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California Governor Jerry Brown Signs a Bill That Bans Bots From Pretending To be Real People (nbcnews.com)
California governor Jerry Brown signed a bill last week that bans automated accounts, more commonly known as bots, from pretending to be real people in pursuit of selling products or influencing elections. From a report: Automated accounts can still interact with Californians, according to the law, but they will need to disclose that they are bots. The law comes as concerns about social media manipulation remain elevated. With just more than a month to go before the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, social media companies have pledged to crack down on foreign interference.
A big part of that effort has been targeting bots that spread misinformation and divisive political rhetoric. Twitter said it took down 9.9 million "potentially spammy or automated accounts per week" in May and has placed warnings on suspicious accounts. Dorsey has even publicly floated the idea that Twitter may try to identify bots and label them as such. Bots are also not limited to social media. Google caught the attention of the tech industry in May when it rolled out Google Duplex, a new voice assistant that could talk over the phone with humans to schedule appointments or make restaurant reservations -- complete with "ums," "ahs" and pauses just like a human.
A big part of that effort has been targeting bots that spread misinformation and divisive political rhetoric. Twitter said it took down 9.9 million "potentially spammy or automated accounts per week" in May and has placed warnings on suspicious accounts. Dorsey has even publicly floated the idea that Twitter may try to identify bots and label them as such. Bots are also not limited to social media. Google caught the attention of the tech industry in May when it rolled out Google Duplex, a new voice assistant that could talk over the phone with humans to schedule appointments or make restaurant reservations -- complete with "ums," "ahs" and pauses just like a human.
It's not going to be able to do anything about a Russian bot trying to make you mad about The Last Jedi.
It is, however, likely to be enforceable if a Burger King bot farm is trying to convince people, including at least one Californian, that the new BK Whopper Deluxe With Bacon Plus is the best burger ever made. Even if the bot is operating outside of CA, the fact it interacted with a Californian brings it within the jurisdiction of the Californian courts, and the fact Burger King wants to do business in California means the Californian courts have enforcement powers.
I guess the question is how much of the latter is going on and is a problem.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Why?
From Wikipedia
"The economy of California is the largest in the United States, boasting a $2.746 trillion gross state product as of 2017.[8] As a sovereign nation (2017), California would rank as the world's fifth largest economy, ahead of the United Kingdom but behind Germany.[9] California is also home to some of the most valuable companies in the world, including Apple, Alphabet Inc., and Facebook"
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.