591,6,2218 2. Statutory damages in an amount of not less than $75,000 for each intentional
19act described under sub. (2). If the attorney general or district attorney under sub.
20(4) is a prevailing party, the court shall award statutory damages related to
21intentional censorship to the state. If the user is a prevailing party, the court shall
22award any other statutory damages to the user.
AB591,6,2523 3. If aggravating factors are present, punitive damages. If the attorney general
24or district attorney under sub. (4) is a prevailing party, the court shall award any
25punitive damages to the state.
AB591,7,1
14. Injunctive relief.
AB591,7,52 (b) The court may award a prevailing party, including the state, in a civil action
3under this section costs and, notwithstanding s. 814.04 (1), reasonable attorney fees.
4The court may not assess costs or attorney fees under this paragraph against the
5state.
AB591,7,86 (c) The owner or operator of a social media Internet site may mitigate damages
7available under par. (a) by doing any of the following within a reasonable amount of
8time:
AB591,7,109 1. Restoring from deletion or disfavor or removing the censoring or censuring
10of a user's religious speech or political speech.
AB591,7,1211 2. Notifying a user that the user's religious speech or political speech has been
12deleted, censored, disfavored, or censured, or that the user has been deplatformed.
AB591,7,1413 3. Allowing a user who has been deplatformed to access or retrieve all of the
14user's information, content, material, and data.
AB591,7,1815 4. Publishing the standards, including detailed definitions, that it uses or has
16used for determining how to delete, censor, disfavor, and censure speech on the social
17media Internet site and how to deplatform and shadow ban users on the social media
18Internet site.
AB591,7,2219 5. Taking actions to apply censorship, deplatforming, and shadow banning
20standards in a manner that is consistent among its users on the social media Internet
21site, and to reverse any previous actions that were taken in a manner that was
22inconsistent among users.
AB591,7,2423 6. Informing each user about any changes to the social media Internet site's
24user rules, terms, and agreements.
AB591,8,2
17. Reversing any changes to its user rules, terms, and agreements that were
2made more frequently than once every 180 days.
AB591,8,53 8. Providing a mechanism for a user to request the number of other users who
4were provided or shown the user's content or posts and provide that number to the
5user upon request.
AB591,8,6 6(6) Exceptions. This section does not apply to any of the following:
AB591,8,97 (a) The owner or operator of a social media Internet site that takes an action
8under sub. (2) in relation to a user's speech on the social media Internet site to which
9any of the following applies:
AB591,8,1010 1. The speech calls for immediate acts of violence.
AB591,8,1111 2. The speech is obscene or pornographic in nature.
AB591,8,1312 3. The speech is the result of a court order or the sharing of the speech violates
13a court order.
AB591,8,1414 4. The speech comes from an inauthentic source or involves false personation.
AB591,8,1515 5. The speech entices criminal conduct.
AB591,8,1616 6. The speech involves bullying minors.
AB591,8,1717 7. The speech involves financial fraud.
AB591,8,2118 (b) The owner or operator of a social media Internet site that is affiliated with
19a particular religion and that deletes or censors a user's religious speech, or that uses
20an algorithm to delete, censor, disfavor, or censure a user's religious speech, on the
21social media Internet site.
AB591,8,2522 (c) The owner or operator of a social media Internet site that is affiliated with
23a particular political party and that deletes or censors a user's political speech, or
24that uses an algorithm to delete, censor, disfavor, or censure a user's political speech,
25on the social media Internet site.
AB591,9,1
1(d) The deleting or censoring by a user of another user's speech.
AB591,2 2Section 2. Initial applicability.
AB591,9,43 (1) This act first applies to an action by the owner or operator of a social media
4Internet site that occurs on the effective date of this subsection.
AB591,3 5Section 3. Effective date.
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