HomeMy WebLinkAbout6-28-2022 AB 587 - Support
June 28, 2022
The Honorable Thomas Umberg
Chair, Judiciary
1021 O Street, Room 3240
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 587 (Gabriel) Social media companies: terms of service
Notice of Support (As Amended on June 23, 2022)
Dear Senator Umberg,
The City of San Luis Obispo supports AB 587 (Gabriel), which would create a new
requirement that social media companies post their terms of service with clear details how
users can point out offensive content that violates the terms of service.
The City of San Luis Obispo has established Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as a major
city goal. As part of that goal the City intends to build a community of inclusion, fairness,
and belonging for all.
Over the last few years social media sites have become a place where individuals feel
that they can share hate speech. This directly conflicts with our City goal of creating an
inclusive community. Social media companies’ content moderation programs and policies
have dramatically evolved over the years, but the proliferation of hate speech,
objectionable content, and “fake news” has led to calls for swifter and more aggressive
action in response.
According to the Anti-Defamation League’s 2021 Online Hate and Harassment Survey1,
41% of individuals experience online harassment and one in three of those individuals
attribute at least some harassment to their identity. Identity based harassment remains
an urgent concern, affecting the ability of already marginalized communities to be safe in
digital spaces.
1 https://www.adl.org/resources/report/online-hate-and-harassment-american-experience-2021
Letter – Supporting AB 587
June 28, 2022
Page 2
Making it easier for users to report objectionable content and for that content to be
removed is one small step that can be taken to improve the online experience for
everyone.
For these reasons, the City of San Luis Obispo supports AB 587 (Gabriel).
Sincerely,
Erica A. Stewart
Mayor
City of San Luis Obispo
C: The Honorable Gabriel
Senator John Laird, Fax: (916) 651-4017
Assembly Member Jordan Cunningham, Fax (916) 319 -2135
Dave Mullinax, League of California Cities, dmullinax@cacities.org
League of California Cities (via email: cityletters@calcities.org)