LISTOS Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3806 To ensure that large online platforms are addressing the needs of non- English users. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 5, 2023 Mr. CA´RDENAS (for himself, Mr. SOTO, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. COSTA, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, and Mr. CASTRO of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To ensure that large online platforms are addressing the needs of non-English users. 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Language-Inclusive Support and Transparency for On- 5 line Services Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘LISTOS Act’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 7 this Act is as follows: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3806.IH H3806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3806 IH Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Sense of Congress. Sec. 3. Duty to ensure consistent enforcement. Sec. 4. Disclosures on staffing and automated processes. Sec. 5. Consistent access to tools and documentation. Sec. 6. Advisory Group. Sec. 7. Enforcement. Sec. 8. Regulations. Sec. 9. Effective dates. Sec. 10. International online communication research activities pilot program. Sec. 11. Definitions. SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1 It is the sense of Congress that— 2 (1) substantial and deliberate investments 3 across languages are essential to protect the safety 4 of users online and ensure equitable access to digital 5 spaces; 6 (2) online platforms have historically under-in- 7 vested in ensuring non-English content moderation 8 and automated content detection and filtering proc- 9 esses keep pace with their English counterparts, pro- 10 viding little transparency into the efficacy of efforts 11 to detect, review, and remove content that violates 12 laws or platform policies across languages; 13 (3) this difference in enforcement for platforms’ 14 existing policies and uneven moderation practices 15 across both manual and automated processes has in- 16 creased the proliferation of illegal and harmful con- 17 tent across many languages and the deliberate tar- 18 geting of non-English-speaking communities for 19 fraud and harassment; and 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3806.IH H3806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3806 IH (4) any reform effort for online platform safety 1 must ensure equitable investment across languages 2 in order to promote economic opportunity, public 3 health, and civil rights. 4 SEC. 3. DUTY TO ENSURE CONSISTENT ENFORCEMENT. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The operator of a covered plat- 6 form shall provide that processes used by the platform for 7 detecting, suppressing, and removing illegal content, or 8 content that otherwise violates platform policies, are rea- 9 sonably consistent for languages in which the covered plat- 10 form engages in monetization practices. 11 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—Any entity enforcing or pro- 12 mulgating rules under subsection (a) shall take into con- 13 sideration factors that may impact the covered platform’s 14 ability to enforce its policies with respect to content in a 15 given language, including staffing levels and language pro- 16 ficiency, or the effectiveness of automated systems de- 17 signed to filter or flag content for additional review. 18 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION; LIMITATION ON REGU- 19 LATION.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to re- 20 quire, and no regulation issued by the Commission to 21 carry out this section may require, that a covered platform 22 take any particular action on a specific piece of content 23 or class of content. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3806.IH H3806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3806 IH SEC. 4. DISCLOSURES ON STAFFING AND AUTOMATED 1 PROCESSES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The operator of a covered plat- 3 form shall, not less than annually, submit to the Commis- 4 sion and make available to the public, in a machine-read- 5 able format, a clear and easily comprehensible report on 6 any manual and algorithmic content moderation that the 7 covered platform engaged in during the relevant period. 8 Each such report shall be in compliance with the rules 9 established under subsection (b). 10 (b) RULES.—The Commission shall, in accordance 11 with section 8, establish rules for reports under subsection 12 (a). Such rules shall require that a report include the fol- 13 lowing information: 14 (1) CONTENT MODERATION STAFFING.— 15 (A) IN GENERAL.—The number of staff 16 employed by the covered platform (whether di- 17 rectly employed by the platform or contracted 18 through a third party) for the purposes of 19 manually reviewing content for removal or other 20 interventions, in aggregate and broken down 21 by— 22 (i) the countries in which the employ- 23 ees are located; 24 (ii) the geographic or regional area to 25 which the employees are assigned; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3806.IH H3806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3806 IH (iii) languages spoken by the employ- 1 ees relevant to their employment and their 2 levels of language proficiency. 3 (B) STAFF SUPPORT.—A description of the 4 training and support provided to content mod- 5 eration staff, including— 6 (i) the training processes and guide- 7 lines provided; 8 (ii) the support services, such as men- 9 tal health services, available to the em- 10 ployee; and 11 (iii) if training or support services dif- 12 fer by factors such as geographic region, 13 languages spoken, or direct-hire versus 14 contracted employees, descriptions and 15 breakdowns of such differences. 16 (2) AUTOMATED CONTENT DETECTION PROC- 17 ESSES.—If the covered platform elects to use algo- 18 rithmic processes to detect content for additional 19 manual review or automated moderation, informa- 20 tion on such processes, including— 21 (A) performance metrics that are mon- 22 itored to ensure consistent behavior for such 23 processes across languages and the languages 24 that are monitored; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3806.IH H3806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3806 IH (B) other safeguards in place to ensure 1 consistent behavior of such systems across lan- 2 guages. 3 (3) MONETIZATION ACROSS LANGUAGES.—The 4 list of languages in which the covered platform en- 5 gages in monetization practices and the percentage 6 breakdown by language of the covered platform’s 7 revenue throughout the duration of the relevant re- 8 porting period. 9 (4) IN-LANGUAGE REVIEW.—Of all content that 10 is manually reviewed by staff, provide information 11 on content that is reviewed in the original language 12 used to create the content rather than being subject 13 to automated translation before review, including— 14 (A) the percentage of content reviewed in 15 the original language for each language in 16 which the covered platform engages in mone- 17 tization practices; and 18 (B) a description of the policies governing 19 whether and to what extent content will be 20 manually reviewed in the original language or 21 automatically translated prior to manual review. 