New York A 8963: Establishes the NY digital choice act requiring social media companies to provide covered users with a copy of the covered user's social graph at the request of the covered user

Bill Text

Bill Search and Legislative Information | New York State Assembly 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

 Skip to main content 

 New York State Assembly

 Speaker Carl E. Heastie

 --> 
 --> 

 --> 

• 
 Assembly Members 

• 
 Legislative Info 

• 
 Public Hearings 

• 
 Speaker's Press 

• 
 Assembly Reports 

• 
 Committees & More 

• Bill Search Home
• Laws
• Legislative Calendar
• Public Hearing Schedule
• Assembly Calendars
• Assembly Committee Agenda 

 Javascript must be enabled to properly view this page. 

 Bill No.: 

• Summary 
• Actions 
• Committee&nbspVotes 
• Floor&nbspVotes 
• Memo 
• Text 
• LFIN 
• Chamber&nbspVideo/Transcript 
A08963 Summary:

BILL NOA08963B

&nbsp

SAME ASSAME AS S08850-A

&nbsp

SPONSORBores

&nbsp

COSPNSRSimon, Rosenthal, Hyndman, Torres, Simone, Conrad, Glick, Lunsford, Brown K, Beephan, Tapia,
 Levenberg, Gallagher

&nbsp

MLTSPNSR

&nbsp

Add Art 48 §§1800 - 1808, Gen Bus L

&nbsp

Establishes the NY digital choice act requiring social media companies to provide covered users with a copy of the covered user's social graph at the request of the covered user; defines terms; provides requirements for the interoperability of covered users' data; grants the attorney general the authority to promulgate rules and regulations and enforce such provisions.

Go to top A08963 Actions:

BILL NOA08963B

&nbsp

08/13/2025referred to consumer affairs and protection

12/17/2025amend and recommit to consumer affairs and protection

12/17/2025print number 8963a

01/07/2026referred to consumer affairs and protection

04/09/2026amend and recommit to consumer affairs and protection

04/09/2026print number 8963b

Go to topA08963 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topA08963 Floor&nbspVotes:

There are no Assembly votes for this bill in this legislative session.

Go to topA08963 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 8963--B

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN ASSEMBLY

 August 13, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by M. of A. BORES, SIMON, ROSENTHAL, HYNDMAN, TORRES, SIMONE,
 CONRAD, GLICK, LUNSFORD, K. BROWN, BEEPHAN, TAPIA -- read once and
 referred to the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection --
 committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
 recommitted to said committee -- recommitted to the Committee on
 Consumer Affairs and Protection in accordance with Assembly Rule 3,
 sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
 amended and recommitted to said committee

 AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to establishing
 the NY digital choice act

 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
 bly, do enact as follows:

 1 Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new article
 2 48 to read as follows:
 3 ARTICLE 48
 4 NY DIGITAL CHOICE ACT
 5 Section 1800. Short title.
 6 1801. Definitions.
 7 1802. Portability.
 8 1803. Interoperability.
 9 1804. Data rights.
 10 1805. Rulemaking authority.
 11 1806. Enforcement by attorney general.
 12 1807. Severability.
 13 1808. Safe harbor.
 14 § 1800. Short title. This article shall be known and may be cited as
 15 the "NY digital choice act".
 16 § 1801. Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms
 17 shall have the following meanings:
 18 1. "Open protocol" means a publicly available set of technical rules
 19 that:

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD13423-08-6

 A. 8963--B 2

 1 (a) enables interoperability and data exchange between social media
 2 platforms by providing a means whereby multiple social media platforms
 3 can access a covered user's social graph;
 4 (b) is free from licensing fees and patent restrictions; and
 5 (c) governs how social media platforms communicate and exchange data.
 6 2. (a) "Social graph" means:
 7 (i) a covered user's social connections with secondary users;
 8 (ii) content created by a covered user;
 9 (iii) the covered user's responses to secondary users' content,
 10 including comments, reactions, mentions, reports, shares, and other
 11 engagements;
 12 (iv) secondary users' responses to the covered user's content;
 13 (v) metadata for subparagraphs (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) of this
 14 paragraph; and
 15 (vi) relational references sufficient to maintain the associations
 16 among data elements described in subparagraphs (i), (ii), (iii), and
 17 (iv) of this paragraph.
 18 (b) "Social graph" does not include a secondary user's content and
 19 responses that have been designated private by such secondary user,
 20 including private messages.
 21 3. "Content" has the same meaning as in section eleven hundred of this
 22 chapter.
 23 4. "Social media company" has the same meaning as in section eleven
 24 hundred of this chapter.
 25 5. "Social media platform" has the same meaning as in section eleven
 26 hundred of this chapter.
 27 6. "Covered user" has the s