Online Terrorism Prevention Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 9043 To require social media companies to establish an office dedicated to identi- fying and removing violent or extremist content associated with or distrib- uted by any entity identified as a terrorist organization. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 21, 2020 Mr. GOTTHEIMER (for himself and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To require social media companies to establish an office dedicated to identifying and removing violent or extrem- ist content associated with or distributed by any entity identified as a terrorist organization. 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 ‘‘Online Terrorism Pre- 4 vention Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Jan 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9043.IH H9043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 9043 IH SEC. 2. OFFICE DEDICATED TO IDENTIFYING AND REMOV- 1 ING CONTENT ASSOCIATED WITH ANY TER- 2 RORIST ORGANIZATION. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 4 date of enactment of this Act, each social media company 5 shall establish an office to identify and remove violent or 6 extremist content associated with or distributed by any en- 7 tity identified as a terrorist organization. The office shall 8 be lead by a dedicated staff member who reports directly 9 to the highest official at the social media company. The 10 duties of the office shall include— 11 (1) educating and training employees about 12 compliance requirements that are consistent with the 13 social media company’s social media platform con- 14 tent moderation standards or terms of service agree- 15 ments and about detecting contributors to the social 16 media platform that are identified as a terrorist or- 17 ganization; 18 (2) conducting regular, comprehensive audits to 19 ensure compliance with the identification and re- 20 moval requirements in this subsection, and making 21 records of such audits publicly available on the social 22 media platform; 23 (3) maintaining updated, clear, and under- 24 standable records of all relevant practices under- 25 taken by the social media company; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Jan 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9043.IH H9043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 9043 IH (4) serving as the point of contact between the 1 social media company and the Federal Trade Com- 2 mission. 3 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR IMMEDIATE REMOVAL UPON 4 REQUEST BY CERTAIN OFFICIALS.—A social media com- 5 pany shall expeditiously remove any violent or extremist 6 content associated with or distributed by any entity identi- 7 fied as a terrorist organization that appears on its social 8 media platform, upon the request of the Federal Trade 9 Commission. 10 SEC. 3. CIVIL ENFORCEMENT. 11 (a) ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COM- 12 MISSION.— 13 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC- 14 TICES.—A violation of section 2 shall be treated as 15 a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive 16 act or practice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) 17 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 18 57a(a)(1)(B)). 19 (2) POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.— 20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 21 enforce this Act and any regulations promul- 22 gated under this Act in the same manner, by 23 the same means, and with the same jurisdic- 24 tion, powers, and duties as though all applicable 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Jan 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9043.IH H9043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 9043 IH terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 1 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were in- 2 corporated into and made a part of this Act, 3 and any person who violates this Act or a regu- 4 lation promulgated under this Act shall be sub- 5 ject to the penalties and entitled to the privi- 6 leges and immunities provided in the Federal 7 Trade Commission Act. 8 (B) REGULATIONS.—The Commission 9 may, under section 553 of title 5, United States 10 Code, prescribe any regulations it determines 11 necessary to carry out this Act. 12 (C) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in 13 this Act shall be construed in any way to limit 14 the authority of the Commission under any 15 other provision of law. 16 (b) ENFORCEMENT BY STATE ATTORNEYS GEN- 17 ERAL.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the chief law enforcement 19 officer of a State, or an official or agency designated 20 by a State, has reason to believe that any person has 21 violated or is violating section 2, the attorney gen- 22 eral, official, or agency of the State, in addition to 23 any authority it may have to bring an action in 24 State court under its consumer protection law, may 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Jan 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9043.IH H9043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 9043 IH bring a civil action in any appropriate United States 1 district court or in any other court of competent ju- 2 risdiction, including a State court, to— 3 (A) enjoin further such violation by such 4 person; 5 (B) enforce compliance with such section; 6 (C) obtain civil penalties; and 7 (D) obtain damages, restitution, or other 8 compensation on behalf of residents of the 9 State. 