California Senate Bill 918 Requires Social Media Platforms Cooperate More with Law Enforcement

Bill Summary

Existing law generally regulates a social media platform, including by requiring a social media platform to clearly and conspicuously state whether it has a mechanism for reporting violent posts that is available to users and nonusers of the social media platform and to include a link to that reporting mechanism, as prescribed.

Senate Bill 918 would require a social media platform to, at all times, make available by telephone to a law enforcement agency a law enforcement liaison for the purpose of receiving, and responding to, requests for information. The bill would would, except as prescribed, also require a social media platform to immediately comply with a search warrant provided to the social media platform by a law enforcement agency if the subject of the search warrant is an account on the social media platform owned by a user of the social media platform.

Permits a person to seek an order requiring a social media platform to remove content that includes an offer to transport, import into the state, sell, furnish, administer, or give away a controlled substance in violation of specified state law.

This bill would not apply to a social media platform with fewer than 1,000,000 discrete monthly users.

Arguments For

In several cases the Orange County Sheriff's Department have investigated, social media was the means for making deadly drug sales. One challenge they face in the work to bring these investigations to a conclusion is the short time frame records with regard to the drug transactions are available. Some of the most prominent social media companies only retain communication records for a limited period of time.  As a result, communications related to a fatal drug sale can often be gone before law enforcement has time to access them. By providing law enforcement with a 24/7 designated liaison at large social media companies and requiring immediate compliance with a search warrant, SB 918 would help take away a drug trafficker’s advantage and help our investigators have the time necessary to identify a suspect.

Supporters of S.B. 918

• Drug Induced Homicide Organization
• CA Coalition of School Safety Professionals
• CA Narcotic Officers’ Association
• CA Reserve Police Officers’ Association
• Claremont Police Officers’ Association
• Corona Police Officers’ Association
• Culver City Police Officers’ Association
• Orange County Sheriff’s Department
• Peace Officers’ Research Association of California 

Arguments Against

Opponents argue that requiring a telephone number rather than a secure portal creates an attack vector for scammers, who can contact companies while posing as law enforcement. A dedicated telephone number is also redundant as state law has encouraged the development of web portals for law enforcement to submit requests and refine the details of the situation before a live conversation is necessary. We are concerned that a mandate for a telephone number dedicated to this purpose expands the opportunities for fraud and will not help law enforcement access the information it needs. Companies must already manage the evolving risks of fraud under the status quo, which are becoming more advanced with AI voice tools, and the requirements of this bill would exacerbate the problem.

Opponents of S.B. 918 

• ACLU California Action
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Internet Works California

Related Bills and Laws

Prior Legislation:
SB 60 (Umberg, Ch. 698, Stats. 2023) authorizes a person to seek an order requiring a social media platform to remove content that includes an offer to transport, sell, furnish, administer, or give away a controlled substance in violation of specified law.

AB 1027 (Petrie-Norris, Ch. 824, Stats. 2023) required social media platforms to include in their already-required policy statements a general description of the platform’s policy on the retention of electronic communication information and sharing of specified information; and added to existing terms of service reporting requirements an obligation to disclose policies on addressing the distribution of controlled substances on the platform and data on the number of times such content was flagged and actioned.

AB 1628 (Ramos, Ch. 432, Stats. 2022) requires, until January 1, 2028, a social media company to create and publicly post a policy statement that includes, among other things, the platform’s policy on the use of the platform to illegally distribute a controlled substance.

SB 1121 (Leno, Ch. 541, Stats. 2016) modified CalECPA to authorize a government entity to access, without a warrant, the location or phone number of an electronic device used to call 911; allowed a government entity to retain voluntarily received electronic communication information beyond 90 days if the service provider or subscriber is or discloses information to, a correctional or detention facility; and excluded driver's licenses and other identification cards from its provisions.

AB 1993 (Irwin, Ch. 514, Stats. 2016) required certain technology companies covered under CalEPCA to maintain a law enforcement contact process to coordinate with law enforcement agency investigations, as specified.

Pending Legislation:
AB 1800 (Jones-Sawyer, 2024) permits a person who suffers injury that is proximately caused by the illegal purchase of a controlled substance through a social media company, as specified, to recover statutory damages from the platform. AB 1800 is pending before the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

AB 522 (Kalra, 2023) requires administrative subpoenas to obtain a customer’s electronic communication information from a service provider to meet certain conditions, including that notice and a right to object be provided to the customer. AB 522 is pending before the Senate Appropriations Committee.