User identity authentication.

Existing law generally regulates online platforms, including by requiring a social media company, as defined, to post terms of service for each social media platform owned or operated by the social media company in a manner reasonably designed to inform all users of the social media platform of the existence and contents of the terms of service. This bill would require a social media platform, as defined, to seek to verify the name, telephone number, and email address of an influential user, as defined, by a means chosen by the social media platform and would require the social media platform to seek to verify the identity of a highly influential user, as defined, by asking to review the highly influential user's government-issued identification. This bill would require a social media platform to note on the profile page of an influential or highly influential user, in type at least as large and as visible as the user's name, whether the user has been authenticated pursuant to those provisions, as prescribed, and would require the platform to attach to any post of an influential or highly influential user a notation that would be understood by a reasonable person as indicating that the user is authenticated or unauthenticated, as prescribed. This bill would authorize the Attorney General or any district attorney or city attorney to seek injunctive or other equitable relief against a social media platform to compel compliance with the bill.