Social Media Accountability and Account Verification Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6586 To prohibit the creation and use of fake social media accounts or profiles and the sending of fraudulent emails or other electronic messages, and to require certain social media companies to remove fake or harmful accounts and profiles from their platforms. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 21, 2020 Mr. KINZINGER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To prohibit the creation and use of fake social media ac- counts or profiles and the sending of fraudulent emails or other electronic messages, and to require certain social media companies to remove fake or harmful accounts and profiles from their platforms. 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 Account- 4 ability and Account Verification Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 As used in this Act, the following definitions apply: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:04 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6586.IH H6586 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6586 IH (1) The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 1 mittees’’ means Committee on Energy and Com- 2 merce of the House of Representatives and the Com- 3 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 4 the Senate. 5 (2) The term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal 6 Trade Commission. 7 (3) The term ‘‘deceptive account or profile’’ 8 means, with respect to a social media platform, an 9 account or profile created by a user that— 10 (A)(i) purports to be of an individual who 11 is not the individual who created such account 12 or profile; or 13 (ii) uses the name or likeness of another 14 individual; and 15 (B) is utilized by a user to— 16 (i) perpetrate or attempt to perpetrate 17 financial or physical harm, or threat of fi- 18 nancial or physical harm, or other crime 19 against another user; or 20 (ii) furnish information to other users 21 as a means of assisting or participating in 22 financial or physical harm, or threat of fi- 23 nancial or physical harm, or another crime 24 against another user. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:42 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6586.IH H6586 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6586 IH (4) The term ‘‘social media company’’ means 1 any person that owns, manages, or operates a social 2 media platform. 3 (5) The term ‘‘social media platform’’— 4 (A) means a website or internet medium 5 that— 6 (i) permits a person to become a reg- 7 istered user, establish an account, or create 8 a profile for the purpose of allowing users 9 to create, share, and view user-generated 10 content through such an account or profile; 11 (ii) enables one or more users to gen- 12 erate content that can be viewed by other 13 users of the medium; and 14 (iii) primarily serves as a medium for 15 users to interact with content generated by 16 other users of the medium; and 17 (B) does not include— 18 (i) any such platform that serves 19 fewer than 100,000 users; 20 (ii) an email program, email distribu- 21 tion lists, multi-person text message 22 groups, or a website that is primarily for 23 the purpose of internet commerce; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:42 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6586.IH H6586 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6586 IH (iii) a private platform or messaging 1 service used by an entity solely to commu- 2 nicate with others employed by or affiliated 3 with such entity; or 4 (iv) an internet-based platform whose 5 primary purpose is— 6 (I) to allow users to post product 7 reviews, business reviews, travel infor- 8 mation and reviews; or 9 (II) to provide news or entertain- 10 ment content, but that may also in- 11 clude a comment section for users to 12 discuss such news or entertainment 13 content. 14 SEC. 3. LIMITED RULEMAKING RELATED TO USER AC- 15 COUNT VERIFICATION. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 17 date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall issue 18 regulations under section 553 of title 5, United States 19 Code, to require social media companies to remove decep- 20 tive or fraudulent accounts or profiles from their social 21 media platforms and, to the greatest extent practicable, 22 verify the creator of such accounts. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:42 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6586.IH H6586 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6586 IH (b) REQUIRED COMPONENTS.—The regulations 1 issued under this section shall include and be limited to 2 the following requirements for social media companies: 3 (1) Establishment of a readily available means 4 by which an individual user may request a social 5 media company to investigate and remove a decep- 6 tive account or profile or multiple similar accounts 7 or profiles, including a requirement that the social 8 media company, upon notification of a verified com- 9 plaint regarding a deceptive user account or profile 10 as described in this Act, responds expeditiously with- 11 in a reasonable time, but no later than 45 days, to 12 remove, or disable access to, any deceptive account 13 or profile and any other materials and messages 14 published through that account or profile named in 15 such request. The Commission shall include instruc- 16 tions on its internet website on how a user may 17 make such a request to a social media company. 18 (2) If, after an investigation into the deceptive 19 account or profile requested to be removed under 20 paragraph (1), a social media company determines 21 such account or profile is not deceptive, the social 22 media company shall expeditiously within a reason- 23 able time, but no later than 45 days, notify the indi- 24 vidual submitting the request the reasons for making 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:42 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6586.IH H6586 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6586 IH such determination. Such notification shall provide 1 such individual the website address (or a hyperlink 2 to such address) to the Commission’s web page so 3 that the individual may register a complaint with the 4 Commission that the social media company may not 5 be in compliance with the regulations issued under 6 this section. 7 (3) A requirement that a social media company 8 take escalating actions against individuals who make 9 false or bad faith requests under paragraph (1), in- 10 cluding a warning, suspension of any accounts of 11 such individuals, and banning such individuals from 12 the social media platform. 13 (c) PUBLIC COMMENT ON OTHER MATTERS TO BE 14 CONSIDERED.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall solicit 16 public comment on including in its rulemaking— 17 (A) the most effective, feasible, and appro- 18 priate means for a social media company to 19 verify that an account or profile is not deceptive 20 and contrary to the purpose of this Act; 21 (B) the feasibility, potential effectiveness, 22 and appropriateness of a requirement for social 23 media companies to develop programs to con- 24 duct reverse-image searches across the social 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:42 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6586.IH H6586 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6586 IH media company’s social media platform, and 1 across the internet to determine if any image of 2 an individual used as a profile picture for a 3 user is— 4 (i) such individual’s actual likeness; or 5 (ii) an image also used by other users; 6 and 7 (C) a requirement that if a social media 8 company determines that a user’s profile pic- 9 ture is not their unique likeness after the re- 10 views conducted pursuant to paragraph (2) to 11 flag the account or profile for additional screen- 12 ing and review in an effort to determine if an 13 account is deceptive for purposes of this Act. 14 (2) LIMITATION.—Any reverse-image searches 15 conducted by a social media company pursuant to a 16 rulemaking under this section shall be conducted for 17 the sole purpose of determining if an account or pro- 18 file on such company’s social media platform is de- 19 ceptive for purposes of this Act. 20 (d) PERIODIC REVIEW AND UPDATES.—The Com- 21 mission shall, as appropriate, but not fewer than once 22 every 7 years, review the regulations issued pursuant to 23 this section, and if Commission determines such regula- 24 tions should be updated, the Commission shall report rec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:42 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6586.IH H6586 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6586 IH ommendations for such changes to the appropriate Con- 1 gressional committees for consideration whether to confer 2 additional rulemaking authority to the Commission. Noth- 3 ing in this section shall be construed to confer any new 4 authorities or powers upon the Commission beyond what 5 is described in this section. 6 (e) FACTORS TO CONSIDER.—In issuing the regula- 7 tions under this section and any requirements imposed by 8 such regulations, the Commission— 9 (1) may take into consideration— 10 (A) the size of, and the nature, scope, and 11 complexity of, the activities engaged in by such 12 social media companies; 13 (B) the feasibility of complying with each 14 regulation; 15 (C) the current state of the art in adminis- 16 trative and technical means for accomplishing 17 objectives described in subsections (a) and (b); 18 and 19 (D) the cost to social media companies of 20 implementing policies, practices, and procedures 21 necessary to comply with this Act; and 22 (2) shall strive to make each regulation reason- 23 able, flexible, and risk-based for different sizes and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:42 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6586.IH H6586 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6586 IH practices of social media platforms covered by this 1 Act. 2 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT BY COMMISSION. 3 (a) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES.— 4 A violation of a regulation issued under section 3 shall 5 be treated as an unfair and deceptive act or practice in 6 violation of a regulation under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the 7 Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)) 8 regarding unfair or deceptive acts or practices. 9 (b) POWERS OF COMMISSION.—The Commission 10 shall enforce this Act in the same manner, by the same 11 means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and duties 12 as though all applicable terms and provisions of the Fed- 13 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were 14 incorporated into and made a part of this Act, and any 15 social media company subject to the Commission’s author- 16 ity who violates this Act shall be subject to the penalties 17 and entitled to the privileges and immunities provided in 18 the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.). 19 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit the author- 20 ity of the Federal Trade Commission under any other pro- 21 vision of law. 22 (c) EFFECT OF GUIDANCE.—No guidance issued by 23 the Commission with respect to this Act shall confer any 24 rights on any person, State, or locality, nor shall operate 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:42 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6586.IH H6586 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 6586 IH to bind the Commission or any person to the approach 1 recommended in such guidelines. The Commission shall 2 not base an enforcement action on, or execute a consent 3 order based on, practices that are alleged to be incon- 4 sistent with any such guidelines, unless the practices alleg- 5 edly violate a provision of such regulations. 6 (d) OPPORTUNITY TO CURE.—Before being assessed 7 any civil penalty for a violation of such regulations, a so- 8 cial media company shall be afforded a reasonable oppor- 9 tunity to bring itself into compliance with such regula- 10 tions. If a social media company does not meet the re- 11 quirements of such regulations, the social media company 12 shall have an opportunity to explain to the Commission 13 the reasons for noncompliance as well as the actions the 14 social media company intends to come into compliance 15 with such requirements. 16 SEC. 5. REPORT. 17 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 18 of this Act, the Commission, in consultation with other 19 entities, as appropriate, shall issue a report to Congress, 20 including— 21 (1) an assessment of— 22 (A) general compliance with this Act by so- 23 cial media companies; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:42 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6586.IH H6586 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 6586 IH (B) the efficacy of social media companies’ 1 processes to comply with this Act; and 2 (2) any policy recommendations for Congress to 3 consider that the Commission determines to be nec- 4 essary for or would facilitate the enforcement of this 5 Act. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:42 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6586.IH H6586 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS