California: a bot must say it is a bot
On 28 September 2018 the Governor of California approved SB 1001, operative from 1 July 2019: it is unlawful to use a bot to communicate with a person online while misleading them about its artificial identity with intent to incentivise a purchase or influence a vote. Whoever clearly discloses that it is a bot is not liable.
Why it matters
The law requires a machine that talks to people for a sale or a vote not to pass itself off as a person. The duty rests on whoever uses the bot, not on the platform.
Under section 17940 a bot is an automated online account where all or substantially all of the actions or posts are not the result of a person. The ban applies only to two purposes - a commercial transaction and an election - and only with intent to mislead. The disclosure must be clear, conspicuous and reasonably designed to inform the person that they are talking to a bot. A definition of an online platform with a threshold of 10 million unique monthly visitors remains in the law, but section 17942(c) says the chapter imposes no duty on service providers of online platforms; the record claims no duty for platforms. The law sets no penalty of its own: its duties are cumulative with those under other laws.