Social Media DATA Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3451 To require covered platforms to provide information about their advertising to academic researchers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 20, 2021 Mrs. TRAHAN (for herself and Ms. CASTOR of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To require covered platforms to provide information about their advertising to academic researchers, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Social Media Disclo- 4 sure And Transparency of Advertisements Act of 2021’’ 5 or the ‘‘Social Media DATA Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 8 date of the enactment of this Act, and every 3 years there- 9 after as needed, the Commission shall, in accordance with 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3451.IH H3451 tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3451 IH section 553 of title 5, United States Code, issue regula- 1 tions that require the following: 2 (1) A covered platform to maintain, and grant 3 academic researchers and the Commission access to, 4 an ad library that contains in a searchable, machine- 5 readable format and that is collected by the covered 6 platform in the ordinary course of business the fol- 7 lowing information (which may be updated by the 8 Commission as the Commission determines to be 9 necessary) related to any advertiser that purchases 10 $500 or more of advertising in a calender year: 11 (A) The legal name and unique identifica- 12 tion number for each advertiser. 13 (B) A digital copy of the ad content. 14 (C) The method used, as selected either by 15 the advertiser or by the covered platform, to 16 target an ad to platform users, including 17 uploaded lists of platform users, pre-set cat- 18 egories of platform users, key words, and con- 19 textual information. 20 (D) The optimization objective chosen by 21 the advertiser (such as awareness, reach, traf- 22 fic, and engagement). 23 (E) A description of the targeted audience 24 for each advertisement, including information 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3451.IH H3451 tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3451 IH (that may have been collected from the profile 1 of a user or based on an algorithm) on the de- 2 mographics of the audience (including age, gen- 3 der, geographic location, race, ethnicity, and po- 4 litical affiliation), interests of the audience, and 5 any other description of the targeted audience 6 determined to be reasonable by the Commission. 7 (F) A description of the audience of the 8 advertisement determined by a count of adver- 9 tiser viewership, including information (that 10 may have been collected from the profile of a 11 user or based on an algorithm) on the demo- 12 graphics of the audience (including age, gender, 13 geographic location, race, ethnicity, and polit- 14 ical affiliation), interests of the audience, and 15 any other description of the targeted audience 16 determined to be reasonable by the Commission. 17 (G) The number of views generated from 18 the advertisement. 19 (H) Ad conversion (including how often an 20 ad was shared, liked, or clicked-through). 21 (I) The date and time that the advertise- 22 ment was first displayed and last displayed. 23 (J) The amount an advertiser budgeted for 24 the purchase of the advertisement on the plat- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3451.IH H3451 tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3451 IH form and the amount paid for the purchase of 1 the advertisement on the platform. 2 (K) The category of an ad as defined by 3 the covered platform (such as politics, employ- 4 ment opportunity, housing opportunity, or ap- 5 parel). 6 (L) Each language contained within the 7 ad. 8 (M) Each advertising policy of the covered 9 platform that is made available to advertising 10 customers on the covered platform. 11 (2) The Commission to use the information in 12 the ad library for law enforcement and studies unre- 13 lated to this Act. 14 (3) The methodology to calculate the demo- 15 graphics of the targeted audience described in para- 16 graph (1)(E) to be the same method as the demo- 17 graphics calculated for the delivery audience de- 18 scribed in paragraph (1)(F). 19 (4) Guidelines for the treatment of advertise- 20 ments that are deleted by the advertiser or blocked 21 by the terms of service of the covered platform. 22 (5) Guidelines for the time allotted between 23 when an ad is posted on a covered platform and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3451.IH H3451 tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3451 IH when the information about the ad needs to be made 1 available in the ad library. 2 (6) Guidelines for how long an ad is required 3 to remain available in the ad library. 4 (b) ENFORCEMENT.— 5 (1) ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE 6 COMMISSION.— 7 (A) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC- 8 TICES.—A violation of subsection (a) shall be 9 treated as a violation of a regulation under sec- 10 tion 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commis- 11 sion Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding 12 unfair or deceptive acts or practices. 13 (B) POWERS OF COMMISSION.—The Com- 14 mission shall enforce subsection (a) in the same 15 manner, by the same means, and with the same 16 jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all 17 applicable terms and provisions of the Federal 18 Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) 19 were incorporated into and made a part of this 20 Act. Any person who violates such subsection 21 shall be subject to the penalties and entitled to 22 the privileges and immunities provided in the 23 Federal Trade Commission Act. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3451.IH H3451 tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3451 IH (2) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in this 1 section shall be construed in any way to limit the 2 authority of the Commission under any other provi- 3 sion of law or to limit the application of any Federal 4 or State law. 5 (3) ENFORCEMENT BY STATE ATTORNEYS GEN- 6 ERAL.— 7 (A) IN GENERAL.—If the chief law en- 8 forcement officer of a State, or an official or 9 agency designated by a State, has reason to be- 10 lieve that any person has violated or is violating 11 subsection (a), the attorney general, official, or 12 agency of the State, in addition to any author- 13 ity it may have to bring an action in State 14 court under its consumer protection law, may 15 bring a civil action in any appropriate United 16 States district court or in any other court of 17 competent jurisdiction, including a State court, 18 to— 19 (i) enjoin further such violation by 20 such person; 21 (ii) enforce compliance with such sub- 22 section; 23 (iii) obtain civil penalties; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3451.IH H3451 tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3451 IH (iv) obtain damages, restitution, or 1 other compensation on behalf of residents 2 of the State. 3 (B) NOTICE AND INTERVENTION BY THE 4 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.