Stopping Big Tech's Censorship Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4062 To amend section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to require that providers and users of an interactive computer service meet certain standards to qualify for liability protections. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 24, 2020 Mrs. LOEFFLER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To amend section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to require that providers and users of an interactive computer service meet certain standards to qualify for liability protections. 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 ‘‘Stopping Big Tech’s 4 Censorship Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. SCOPE OF LIABILITY. 6 Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 7 U.S.C. 230) is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4062.IS S4062 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4062 IS (1) in subsection (c)— 1 (A) in paragraph (1)— 2 (i) by striking ‘‘No provider’’ and in- 3 serting the following: 4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No provider’’; 5 (ii) in subparagraph (A), as so des- 6 ignated, by inserting after ‘‘interactive 7 computer service’’ the following: ‘‘that 8 takes reasonable steps to prevent or ad- 9 dress the unlawful use of the interactive 10 computer service or unlawful publication of 11 information on the interactive computer 12 service’’; and 13 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 14 lowing: 15 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this 16 paragraph, the term ‘unlawful use of the inter- 17 active computer service or unlawful publication 18 of information on the interactive computer serv- 19 ice’ includes cyberstalking, sex trafficking, traf- 20 ficking in illegal products or activities, child 21 sexual exploitation, and any other activity relat- 22 ing to the use of, or publication of information 23 on, an interactive computer service that is oth- 24 erwise proscribed by Federal law.’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4062.IS S4062 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4062 IS (B) in paragraph (2)— 1 (i) by redesignating subparagraphs 2 (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respec- 3 tively, and adjusting the margins accord- 4 ingly; 5 (ii) in the matter preceding clause (i), 6 as so redesignated, by striking ‘‘No pro- 7 vider’’ and inserting the following: 8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 9 graph (B), no provider’’; and 10 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 11 lowing: 12 ‘‘(B) FIRST AMENDMENT REQUIRE- 13 MENTS.— 14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 15 (ii), a provider or user of an interactive 16 computer service that takes action under 17 clause (i) of subparagraph (A) to restrict 18 access to or availability of constitutionally 19 protected material shall not be eligible for 20 the protection under that subparagraph 21 unless— 22 ‘‘(I) the action is taken in a view- 23 point-neutral manner; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4062.IS S4062 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4062 IS ‘‘(II) the restriction limits only 1 the time, place, or manner in which 2 the material is available; and 3 ‘‘(III) there is a compelling rea- 4 son for restricting that access or 5 availability. 6 ‘‘(ii) NO PUNITIVE DAMAGES.—A 7 court that holds a provider or user of an 8 information computer service liable on ac- 9 count of action taken to restrict access to 10 or availability of material as described in 11 subparagraph (A)(i) because the provider 12 or user did not meet the requirements 13 under clause (i) of this subparagraph may 14 not award punitive damages against the 15 provider or user for taking that action.’’; 16 and 17 (C) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(3) NOTICE REQUIREMENTS.—To be eligible 19 for protection under this subsection— 20 ‘‘(A) a provider of an interactive computer 21 service shall, in any terms of service or user 22 agreement produced by the provider, clearly ex- 23 plain the practices and procedures used by the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4062.IS S4062 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4062 IS provider in restricting access to or availability 1 of any material; and 2 ‘‘(B) a provider or user of an interactive 3 computer service that decides to restrict access 4 to or availability of any material shall provide 5 a clear explanation of that decision to the infor- 6 mation content provider that created or devel- 7 oped the material. 8 ‘‘(4) BURDEN OF PROOF.—In any action or 9 proceeding in which a party asserts paragraph (1) or 10 (2) as a defense to liability, the party alleging liabil- 11 ity shall bear the burden of demonstrating that the 12 other party is not entitled to immunity under that 13 paragraph.’’; 14 (2) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the 15 following: 16 ‘‘(6) NO EFFECT ON FEDERAL CIVIL LIABIL- 17 ITY.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to 18 impair or limit any civil enforcement action brought 19 by a Federal agency, office, or other establishment 20 arising from any violation of a Federal statute or 21 regulation.’’; and 22 (3) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the 23 following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4062.IS S4062 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4062 IS ‘‘(5) CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED MATE- 1 RIAL.—The term ‘constitutionally protected mate- 2 rial’ means any material protected by a right under 3 the Constitution of the United States, regardless of 4 whether the right is otherwise enforceable against a 5 nongovernmental entity.’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4062.IS S4062 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS