State Senate: Republican majority
State House: Republican majority
Governor: Brian Kemp (R)
Attorney General: Chris Carr (R)
Summary:
Once a deep red state, Georgia has moderated in recent years and was carried by Joe Biden in 2020 by a small margin. Its state legislature remains solidly in Republican control, although by slightly smaller margins than in the past, and a Republican has held the governor’s office since 2003.
The state has recently passed laws to require age verification and parental consent for minors to use social media and create criminal penalties for digitally altered sexual images of children. Other measures to limit the use of generative-AI in elections and limiting social media censorship have been introduced but not advanced.
AG Chris Carr has joined in multi-state coalition efforts to push back on the Biden Administration on its Disinformation Governance Board and its threats to deploy the FBI nationwide to monitor parents’ interactions with local school officials.
Key Policymakers:
- Sen. Jason Anavitarte [R] and Sen. Bo Hatchett [R]
- Rep. Alan Powell [R]
Legislative Activity:
SB 351: Age limits for social media use (Signed into Law). This bill requires the Department of Education and local boards to adopt policies on social media, cyberbullying, and internet usage. It requires that social media companies verify that their users are at least 16 years of age or older unless they receive approval from an individual’s parents to use the service. It also requires websites whose content is comprised of over a third of material that is harmful to minors to verify that their users are age 18 or older. The bill was a priority of Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones. Introduced by Sen. Jason Anavitarte [R]. It passed on bipartisan votes in the Senate in March, the House in April, and was signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp on April 23, 2024.
HB 986/SB 392: Criminal penalties for use of deep fake. This bill establishes the criminal offense of election interference with deep fakes, establishes penalties, requires certain disclaimers on campaign advertisements that use AI generated media, and requires the State Election Board to publish results of investigations into such offenses. Introduced by Rep. Brad Thomas [R] and Sen. John Albers [R]. The bill passed the House in March with a large bipartisan vote and is currently working through the Senate.
HB 250: Bans social media censorship based on personal expression. Introduced by Republican Reps. Steven Sainz, Bill Hitchens, Trey Kelley, Rick Townshend and Karen Mathiak, this bill, much like those in other states, would prevent social media companies from censoring users based on personal expression, with limitations, and allows the Attorney General and private citizens to sue for violations. It also requires social media companies to publish their acceptable use policies and publicly disclose information regarding its content management, data management, and business practices. The bill was introduced in March 2023 but has not progressed.
HR 119: Resolution to create a Joint Study Committee on Censorship by Social Media Platforms. Introduced by Republican Reps. Steven Sainz, Jesse Petrea, Trey Kelley, Rick Townshend and Karen Mathiak, this resolution would create a temporary House committee of 5 members to study social media censorship and produce a report. The resolution stalled in March 2023 and has not progressed since.
HR 993: Relates to offenses related to minors generally, to provide for limitations of defense that a sexually exploitive visual medium is digitally altered for the offense of sexual exploitation of children; provides for the offense of grooming a minor; provides for a penalty; prohibits a certain defense; provides for venue for certain conduct involving a minor. Introduced by Rep. Alan Powell [R] and Sen. Bo Hatchett [R] in January 2024, passed both chambers unanimously and was signed into law on April 24, 2024.