—The attorney 5 general of a State shall provide prior written 6 notice of any action under subparagraph (A) to 7 the Commission and provide the Commission 8 with a copy of the complaint in the action, ex- 9 cept in any case in which such prior notice is 10 not feasible, in which case the attorney general 11 shall serve such notice immediately upon insti- 12 tuting such action. The Commission shall have 13 the right— 14 (i) to intervene in the action; 15 (ii) upon so intervening, to be heard 16 on all matters arising therein; and 17 (iii) to file petitions for appeal. 18 (C) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION WHILE 19 FEDERAL ACTION IS PENDING.—If the Commis- 20 sion has instituted a civil action for violation of 21 this section, no State attorney general, or offi- 22 cial or agency of a State, may bring an action 23 under this paragraph during the pendency of 24 that action against any defendant named in the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3451.IH H3451 tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3451 IH complaint of the Commission for any violation 1 of this section alleged in the complaint. 2 (c) WORKING GROUP FOR SOCIAL MEDIA RESEARCH 3 ACCESS.— 4 (1) EMPLOYMENT AUTHORITY.—Not later than 5 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 6 the Commission shall hire 2 or 3 employees who are 7 privacy and technology experts to lead a series of 8 stakeholder engagements, including round tables, 9 public workshops, and open comment periods. Stake- 10 holders may include social media researchers, infor- 11 mation science researchers, privacy and civil rights 12 advocates, technologists, representatives from social 13 media companies, representatives from standards or- 14 ganizations, and representatives from international 15 data governance bodies. 16 (2) ESTABLISHMENT OF WORKING GROUP.— 17 Not later than 30 days after the date on which the 18 employees described in paragraph (1) are hired, the 19 Commission shall establish a working group for so- 20 cial media research access (in this subsection the 21 ‘‘working group’’) composed of the stakeholders de- 22 scribed in paragraph (1). 23 (3) NO COMPENSATION FOR MEMBERS.—A 24 member of the working group shall serve without 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3451.IH H3451 tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3451 IH compensation in addition to any compensation re- 1 ceived for the service of the member as an officer or 2 employee of the United States, if applicable. 3 (4) REPORTS REQUIRED.— 4 (A) BEST PRACTICES AND CODE OF CON- 5 DUCT.—Not later than 1 year after the date on 6 which the working group is established pursu- 7 ant to paragraph (2), the Commission, in con- 8 sultation with the working group, shall make 9 available to the public on the website of the 10 Commission a report containing— 11 (i) a description of the best practices 12 regarding what type of information from 13 an interactive computer service should be 14 made available, and under what cir- 15 cumstances, to academic researchers; and 16 (ii) a recommended code of conduct 17 for academic researchers working with 18 such information. 19 (B) POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS.—Not 20 later than 1 year after the date on which the 21 working group is established pursuant to para- 22 graph (2), the working group shall submit to 23 Congress a report with recommendations for 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3451.IH H3451 tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3451 IH policy changes, which may include any of the 1 following: 2 (i) The types of information that 3 should be made available to academic re- 4 searchers and under what circumstances 5 interactive computer services should be re- 6 quired to grant access to academic re- 7 searchers. 8 (ii) Circumstances in which additional 9 legal protections for interactive computer 10 services may be needed related to the shar- 11 ing of data with researchers. 12 (iii) Recommendation for penalties for 13 academic researchers who misuse or seek 14 to inappropriately reidentify information 15 provided to them by interactive computer 16 services for research purposes. 17 (C) REQUIREMENTS FOR REPORTS.—In 18 preparing the reports described under subpara- 19 graph (A) and (B), the working group may con- 20 sider the following: 21 (i) The type of information consid- 22 ered, including the following: 23 (I) Information related to content 24 moderation decisions including choices 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3451.IH H3451 tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3451 IH related to the ranking, ordering, pro- 1 motion, recommendation of content, 2 and requests for content removals. 3 (II) Information related to en- 4 gagement (such as sharing and likes) 5 with public links (such as news arti- 6 cles and video clips), including the de- 7 mographic breakdown of users that 8 interact with content. 9 (III) Information related to expo- 10 sure (viewership or impressions) with 11 public links (such as news articles and 12 video clips), including the demo- 13 graphic breakdown of users that inter- 14 act with content. 15 (IV) Classification of public in- 16 formation sources (such as opinion 17 and journalism). 18 (V) Archives of formerly public 19 accounts that were removed, including 20 any special treatment of accounts that 21 previously belonged to high-profile in- 22 dividuals. 23 (VI) Archives of fake or bot ac- 24 counts that have been removed. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3451.IH H3451 tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3451 IH (VII) Archives of coordinated in- 1 fluence operation accounts that have 2 been removed. 3 (VIII) Research conducted by an 4 interactive computer service internally 5 related to the online behavior of a 6 user including A/B studies and other 7 internal research, including studies on 8 interventions to slow spread of misin- 9 formation and disinformation, and to 10 increase user deliberation, including 11 warning labels, limits on sharing and 12 posting, time delay on sharing and 13 posting, and prompts to confirm. 14 (IX) The most popular content 15 on a platform. 16 (ii) Storage of information and treat- 17 ment for each type of information consid- 18 ered, including the following: 19 (I) Limits on time and amount of 20 information stored broken down by 21 the type of information. 22 (II) Under what circumstances 23 privacy preserving techniques such as 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3451.IH H3451 tkelley on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 3451 IH differential privacy and statistical 1 noise could be used. 2 (III) Required level of aggrega- 3 tion for demographic information. 4 (IV) Standardized variable names 5 across platforms for specific types of 6 information. 7 (V) Under what circumstances 8 erasure policies (related to who and 9 how an individual can request to be 10 removed from a dataset) may be [Text truncated for display. 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