22 (5) TRANSLATION AND REVIEW PROCESSES.— 23 With respect to the content review practices of the 24 covered platform— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3806.IH H3806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3806 IH (A) the list of languages in which content 1 is reviewed without translation; and 2 (B) for languages in which automated 3 translation is applied prior to manual review, a 4 description of— 5 (i) the process by which content is 6 translated; and 7 (ii) the process by which that content 8 is reviewed and how, if at all, that process 9 differs from the process used to review 10 content in the original language. 11 (6) CONTENT MODERATION OUTCOME MEAS- 12 URES.— 13 (A) NUMBER OF CONTENT TAKEDOWNS.— 14 The number of content takedowns over the rel- 15 evant reporting period for each language in 16 which the covered platform engages in mone- 17 tization practices. 18 (B) RESPONSE TIME.—The average re- 19 sponse time to user-initiated takedown or con- 20 tent review requests over the relevant reporting 21 period for each language in which the covered 22 platform engages in monetization practices. 23 (7) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—Other infor- 24 mation determined appropriate by the Commission, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3806.IH H3806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3806 IH including additional categories or criteria relevant to 1 the information described in paragraphs (1), (2), 2 and (4). 3 SEC. 5. CONSISTENT ACCESS TO TOOLS AND DOCUMENTA- 4 TION. 5 The operator of a covered platform shall— 6 (1) provide that all user tools for reporting con- 7 tent for review or automated action are accessible 8 across all languages in which the covered platform 9 offers its service; and 10 (2) post all platform policies and other informa- 11 tion concerning acceptable use of the covered plat- 12 form in the same manner for all languages in which 13 the platform offers its service. 14 SEC. 6. ADVISORY GROUP. 15 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 360 days after 16 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 17 establish a group to be known as the ‘‘Advisory Group 18 on Language-Sensitive Technologies’’ (referred to in this 19 section as the ‘‘Advisory Group’’). 20 (b) DUTIES.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Advisory Group shall 22 provide consensus advice and guidance to the Com- 23 mission on best practices for private enterprises or 24 public entities using covered technology that may 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3806.IH H3806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3806 IH have different performance outcomes depending on 1 the underlying language of the content being ana- 2 lyzed in order to ensure the nondiscriminatory appli- 3 cation of such technology. 4 (2) COVERED TECHNOLOGY.—For purposes of 5 paragraph (1), the term ‘‘covered technology’’ means 6 technology used to— 7 (A) detect and process input language 8 from sources, such as analog text and audio, 9 into a machine-readable format, such as speech 10 and optical character recognition; 11 (B) process language stored in a machine- 12 readable format, such as natural language proc- 13 essing; and 14 (C) detect and process images and videos 15 into a machine-readable format, or process im- 16 ages or videos stored in a machine-readable for- 17 mat. 18 (3) MEMBERSHIP.—The Commission shall ap- 19 point the members of the Advisory Group. In mak- 20 ing such appointments, the Commission shall provide 21 that the membership of the Advisory Group— 22 (A) includes different points of view and 23 background experience; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3806.IH H3806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3806 IH (B) includes both Federal employees and 1 non-Federal employee stakeholders, including 2 representatives of communities most impacted 3 by the systemic risks of harmful non-English 4 language content and current or former content 5 moderators and employees of covered platforms. 6 (4) REPORT.—The Commission shall make 7 available on its website the findings of the Advisory 8 Group with recommendations and best practices as 9 reported by the Advisory Group concerning the use 10 of covered technology. 11 (c) NON-APPLICABILITY OF THE FEDERAL ADVI- 12 SORY COMMITTEE ACT.—Chapter 10 of title 5, United 13 States Code, shall not apply to the Advisory Group. 14 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 15 authorized to be appropriated to the Advisory Group such 16 sums as are necessary to carry out the requirements of 17 this section. 18 SEC. 7. ENFORCEMENT. 19 (a) ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COM- 20 MISSION.— 21 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC- 22 TICES.—A violation of section 3, 4, or 5 shall be 23 treated as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or 24 a deceptive act or practice under section 18(a)(1)(B) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3806.IH H3806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3806 IH of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 1 57a(a)(1)(B)). 2 (2) POWERS OF COMMISSION.— 3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 4 enforce this Act in the same manner, by the 5 same means, and with the same jurisdiction, 6 powers, and duties as though all applicable 7 terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 8 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were in- 9 corporated into and made a part of this Act. 10 (B) PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES.—Any 11 person who violates section 3, 4, or 5 shall be 12 subject to the penalties and entitled to the 13 privileges and immunities provided in the Fed- 14 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et 15 seq.). 16 (C) AUTHORITY PRESERVED.—Nothing in 17 this Act shall be construed to limit the author- 18 ity of the Federal Trade Commission under any 19 other provision of law. 20 (b) ENFORCEMENT BY STATES.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which the at- 22 torney general of a State has reason to believe that 23 an interest of the residents of the State has been or 24 is threatened or adversely affected by the engage- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3806.IH H3806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3806 IH ment of any person subject to section 3 or 5 in a 1 practice that violates such section, the attorney gen- 2 eral of the State may, as parens patriae, bring a 3 civil action on behalf of the residents of the State in 4 an appropriate district court of the United States— 5 (A) to enjoin further violation of such sec- 6 tion by such person; 7 (B) to compel compliance with such sec- 8 tion; and 9 (C) to obtain damages, restitution, or other 10 compensation on behalf of such residents. 11 (2) SCOPE OF JURIS [Text truncated for display. 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