COVID–19 Misinformation and Disinformation Task Force Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4499 To establish an interagency COVID–19 misinformation and disinformation task force, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 6, 2020 Mr. PETERS (for himself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. REED) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To establish an interagency COVID–19 misinformation and disinformation task force, 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 ‘‘COVID–19 Misin- 4 formation and Disinformation Task Force Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) People in the United States rely on infor- 8 mation from mass media, social media, and digital 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:16 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4499.IS S4499 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4499 IS media to make decisions about all aspects of social 1 and economic life. 2 (2) Ensuring that people in the United States 3 are provided accurate information to make informed 4 decisions during a public health crisis is of the ut- 5 most importance. 6 (3) In the midst of the COVID–19 pandemic, 7 people in the United States are spending more time 8 online than ever before and this increase has been 9 coupled with a rise of misinformation that impacts 10 the daily lives of people in the United States, includ- 11 ing misinformation about the virus, public health, 12 our democracy, and the government’s response. 13 (4) Globally, the proliferation of inaccurate 14 health information surrounding the COVID–19 pan- 15 demic has led the World Health Organization to 16 label this problem an ‘‘infodemic’’. 17 (5) In addition to health-related misinforma- 18 tion, intelligence officials and diplomats of the 19 United States have warned that China and Russia 20 are exploiting this global crisis to wage 21 disinformation campaigns that seek to sow doubts 22 about the United States response to the crisis, un- 23 dermine faith and trust in United States Govern- 24 ment institutions, and deflect attention from China 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:16 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4499.IS S4499 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4499 IS and Russia’s inability to adequately and trans- 1 parently respond to issues associated with the pan- 2 demic. 3 (6) In February 2020, Assistant Secretary of 4 State Philip Reeker warned, ‘‘Russia’s intent is to 5 sow discord and undermine U.S. institutions and al- 6 liances from within, including through covert and co- 7 ercive malign influence campaigns. By spreading 8 disinformation about the coronavirus, Russian ma- 9 lign actors are once again choosing to threaten pub- 10 lic safety by distracting from the global health re- 11 sponse.’’. 12 (7) One prominent incident occurred in March 13 when text messages sent to people in the United 14 States and amplified on social media posts falsely 15 claimed the Federal Government would lock down 16 the entire country due to the pandemic. Intelligence 17 officials of the United States reportedly assessed 18 that Chinese operatives helped amplify the false 19 messages. The prolific nature of this disinformation 20 campaign required the National Security Council to 21 issue a denial. 22 (8) In May 2020, the Global Engagement Cen- 23 ter of the Department of State assessed that China 24 was coordinating with Russia to manipulate social 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:16 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4499.IS S4499 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4499 IS media platforms to spread disinformation about the 1 pandemic. 2 (9) In July 2020, a newly declassified United 3 States intelligence assessment concluded that Rus- 4 sian intelligence agencies and actors are spreading 5 disinformation related to the pandemic and United 6 States officials reported that from late May to early 7 July, approximately 150 articles on the pandemic 8 were published as a result of such efforts. 9 (10) Since the beginning of the pandemic, 10 American social media companies have banned hun- 11 dreds of user accounts linked to coordinated influ- 12 ence operations by Russia, China, and Iran, which 13 were engaged in ‘‘coordinated political issues’’ re- 14 lated to the coronavirus. 15 (11) European Union officials have also warned 16 about disinformation from China and Russia aimed 17 at dividing European society, undermining the public 18 perception about the European Union’s response to 19 the pandemic, all while misleading and bolstering the 20 public perception regarding China and Russia’s re- 21 sponse to the pandemic. 22 (12) The bipartisan report of the Cyberspace 23 Solarium Commission concluded that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:16 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4499.IS S4499 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4499 IS (A) the United States Government should 1 promote digital literacy, civics education, and 2 public awareness to build societal resilience to 3 foreign malign cyber-enabled information oper- 4 ations; and 5 (B) a sustainable solution to fighting mis- 6 information and disinformation will require 7 equipping people in the United States with the 8 media and digital literacy necessary to recog- 9 nize untrustworthy online content. 10 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 11 It is the sense of Congress that— 12 (1) in the face of this threat, it is vital that the 13 United States has a coordinated understanding and 14 response to fighting misinformation and 15 disinformation surrounding COVID–19; 16 (2) in order to protect the health and well-being 17 of people in the United States and protect the de- 18 mocracy and government of the United States from 19 foreign interference, it is essential that the United 20 States have a whole-of-government approach to re- 21 sponding and combating the spread of misinforma- 22 tion and the sowing of disinformation related to 23 COVID–19; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:16 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4499.IS S4499 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4499 IS (3) information literacy, including media and 1 digital literacy, are essential to protecting the na- 2 tional security of the United States from a new form 3 of warfare, disinformation campaigns; and 4 (4) only by improving information literacy, in- 5 cluding media and digital literacy, among people in 6 the United States can Congress work to strengthen 7 the resilience of the people of the United States 8 against these attacks and by extension improve our 9 national security and protect the integrity of our 10 democratic institutions. 11 SEC. 4. COVID–19 MISINFORMATION AND DISINFORMATION 12 COORDINATION TASK FORCE. 13 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 14 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Agency’’ means the 15 Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of 16 the Department of Homeland Security. 17 (2) COVID–19 MISINFORMATION AND 18 DISINFORMATION.—The term ‘‘COVID–19 misin- 19 formation and disinformation’’ means publicly avail- 20 able COVID–19 related information, independent of 21 the origin of the information, that is inconsistent 22 with— 23 (A) information regarding official govern- 24 ment actions related to COVID–19; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:16 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4499.IS S4499 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4499 IS (B) official government information re- 1 garding how to acquire COVID–19 testing; or 2 (C) other official government health guide- 3 lines related to COVID–19. 