New legislation will empower individuals with control over their social media data and spark greater competition across the internet economy
NEW YORK, Aug. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Project Liberty today applauded New York Assemblymember Alex Bores for introducing the New York Digital Choice Act, landmark legislation that would give New Yorkers meaningful control over their personal social media data and unlock the potential for greater innovation and competition in the digital space, enabling a healthier, safer social media.
The bill, backed by Project Liberty and digital rights advocates, would ensure that individuals can:
- Download their full social graph data, including content, interactions, and network history, in a portable and accessible format;
- Delete their social graph data and other data from a given platform entirely; and
- Share their data with other platforms through an interoperability interface built on open standards, with appropriate safeguards for privacy and security.
“The New York Digital Choice Act is about giving people ownership of their social media presence, whether that means downloading their memories, moving to a platform that better serves them, or simply deleting their social media data altogether. People should have ownership of their data. The same way individuals can port their telephone number to a new network or their emails to a new provider, they should be able to move their social media data to whichever company innovates best,” said Assemblymember Alex Bores. “This bill is about people, privacy, competition, the free market, and fostering innovation.”
Assemblymember Bores is a nationally recognized leader on technology and consumer protection. As the only Democratic member of the New York State Assembly with a degree in computer science, he brings deep expertise to policy development at the intersection of digital rights and innovation. His sponsorship of this bill builds on a record of advancing legislation to safeguard New Yorkers in today’s tech-dominated economy.
A Growing National Movement
New York joins a growing national push to restore digital choice. Utah recently enacted similar legislation, Vermont has introduced a comparable bill, and policymakers from across the country are set to gather in Boston this week for the State Leadership Summit on Digital Choice and the Future of Social Media to chart a path forward for a fairer, safer, and more dynamic digital future. While the Digital Choice Act has just been introduced in New York, its emergence in one of the nation’s most tech-forward capitals and the largest media market signals growing momentum and mounting pressure on Big Tech to finally reckon with long-standing calls for transparency, accountability, and user agency.
“Big Tech has been using personal data to manipulate us – not benefit us. People are rightly tired of being locked into walled gardens,” said Tomicah Tillemann, President of Project Liberty. “The New York Digital Choice Act changes that dynamic. By putting power back in the hands of individuals, this bill lays the groundwork for healthier, innovative digital ecosystems where people, not platforms, set the terms.”
Why Now
The need for this legislation is urgent. Without data portability and interoperability, individuals risk losing access to their personal content, connections, and digital histories if they are de-platformed, hacked, or choose to switch services. Meanwhile, large platforms’ exclusive control over user data creates massive barriers to innovation, making it nearly impossible for new networks to compete or for safer, healthier alternatives to thrive.
About Project Liberty
Project Liberty is at the forefront of the movement to return control to individuals in the digital age by ensuring that people have a voice, choice, and stake in a better internet. Established in 2019 and publicly launched in 2021 by civic entrepreneur Frank McCourt with a $500-million commitment, Project Liberty encompasses the work of the Project Liberty Institute—a 501(c)(3) organization with an international partner network that includes Georgetown University, Stanford University, ETH Zurich, and other leading academic institutions and civic organizations—and a technological team dedicated to developing the next generation of digital infrastructure. Project Liberty’s initiatives include the release of the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), a piece of digital public infrastructure designed to empower individuals over centralized platforms and serve the common good.
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SOURCE Project Liberty
