Protect Speech Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3827 To amend section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure that the immunity under such section incentivizes online platforms to respon- sibly address illegal content while not immunizing the disparate treatment of ideological viewpoints and continuing to encourage a vibrant, open, and competitive internet, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 11, 2021 Mr. JORDAN (for himself, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina, Mr. TIFFANY, Mrs. SPARTZ, Mr. STEUBE, Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana, Mr. FITZGERALD, Mr. ISSA, and Mrs. FISCHBACH) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com- merce A BILL To amend section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure that the immunity under such section incentivizes online platforms to responsibly address illegal content while not immunizing the disparate treatment of ideological viewpoints and continuing to encourage a vibrant, open, and competitive internet, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:26 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3827.IH H3827 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3827 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect Speech Act’’. 2 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 3 Section 230(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 4 (47 U.S.C. 230(c)) is amended to read as follows: 5 ‘‘(c) PROTECTION FOR ‘GOOD SAMARITAN’ BLOCK- 6 ING AND SCREENING OF OFFENSIVE MATERIAL.— 7 ‘‘(1) TREATMENT OF PUBLISHER OR SPEAK- 8 ER.— 9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No provider or user of 10 an interactive computer service shall be treated 11 as the publisher or speaker of any information 12 provided by another information content pro- 13 vider. 14 ‘‘(B) APPLICABILITY OF IMMUNITY.—Sub- 15 paragraph (A) shall not apply to any action by 16 a provider or user of an interactive computer 17 service to restrict access to or availability of 18 material provided by another information con- 19 tent provider. Any immunity under this section 20 for such action shall be provided solely by para- 21 graph (2). 22 ‘‘(C) NO LIABILITY FOR GOOD FAITH RE- 23 MOVAL.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), no 24 provider or user of an interactive computer 25 service shall be treated as the publisher or 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:26 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3827.IH H3827 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3827 IH speaker for any other information on the service 1 provided by another information content pro- 2 vider solely on account of actions voluntarily 3 taken in good faith to restrict access to or 4 availability of specific material that the provider 5 or user has an objectively reasonable belief vio- 6 lates the terms of service or use of the provider 7 or user, as applicable. 8 ‘‘(2) CIVIL LIABILITY.—No provider or user of 9 an interactive computer service shall be held liable 10 on account of— 11 ‘‘(A) any action voluntarily taken in good 12 faith to restrict access to or availability of ma- 13 terial that the provider or user has an objec- 14 tively reasonable belief is obscene, lewd, lasciv- 15 ious, filthy, excessively violent, promoting ter- 16 rorism or violent extremism, harassing, pro- 17 moting self-harm, or unlawful, whether or not 18 such material is constitutionally protected; or 19 ‘‘(B) any action taken to enable or make 20 available to information content providers or 21 others the technical means to restrict access to 22 material described in subparagraph (A). 23 ‘‘(3) LIABILITY FOR INFORMATION.—Being re- 24 sponsible in whole or in part for the creation or de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:26 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3827.IH H3827 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3827 IH velopment of information includes instances in which 1 a person or entity solicits, comments upon, funds, or 2 affirmatively and substantively contributes to, modi- 3 fies, or alters information provided by another per- 4 son or entity. 5 ‘‘(4) GOOD FAITH.—In addition to the other 6 applicable requirements, in order for a provider or 7 user to avoid liability under paragraph (1)(C) or 8 (2)(A), such provider or user shall meet the fol- 9 lowing requirements, if applicable: 10 ‘‘(A) Makes publicly available terms of 11 service or use that state plainly and with par- 12 ticularity the criteria the interactive computer 13 service employs in content-moderation practices 14 of the service. 15 ‘‘(B) Restricts access to or availability of 16 material consistent with those terms of service 17 or use and with any official representations or 18 disclosures regarding the internet service pro- 19 vider’s content-moderation practices. 20 ‘‘(C) Does not restrict access to or avail- 21 ability of material on deceptive grounds or 22 apply terms of service or use to restrict access 23 to or availability of material that is similarly 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:26 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3827.IH H3827 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3827 IH situated to material that the service inten- 1 tionally declines to restrict. 2 ‘‘(D) Supplies the provider of the material 3 with timely notice describing with particularity 4 the reasonable factual basis for the restriction 5 of access and a meaningful opportunity to re- 6 spond, unless— 7 ‘‘(i) a law enforcement agency asks 8 that such notice not be made; 9 ‘‘(ii) a service reasonably believes that 10 the material relates to terrorism or other 11 criminal activity; or 12 ‘‘(iii) such notice would risk imminent 13 harm to others.’’. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:26 Jun 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3827.IH H3827 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS