I Am Robot: California’s New Law Requires Disclosure of Use of Bots
California's new Autobot Law, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17940, et seq. (SB 1001), which goes into effect July 1, 2019, may affect businesses that use chatbots to interact with customers online.
As the nation's first autobot regulation, SB 1001 makes it unlawful "to use a bot to communicate or interact with another person in California online, with the intent to mislead the other person about its artificial identity for the purpose of knowingly deceiving the person about the content of the communication in order to incentivize a purchase or sale of goods or services in a commercial transaction or to influence a vote in an election."
We detail the background, disclosure requirements and enforcement mechanism for this new Autobot Law.
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Consumer Protection Review
Consumer Protection Review helps businesses that market and sell to consumers navigate federal and state legal issues related to advertising, privacy, promotions, products liability, government investigations, unfair competition, class actions and general consumer protection.