If you think California’s legislature is only relevant to people who live on the Pacific coast, think again. SB‑771 is now in the hands of Governor Gavin Newsom, and its reach threatens the architecture of free speech across America... even in Alabama, Virginia, Florida, or Arizona. This is not a distant state policy. It is a test-bed for the tech-censorship regime that globalists want to impose everywhere.
As of September 16, 2025, the bill text is publicly enrolled. It adds Title 23, Sections 3273.72–3273.74 to the California Civil Code. Among its key provisions:
A “social media platform” for purposes of this law is any entity defined under California’s Business & Professions Code if it generates more than $100 million per year in gross revenues.
A platform is liable if it “violates Section 51.7, 51.9, 52, or 52.1 … through its algorithms that relay content to users or aids, abets, acts in concert, or conspires in violation of any of those sections.”
For an intentional, knowing, or willful violation, a civil penalty is up to $1,000,000; for a reckless violation, up to $500,000.
If the victim is a minor (or the platform “should have known” it was a minor), the court may award up to twice those penalties.
The act becomes operative on January 1, 2027.
The law includes a severability clause and says any waiver of its provisions is “void and unenforceable.”
In its declarations, the bill states that California’s civil rights protections, including against intimidation, coercion, hate, and interference, must now apply in the digital realm. It argues that platforms cannot be insulated simply because they did not create the content; algorithmic promotion itself becomes a legal risk.
Why SB‑771 Should Terrify Every Free Speech Advocate
1. It weaponizes algorithms.
SB‑771 treats the algorithm as an independent act (“deploying an algorithm … may be considered to be an act of the platform independent from the message of the content relayed”). That means the platform is criminalized not for what it hosts but for how it surfaces content. The nuances, the judgment calls, the editorial discretion all become liability risks.
2. It pressures platforms to over-censor.
When the penalties are six or seven figures, risk-averse corporations will err on the side of removal or suppression. The margin for error vanishes. The result: benign content (or even true content) may be buried simply because the algorithm might flag it as “intimidating” or “harassing.” The law does not clearly define how “intimidation” or “coercion” will be judged in algorithmic contexts.
3. It sets a dangerous jurisdictional precedent.
When California demands that any platform making more than $100 million comply with these rules, it doesn’t stop at state lines. Platforms face the need to build a blanket compliance system for all users, everywhere... because if you serve Californian users, your algorithm must obey Californian law.
4. Free speech becomes secondary to civil liability.
SB‑771 carves out a dual standard: yes, speech can be regulated under current laws (Sections 51.7, 51.9, 52, 52.1) for harassment, hate, or coercion... but now platforms become liable too. The law is no longer about punishing bad actors; it’s about setting up platforms as enforcers under threat of lawsuits.
5. The bill assumes platform knowledge and intention.
Under the text, a platform “shall be deemed to have actual knowledge of the operations of its own algorithms.” That shifts the burden onto platforms to prove they did not foresee or intend the consequences, regardless of how opaque AI decision systems are.
How Pickax Is Designed to Side-Step the Trap
On Friday’s episode of The Jeff Dornik Show, I pointed out that Pickax’s architecture is immune to SB‑771’s mandates in theory. Because Pickax avoids opaque algorithmic amplification mechanisms, it doesn’t host the kind of algorithmic “relay” that SB‑771 criminalizes. If a platform refuses to surface content via algorithmic ranking (or limits amplification), then SB‑771 has no hook to hold it liable.
Moreover, Pickax can operate under a paradigm of chronological feed, direct subscriptions, and pure user choice... you choose what to see rather than the system pushing what might get eyeballs. That avoids triggering the “algorithm as act” liability in SB‑771. The regime built for censorship cannot reach platforms that do not dance on its leash.
That’s one of many reasons you should build your presence on Pickax now. The regime will force others into compliance... they’ll cut content, throttle voices, build “safe mode” defaults. But Pickax was built with the design integrity to avoid those rules.
What Happens Next: Legal Firestorm & National Spread
SB‑771 is clearly meant to provoke court challenges. Senator Stern has already acknowledged it. It hearkens back to battles like NetChoice v. Bonta, where California’s previous social media laws were partially struck down under First Amendment scrutiny.
Yet SB‑771 takes a different tack... punishing platforms for amplification, not content removal. That nuance may increase the judicial complexity. The regime wants to survive by claiming it regulates conduct (algorithmic mechanics), not speech itself. But when conduct and speech are inseparable in a platform system, that distinction becomes legal smoke and mirrors.
If SB‑771 survives, other states will copy it. Legislators in Oregon, New York, Michigan... they’ll claim the moral authority to hold Big Tech accountable, but in practice they’ll hold your dissent accountable. Then the federal government steps in, passes its version, and the same censorship regime rules you from sea to shining sea.
What You Must Do… Right Now!
Move your voice to platforms built for freedom. Don’t let your future be chained to algorithms you don’t control.
Demand clarity and transparency in any platform’s ranking policies. If a site won’t commit to algorithmic restraint, assume it will comply with tyranny.
Support legal challenges. SB‑771 must be attacked in court before it becomes law, not after.
Vote with your attention. The only censorship resistance that matters is your refusal to feed the machine.
California may have taken the first swing with SB‑771, but this is not just a Golden State affair. This is a blueprint for global speech control. Do not watch this unfold as a bystander. Stand, speak, build, and refuse to be silenced.
Catch The Jeff Dornik Show live every weekday at 1pm ET only on Rumble and Pickax, where free speech still reigns. Watch the full episode:
