A bill to repeal section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934.

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 5020 To repeal section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 15, 2020 Mr. GRAHAM introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To repeal section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. REPEAL OF SECTION 230. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 230 of the Communica- 4 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230) is repealed. 5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 6 (1) COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934.—The Com- 7 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is 8 amended— 9 (A) in section 223(h) (47 U.S.C. 223(h)), 10 by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the fol- 11 lowing: 12 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:12 Dec 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5020.IS S5020 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 5020 IS ‘‘(2) The term ‘interactive computer service’ 1 means any information service, system, or access 2 software provider that provides or enables computer 3 access by multiple users to a computer server, in- 4 cluding specifically a service or system that provides 5 access to the Internet and such systems operated or 6 services offered by libraries or educational institu- 7 tions.’’; and 8 (B) in section 231(b)(4) (47 U.S.C. 9 231(b)(4)), by striking ‘‘or section 230’’. 10 (2) TRADEMARK ACT OF 1946.—Section 45 of 11 the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the registra- 12 tion and protection of trademarks used in commerce, 13 to carry out the provisions of certain international 14 conventions, and for other purposes’’, approved July 15 5, 1946 (commonly known as the ‘‘Trademark Act 16 of 1946’’) (15 U.S.C. 1127) is amended by striking 17 the definition relating to the term ‘‘Internet’’ and in- 18 serting the following: 19 ‘‘The term ‘Internet’ means the international com- 20 puter network of both Federal and non-Federal interoper- 21 able packet switched data networks.’’. 22 (3) TITLE 17, UNITED STATES CODE.—Section 23 1401 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by 24 striking subsection (g). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:12 Dec 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5020.IS S5020 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 5020 IS (4) TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE.—Part I of 1 title 18, United States Code, is amended— 2 (A) in section 2257(h)(2)(B)(v), by strik- 3 ing ‘‘, except that deletion of a particular com- 4 munication or material made by another person 5 in a manner consistent with section 230(c) of 6 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 7 230(c)) shall not constitute such selection or al- 8 teration of the content of the communication’’; 9 and 10 (B) in section 2421A— 11 (i) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘(as 12 such term is defined in defined in section 13 230(f) the Communications Act of 1934 14 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)))’’ and inserting ‘‘(as 15 that term is defined in section 223 of the 16 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 17 223))’’; and 18 (ii) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘(as 19 such term is defined in defined in section 20 230(f) the Communications Act of 1934 21 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)))’’ and inserting ‘‘(as 22 that term is defined in section 223 of the 23 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 24 223))’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:12 Dec 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5020.IS S5020 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 5020 IS (5) CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT.—Section 1 401(h)(3)(A)(iii)(II) of the Controlled Substances 2 Act (21 U.S.C. 841(h)(3)(A)(iii)(II)) is amended by 3 striking ‘‘, except that deletion of a particular com- 4 munication or material made by another person in 5 a manner consistent with section 230(c) of the Com- 6 munications Act of 1934 shall not constitute such 7 selection or alteration of the content of the commu- 8 nication’’. 9 (6) WEBB-KENYON ACT.—Section 3(b)(1) of 10 the Act entitled ‘‘An Act divesting intoxicating liq- 11 uors of their interstate character in certain cases’’, 12 approved March 1, 1913 (commonly known as the 13 ‘‘Webb-Kenyon Act’’) (27 U.S.C. 122b(b)(1)) is 14 amended by striking ‘‘(as defined in section 230(f) 15 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 16 230(f))’’ and inserting ‘‘(as defined in section 223 of 17 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 223))’’. 18 (7) TITLE 28, UNITED STATES CODE.—Section 19 4102 of title 28, United States Code, is amended— 20 (A) by striking subsection (c); and 21 (B) in subsection (e)— 22 (i) by striking ‘‘construed to’’ and all 23 that follows through ‘‘affect’’ and inserting 24 ‘‘construed to affect’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:12 Dec 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5020.IS S5020 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 5020 IS (ii) by striking ‘‘defamation; or’’ and 1 all that follows and inserting ‘‘defama- 2 tion.’’. 3 (8) TITLE 31, UNITED STATES CODE.—Section 4 5362(6) of title 31, United States Code, is amended 5 by striking ‘‘section 230(f) of the Communications 6 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f))’’ and inserting ‘‘sec- 7 tion 223 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 8 U.S.C. 223)’’. 9 (9) NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND IN- 10 FORMATION ADMINISTRATION ORGANIZATION ACT.— 11 Section 157 of the National Telecommunications 12 and Information Administration Organization Act 13 (47 U.S.C. 941) is amended— 14 (A) by striking subsection (e); and 15 (B) by redesignating subsections (f) 16 through (j) as subsections (e) through (i), re- 17 spectively. 18 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 19 this section shall take effect on January 1, 2023. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:12 Dec 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S5020.IS S5020 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS