Plain English summary not yet available
The full original text is available below. Check back soon as we process this bill.
I
116TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 492
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide that an owner or
operator of a social media service that hinders the display of user-
generated content shall be treated as a publisher or speaker of such
content, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 11, 2019
Mr. GOHMERT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide that
an owner or operator of a social media service that
hinders the display of user-generated content shall be
treated as a publisher or speaker of such content, 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 ‘‘Biased Algorithm De-
4
terrence Act of 2019’’.
5
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:01 Jan 25, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H492.IH
H492
pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
2
•HR 492 IH
SEC. 2. EXCEPTION TO PROTECTION FROM TREATMENT AS
1
PUBLISHER OR SPEAKER.
2
Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
3
U.S.C. 230) is amended—
4
(1) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the
5
following:
6
‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—
7
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding para-
8
graph (1), an owner or operator of a social
9
media service that displays user-generated con-
10
tent in an order other than chronological order,
11
delays the display of such content relative to
12
other content, or otherwise hinders the display
13
of such content relative to other content, if for
14
a reason other than to restrict access to or
15
availability of material described in paragraph
16
(2)(A) or to carry out the direction of the user
17
that generated such content, shall be treated as
18
a publisher or speaker of such content.
19
‘‘(B) USE OF ALGORITHMS.—If an algo-
20
rithm of a social media service is used to en-
21
gage in an action related to user-generated con-
22
tent that is described in subparagraph (A),
23
such action shall be considered to be the action
24
of the owner or operator of the social media
25
service.’’; and
26
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:01 Jan 25, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H492.IH
H492
pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
3
•HR 492 IH
(2) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the
1
following:
2
‘‘(5) SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICE.—The term ‘social
3
media service’ means any interactive computer serv-
4
ice provided over the internet that connects users for
5
the purpose of such users engaging in dialogue,
6
sharing information, collaborating, or otherwise
7
interacting.
8
‘‘(6) USER-GENERATED
CONTENT.—The term
9
‘user-generated content’ means content that is sup-
10
plied on a social media service by an information
11
content provider who is a user of such service.
12
‘‘(7) ALGORITHM.—The term ‘algorithm’ means
13
a computer program that performs any action de-
14
scribed in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of para-
15
graph (4).’’.
16
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:01 Jan 25, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H492.IH
H492
pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS