Digital Choice Act hearing highlights portability push and industry concerns

Senate File 4100, the Digital Choice Act, was presented as a first committee stop with an author's amendment adopted and the bill laid over for further consideration.

Senator McQuade (author) described portability and interoperability measures that would let users download a complete copy of their data — including social graphs and chatbot histories — and port that data to other platforms. The bill’s author and supporters said the measure would reduce lock‑in by incumbents, spur competition, and give users control over their information.

Tomica Tilleman of Project Liberty testified in strong support, saying open protocols already exist and that portability is necessary to restore choice and protect young people. Tilleman argued that portability and user‑directed transfers are vital to reduce manipulation and create healthier online markets.

TechNet’s witness reiterated concerns that technical mandates for continuous real‑time interoperability and certain restrictions on use of transferred data could be infeasible at scale, create security and privacy vulnerabilities, interfere with content moderation, and raise First Amendment issues. TechNet urged outcome‑based standards that allow companies flexibility to meet portability goals while protecting users.

Committee members asked how other states (Utah and South Dakota) are implementing similar laws and whether industry participants have plans to comply. TechNet indicated it would follow up after staff checked effective dates and implementation details in those jurisdictions. The committee adopted an author's amendment and laid the bill over.