New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Thursday that social media companies must start reporting their content moderation policies to her office, as required by the “Stop Hiding Hate” Act.

This law, sponsored by Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Grace Lee and signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, requires platforms to submit biannual reports on whether and how their existing policies deal with hate speech, racism, misinformation, and other types of content.

“With violence and polarization on the rise, social media companies must ensure that their platforms don’t fuel hateful rhetoric and disinformation,” James said. “The Stop Hiding Hate Act requires social media companies to share their content moderation policies publicly and with my office to ensure that these companies are more transparent about how they are addressing harmful content on their platforms.”

The law applies to any social media company operating in New York that generates more than $100 million in gross annual revenue. As of today, social media companies can submit their content moderation reports online by Jan. 1.

“Whether in our communities or online, my top priority is keeping New Yorkers safe,” said Hochul. “Social media platforms should be a place for people to connect and share their interests — not a place where individuals can hide behind a keyboard to spread hate speech or harass others. This legislation builds on our efforts to improve safety online and marks an important step to increase transparency and accountability.”

In December 2024, the “Stop Hiding Hate” Act was signed into law to ensure that social media companies are more transparent and accountable for content on their platforms. The law requires social media companies to biannually submit their terms of service reports to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), including statements on the terms of services and how they define hate speech or racism, extremism or radicalization, disinformation or misinformation, harassment, and foreign political interference, as well as how they enforce those policies, and steps taken and data on flagged and actioned items of content.

“As real and threatened political violence emanates from the spread of hate speech and disinformation online, the Stop Hiding Hate Act will ensure that New Yorkers are able to know what social media companies are doing (or not doing) to stop the spread of hatred and misinformation on their platforms,” said Hoylman-Sigal. “The commencement of required reporting by social media companies is an important milestone and first step toward allowing New Yorkers to be able to better decide which social media platforms they utilize. The transparency and accountability resulting from the reporting required by the Stop Hiding Hate Act will reduce the circulation of malevolent white supremacy, antisemitism, islamophobia, anti-LGBTQ hatred and anti-AAPI violence. New Yorkers deserve this information, and I am happy to stand with Attorney General Letitia James, Assemblymember Grace Lee, and the Anti-Defamation League as we start to shed a light on the darkness that is social media content moderation.”

Key requirements of the act include:

— Public Transparency — Companies must publish their terms of service in clear, accessible language and provide contact details for user questions.

— User Reporting — Platforms must clearly describe how users can report violations of the terms of service.

— Action and response — Companies must detail the potential actions they may take against policy violations, such as removing posts or deprioritizing their visibility.

In their biannual reports, social media companies must provide specific data, including:

— The total number of posts flagged as potential policy violations;

— The total number of posts on which the company took action; and

— Details on the specific actions, such as removal, demonetization, or deprioritization.

Social media companies that fail to post their terms of service, submit a required report, or file a materially incomplete or misleading report may face a civil penalty of up to $15,000 per violation per day.