10 (2) NOTICE AND INTERVENTION BY THE 11 FTC.—The attorney general (or other such officer) 12 of a State shall provide prior written notice of any 13 action under paragraph (1) to the Commission and 14 provide the Commission with a copy of the complaint 15 in the action, except in any case in which such prior 16 notice is not feasible, in which case the attorney gen- 17 eral shall serve such notice immediately upon insti- 18 tuting such action. The Commission shall have the 19 right— 20 (A) to intervene in the action; 21 (B) upon so intervening, to be heard on all 22 matters arising therein; and 23 (C) to file petitions for appeal. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Jan 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9043.IH H9043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 9043 IH (3) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION WHILE FED- 1 ERAL ACTION IS PENDING.—If the Commission has 2 instituted a civil action for violation of this Act, no 3 State attorney general, or official or agency of a 4 State, may bring an action under this paragraph 5 during the pendency of that action against any de- 6 fendant named in the complaint of the Commission 7 for any violation of this Act alleged in the complaint. 8 (4) RELATIONSHIP WITH STATE LAW CLAIMS.— 9 If the attorney general of a State has authority to 10 bring an action under State law directed at acts or 11 practices that also violate this Act, the attorney gen- 12 eral may assert the State law claim and a claim 13 under this Act in the same civil action. 14 (c) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this subsection (b) 15 shall preempt or otherwise affect any State or local law. 16 (d) FBI ENFORCEMENT.—The Federal Bureau of 17 Investigation may exercise its full authority under section 18 2709 of title 18, United States Code, to investigate viola- 19 tions of this Act, and may share any information obtained 20 under such section with the Federal Trade Commission 21 for enforcement of this Act under subsection (a). 22 (e) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Whoever owns, manages, 23 or operates a social media company and acts in reckless 24 disregard of the fact that content made available on the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Jan 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9043.IH H9043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 9043 IH social media platform of such company in violation of sec- 1 tion 2 contributed to terrorism, shall constitute an offense 2 of ‘‘providing material support to terrorists’’ under section 3 2339A(a) of title 18, United States Code. 4 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 5 As used in this Act— 6 (1) the term ‘‘social media company’’ means 7 any person that owns, manages, or operates a social 8 media platform and has an annual revenue in excess 9 of $10,000,000; 10 (2) the term ‘‘social media platform’’— 11 (A) means a website or internet medium, 12 including a mobile application, that— 13 (i) permits a person to become a reg- 14 istered user, establish an account, or create 15 a profile for the purpose of allowing users 16 to create, share, and view user-generated 17 content through such an account or profile; 18 (ii) enables one or more users to gen- 19 erate content that can be viewed by other 20 users of the medium; and 21 (iii) serves as a medium for users to 22 view content generated by other users of 23 the medium; and 24 (B) does not include— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Jan 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9043.IH H9043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 9043 IH (i) any such platform that serves 1 fewer than 100,000 users who access their 2 account or profile at least once a month; 3 (ii) an email program, email distribu- 4 tion lists, multi-person text message 5 groups, or a website that is primarily for 6 the purpose of internet commerce; 7 (iii) a private platform or messaging 8 service used by an entity solely to commu- 9 nicate with others employed by or affiliated 10 with such entity; or 11 (iv) an internet-based platform whose 12 primary purpose is— 13 (I) to allow users to post product 14 reviews, business reviews, travel infor- 15 mation and reviews; or 16 (II) to provide news or entertain- 17 ment content, but that may also in- 18 clude a comment section for users to 19 discuss such news or entertainment 20 content if such comment section does 21 not include functionality that permits 22 a user to share images, videos, or 23 other visual depictions; and 24 (3) the term ‘‘terrorist organization’’ means— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Jan 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9043.IH H9043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 9043 IH (A) any entity designated as foreign ter- 1 rorist organizations by the Department of 2 State; and 3 (B) any entity engaged in domestic ter- 4 rorism or international terrorism, as such terms 5 are defined in section 2331 of title 18, United 6 States Code. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Jan 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H9043.IH H9043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS