I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2635 To amend section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to limit liability protection provided by such section for providers of social media service, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 17, 2023 Mr. SANTOS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to limit liability protection provided by such section for providers of social media service, 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 ‘‘The Big-Tech Account- 4 ability Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY FOR PROVIDERS OF SO- 6 CIAL MEDIA SERVICE. 7 Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 8 U.S.C. 230) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2635.IH H2635 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 2635 IH (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub- 1 section (g); and 2 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol- 3 lowing: 4 ‘‘(f) PROVIDERS OF SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICE.— 5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraphs (1) and (2) of 6 subsection (c) shall not apply to a provider of a so- 7 cial media service that is a company with respect to 8 any information provided through the service by an- 9 other information content provider after the date of 10 the enactment of this subsection. 11 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.— 12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful 13 for a provider of social media service that is a 14 company to de-platform a citizen of the United 15 States after the date this 90 days after the en- 16 actment of this subsection on the basis of the 17 social, political, or religious status of such cit- 18 izen even if the citizen through the social media 19 service of the provider clearly violates a policy 20 of the company relating to— 21 ‘‘(i) hate speech; 22 ‘‘(ii) sexual harassment; 23 ‘‘(iii) discrimination on the basis of 24 sex, religion, or sexual orientation; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2635.IH H2635 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 2635 IH ‘‘(iv) making violent threats, violent 1 speech, or violent declarations. 2 ‘‘(B) CIVIL PENALTY.—A provider that 3 violates subparagraph (A) with respect to a cit- 4 izen of the United States shall be liable for a 5 civil penalty in an amount of $5,000 for each 6 day that the provider de-platforms the citizen. 7 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 8 ‘‘(A) DE-PLATFORM A CITIZEN OF THE 9 UNITED STATES.—The term ‘de-platform a cit- 10 izen of the United States’ means, with respect 11 to an account of the citizen, an action taken 12 to— 13 ‘‘(i) decrease engagement with the ac- 14 count by users of the service; 15 ‘‘(ii) permanently suspend the ac- 16 count; or 17 ‘‘(iii) restricting the ability of a citizen 18 to provide content through the account. 19 ‘‘(B) SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICE.—The term 20 ‘social media service’— 21 ‘‘(i) means an interactive computer 22 service that— 23 ‘‘(I) allows for or hosts virtual 24 facilitation of material, content, or in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2635.IH H2635 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 2635 IH formation over the service for the pur- 1 pose of facilitating public or wide- 2 spread interaction with such material, 3 content, or information; 4 ‘‘(II) is meant for public dis- 5 course that focuses on communication 6 and expression of ideas or opinions; or 7 ‘‘(III) hosts publicly accessible 8 information or content, public or 9 widespread interaction, and content 10 distribution through the service; and 11 ‘‘(ii) includes interactive computer 12 service provided by— 13 ‘‘(I) Meta; 14 ‘‘(II) Facebook; 15 ‘‘(III) Twitter; 16 ‘‘(IV) Instagram; and 17 ‘‘(V) Tik Tok.’’. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2635.IH H2635 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB