Golden State Today

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has sent a letter to executives at eight major social media and artificial intelligence (AI) companies, emphasizing that California laws prohibiting voter intimidation, deception, and dissuasion may apply to content on their platforms. The letter was addressed to Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms, Inc., Microsoft, Inc., Open AI, Inc., Reddit Inc., TikTok Inc., X Corp., and YouTube, Inc.

"The California Department of Justice is charged with protecting the rights of our residents. This is a responsibility I take seriously," said Attorney General Bonta. "That is why I am urging social media and AI companies to understand existing California laws and address the deception that our voters are being exposed to when it comes to their constitutional right to vote. Those deceptive activities must be better identified and reported to law enforcement — I am fully committed to working with the companies to that end. We cannot allow bad actors, whether foreign or domestic, to continue to threaten the sanctity of our democracy."

In his letter, Attorney General Bonta highlighted several key points:

Millions of Californians rely on social media and AI services for news and information about upcoming elections. The 2020 general election saw a significant increase in misinformation about voting on social media platforms.

AI has been used in attempts to deceive voters. For instance, on January 21, 2024, thousands of registered voters in New Hampshire received an automated voice message impersonating President Biden's voice, telling them that their vote in the state’s primary election would not "make a difference."

Many social media platforms have relaxed or eliminated their internal content-moderation policies or reduced resources dedicated to implementing those policies.

The California Department of Justice expressed its willingness to work with these companies using available tools to detect, prevent, and report intentional interference with voting rights when users violate state laws through activity on social media platforms or using AI.

Attorney General Bonta's commitment extends beyond this recent initiative. On July 26, 2024, he filed a lawsuit against Fresno County challenging Measure A which moved elections for district attorney and sheriff away from the presidential cycle. He joined a coalition of 14 attorneys general supporting Delaware’s early voting law on April 30, 2024. Additionally, he filed a lawsuit against Huntington Beach's voter identification law on April 15, 2024. On February 5th this year, he joined bipartisan attorneys general in issuing a warning letter regarding scam election robocalls during New Hampshire's primary election. Furthermore, he supported plaintiffs challenging Mississippi’s provisions disenfranchising individuals convicted of certain felonies by joining an amicus brief with other attorneys general on December 7th last year.

A copy of the letter can be found here.