4 (3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 5 the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure 6 Security Agency. 7 (4) INFORMATION LITERACY.—The term ‘‘infor- 8 mation literacy’’, which includes digital literacy and 9 media literacy, means having skills in— 10 (A) research and information fluency, 11 which includes the ability to find, retrieve, and 12 interpret information and evaluate the com- 13 prehensiveness, relevance, credibility, authority, 14 and accuracy of information; 15 (B) critical thinking and problem solving; 16 (C) technology and digital tool operations 17 and concepts; 18 (D) concepts of representation and stereo- 19 typing; 20 (E) understanding explicit and implicit 21 messages; 22 (F) understanding values and points of 23 view that are included and excluded in content; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:16 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4499.IS S4499 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4499 IS (G) understanding how content may influ- 1 ence ideas and behaviors; 2 (H) understanding the importance of ob- 3 taining information from multiple sources and 4 evaluating sources for quality; 5 (I) understanding how information on dig- 6 ital platforms can be altered through algo- 7 rithms, editing, and augmented reality; 8 (J) using and creating media in civically 9 and socially responsible ways; 10 (K) reflecting on how the use of media and 11 technology may affect private and public life; 12 (L) making educated decisions based on 13 information obtained from sources and content; 14 and 15 (M) applying subparagraphs (A) through 16 (L) across various content, including to spoken 17 and broadcast words and videos, printed mate- 18 rials, media, digital content, data, and images. 19 (5) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 20 ‘‘intelligence community’’ means an element of the 21 intelligence community specified or designated under 22 section 3(4) of the National Security Act of 1947 23 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:16 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4499.IS S4499 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4499 IS (6) RELEVANT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 1 TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant congressional commit- 2 tees’’ means any Committee of Congress with juris- 3 diction over the agencies represented on the task 4 force. 5 (7) TASK FORCE.—The term ‘‘task force’’ 6 means the interagency COVID–19 misinformation 7 and disinformation coordination task force estab- 8 lished under subsection (b). 9 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a Fed- 10 eral interagency COVID–19 misinformation and 11 disinformation coordination task force, which shall be led 12 by the Director, or by the designee of the Director. 13 (c) REPRESENTATIVES.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The task force shall be com- 15 prised of not less than 1 representative from each of 16 the following: 17 (A) The Agency. 18 (B) The Global Engagement Center of the 19 Department of State. 20 (C) The Federal Bureau of Investigation. 21 (D) The intelligence community. 22 (E) The Centers for Disease Control and 23 Prevention. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:16 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4499.IS S4499 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4499 IS (F) The Federal Emergency Management 1 Agency. 2 (G) The Department of Health and 3 Human Services. 4 (H) The National Institutes of Health. 5 (I) The Food and Drug Administration. 6 (J) The Department of the Treasury. 7 (K) The Small Business Administration. 8 (L) The Federal Trade Commission. 9 (M) The Department of Education. 10 (N) The Federal Communications Commis- 11 sion. 12 (O) Not less than 1 agency, such as the 13 Office of Minority Health or the Office of Rural 14 Health Policy of the Department of Health and 15 Human Services or the Office of Equal Rights 16 of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 17 that regularly engages with— 18 (i) racial or ethnic minority commu- 19 nities; 20 (ii) rural communities; and 21 (iii) other underserved populations, in- 22 cluding communities without widespread 23 access to the internet. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:16 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4499.IS S4499 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4499 IS (P) Any other department or agency as de- 1 termined necessary by the Director. 2 (2) REPRESENTATION OF UNDERSERVED COM- 3 MUNITIES.—The task force membership requirement 4 described in paragraph (1)(O) shall be satisfied by 5 multiple agencies if there is not 1 agency that regu- 6 larly engages all 3 communities described in clauses 7 (i) through (iii) of such paragraph. 8 (d) ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.—The functions 9 of the task force shall be— 10 (1) coordinating the analysis of COVID–19 11 misinformation and disinformation by agencies 12 across the Federal Government; 13 (2) developing integrated analyses of COVID– 14 19 misinformation and disinformation in a manner 15 that protects individual privacy and civil liberties, 16 using information from agency representatives de- 17 scribed in subsection (c) in accordance with sub- 18 sections (e) and (f); 19 (3) coordinating the dissemination to Federal 20 agencies and the White House Coronavirus Task 21 Force, or any successor thereto, of— 22 (A) analyses developed by individual agen- 23 cies in accordance with paragraph (1); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:16 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4499.IS S4499 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4499 IS (B) integrated analyses developed in ac- 1 cordance with paragraph (2); and 2 (4) developing, in consultation with the Director 3 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4 the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the 5 Secretary of Education, the Director of the Institute 6 of Museum and Library Services, and any non-gov- 7 ernmental civil society, privacy, media-literacy, or 8 other public interest entity determined appropriate 9 by the Director, or a designee, and disseminating in- 10 formation literacy, including digital literacy and 11 media literacy, and information resilience public 12 awareness campaigns relating to pandemics. 13 (e) AUTHORITIES.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.— 15 (A) LIMITATION ON ADDITIONAL AUTHOR- 16 ITY.—The task force shall have no additional 17 authority to scan, collect, or otherwise use so- 18 cial media or other publicly available informa- 19 tion in excess of any authority of each partici- 20 pating agency in effect on the day before the 21 date of enactment of this Act. 22 (B) REQUIREMENT.—The task force shall 23 ensure that any actions taken pursuant to this 24 section are consistent with other applicable limi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:16 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4499.IS S4499 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 4499 IS tations, incl [Text truncated for display. 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