FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug 21, 2025
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Washington, D.C. | Yesterday, California Senate Bill 771 (Stern) was placed on the Appropriations Committee’s suspense file — a major development that reflects growing recognition of the bill’s dangerous overreach, cost, and impact on free speech. Placement on suspense is one step closer to a final defeat, it signals that, even in a fiscally progressive state, lawmakers are balking at this attempt to censor political dissent and silence marginalized communities.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is leading a coalition of nearly 60 advocacy, civil rights, community-based, and grassroots organizations in strong opposition to California Senate Bill 771 (Stern), warning that it threatens free expression online, undermines civil rights, and disproportionately harms Arab, Muslim, Palestinian, and other marginalized voices. Together, they are urging California legislators to keep SB 771 on suspense and ultimately reject it. Protecting the right to dissent, organize, and speak freely is both a constitutional duty and a moral imperative.
While SB 771 is framed as a measure to hold platforms accountable for algorithmic harms, the bill would in practice:
- Penalize platforms for lawful political speech based on how algorithms display it
- Encourage biased enforcement of content moderation policies that already suppress criticism of Israeli state violence
- Rely on Anti-Defamation League data, which is widely criticized as biased and unreliable
- Violate federal law, including Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and undermine First Amendment protections
SB771 is backed and promoted by the ADL and Zionist organizations who are pushing an “Israel First” agenda at the expense of American taxpayers. Opposition to SB 771 spans the political and economic spectrum— from major tech and business groups including the California Chamber of Commerce, TechNet, and the Computer and Communications Industry Association, to grassroots civil rights and community organizations.
Read the coalition letter here.
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About ADC
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is the largest Arab American grassroots organization in the United States, founded in 1980 by former Senator James Abourezk. ADC’s mission is to defend and promote the human rights, civil rights, and liberties of at least 3.7 million Arab Americans residing in the United States. Through its work, ADC fights discrimination, enhances public understanding of Arab history and culture, and partners with marginalized communities globally to advance social justice.