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AB-2169 • 2026

Social media platforms: artificial intelligence models.

Social media platforms: artificial intelligence models.

Technology
Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
Lowenthal
Last action
Official status
Assembly - Appropriations
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The source text uses future tense ('would require'), indicating this is a bill description rather than an enacted law, despite metadata stating it passed the legislature.

Digital Choice Act: Rules for Social Media and AI Data

This law requires social media companies and artificial intelligence model operators to let users request copies of their personal information, contextual data, and social graphs within five business days.

What This Bill Does

  • Requires social media companies and model operators to respond to consumer requests for a copy of personal information, contextual data, and social graph within five business days in a portable format if technically feasible.
  • Defines 'contextual data' as user inputs to an AI model, associated interaction context or derivative data, and any model-generated or inferred data linked to those interactions.
  • Requires social media companies to create tools that let users share their full social graph or selected parts with other platforms chosen by the user.
  • Requires artificial intelligence operators to build systems so users can send their contextual data directly to different AI models they choose.
  • Authorizes the Attorney General to write specific rules and enforce this law through administrative actions.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Social media companies
  • People or organizations that deploy artificial intelligence models (model operators)
  • Consumers who use these social media platforms or AI tools

Terms To Know

Contextual data
Information a user gives to an AI model, plus any related details about how the user interacted with it and what the AI created from those interactions.
Social graph
Data that shows a person's connections and activities on a social media platform.
Model operator (deployer)
A person or company that uses an AI model or makes it available for others to use, change, copy, or combine with other software.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The law requires data formats to be portable only if it is technically possible.
  • Specific rules about how the sharing tools must work will come later from regulations written by the Attorney General.
  • The text does not state a specific date when this bill becomes effective.

Bill History

  1. California Legislative Information

    Assembly - Appropriations

Official Summary Text

Social media platforms: artificial intelligence models.