Fact Check: California Bill Does Not Impose $500,000 to $1 Million Fines for Individual Social Media Speech

A recent social media post by Lori Mills has circulated claims alleging that California State Senator Henry Stern is advancing a bill that would levy fines ranging from $500,000 to $1,000,000 on individuals for speech deemed "hateful" towards "marginalized groups" on social media. Mills asserted in her tweet, "> This bill will strip your first amendment rights. How? If you say something the state deems hateful or n Social media towards a “marginalized group” the can fine you anywhere between $500,000 to $1,000,000. This is completely unconstitutional." However, comprehensive searches of California legislation and fact-checking resources indicate these claims are inaccurate.

The tweet appears to misrepresent or conflate existing legislation with false information. While California has enacted laws concerning social media, such as Assembly Bill 587 (AB 587), these measures do not target individual users with fines for content. AB 587, signed into law in 2022, primarily requires social media companies to disclose their content moderation policies for categories like hate speech and disinformation to the state Attorney General.

Crucially, AB 587 was authored by Assemblymember Gabriel, not Senator Henry Stern, and its focus is on platform transparency rather than penalizing individual users for their online speech. Reputable fact-checking organizations and legal analyses confirm that no current California bill or law imposes fines of $500,000 to $1,000,000 on individuals for expressing "hateful" speech on social media. Claims similar to those made in the viral tweet have been debunked previously.

Senator Henry Stern has been involved in discussions related to online safety and technology regulation, but there is no record of him authoring or actively pushing legislation that would impose such severe financial penalties on individual citizens for social media content. The legislative efforts in California concerning social media have largely concentrated on increasing accountability and transparency from the platforms themselves, rather than directly regulating individual user expression with exorbitant fines.