SB 207 Montana Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Establish laws related to a digital public square

This bill would prevent social media platforms and other free online spaces (called "digital public squares") from removing users or censoring their content without legal justification. It bans actions like shadowbanning, algorithmic suppression, or restricting content visibility, while allowing platforms to show advertisements. Users could sue platforms for damages if they violate these rules. The law applies specifically to free digital platforms, not paid services, and defines key terms like "deplatforming" as removing users without their request.
Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 23, 2025 Last action May 23, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

LC0065.pdf SB0207_1.pdf · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill was renumbered from LC 0065 to SB 207 and updated to reflect Senate sponsorship. The text includes minor formatting adjustments, such as removing redundant references to subsection numbers in the liability clause and clarifying the definition of 'digital prohibition' to explicitly include throttling alongside banning and shadow banning.
TECHNICAL

The bill number and title were changed from LC 0065 to SB 207, and the list of sponsors was added.

DEFINITION

The definition of 'digital prohibition' was expanded to include 'throttling' as a prohibited action.

REQUIREMENT

Minor text edits were made to streamline references to subsections in the liability and community standards clauses.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
18
Key actions
0
Committee
1
Amendments
1
Feb 28, 2025
Amended
(S) Tabled in Committee - (S) Energy, Technology & Federal Relations
upper
Jan 24, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Energy, Technology & Federal Relations
upper
Jan 23, 2025
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Daniel Emrich
Daniel Emrich
RRepublican
MT
11