MD SB697 | 2026 | Regular Session

Maryland Senate Bill 697

Status

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)
Status: Engrossed on March 19 2026 - 50% progression, died in committee
Action: 2026-03-24 - Hearing 4/01 at 1:00 p.m.
Pending: House Government, Labor, and Elections Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Engrossed) [PDF]

Summary

Establishing a rebuttable presumption that a social media platform has made an independent expenditure to a certain candidate if the social media platform knowingly and purposefully alters its algorithm to amplify certain political content for the benefit of the candidate; prohibiting a foreign national from using a bot to publish, distribute, or disseminate campaign material or artificially amplify political content to users of an online platform for a certain purpose; etc.

Title

Election Law - Actions to Influence an Election - Social Media Platform Algorithms and Bots Purchased by Foreign Nationals

Roll Calls

2026-03-19 - Senate - Third Reading Passed (Y: 45 N: 0 NV: 0 Abs: 2) [PASS]

History

Date	Chamber	Action
2026-03-24	House	Hearing 4/01 at 1:00 p.m.
2026-03-20	House	Referred Government, Labor, and Elections
2026-03-19	Senate	Third Reading Passed (45-0)
2026-03-18	Senate	Second Reading Passed with Amendments
2026-03-18	Senate	Favorable with Amendments {473524/1 Adopted
2026-03-16	Senate	Favorable with Amendments Report by Education, Energy, and the Environment
2026-02-10	Senate	Hearing 2/25 at 1:00 p.m.
2026-02-06	Senate	First Reading Education, Energy, and the Environment

Subjects

Civil Actions
Disclosure
Elections
Ethics
Fines
Information Technology
International Affairs
internet
Investigations and Inquiries
Notices
Open Government
Penalties and Sentences
Political Candidates
Public Information
Records
Reports
Rules and Regulations
Social Media
Standards and Best Practices
Subpoenas
Technology

Code Citations

Chapter	Article	Section	Citation Type	Statute Text
Election Law	13	251	(n/a)	See Bill Text
Election Law	13	401.1	(n/a)	See Bill Text

Maryland State Sources

Type	Source
Summary	https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/SB0697?ys=2026RS
Text	https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0697f.pdf
Text	https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/sb/sb0697t.pdf
Amendment	https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/amds/bil_0007/sb0697_47352401.pdf
Supplement	https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/votes_comm/sb0697_eee.pdf
Roll Call	https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/votes/Senate/0503.pdf