Platform Accountability and Transparency Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1876 To support research about the impact of digital communication platforms on society by providing privacy-protected, secure pathways for inde- pendent research on data held by large internet companies. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 8, 2023 Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. CASSIDY, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. ROMNEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To support research about the impact of digital communica- tion platforms on society by providing privacy-protected, secure pathways for independent research on data held by large internet companies. 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 ‘‘Platform Accountability and Transparency Act’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Jul 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1876.IS S1876 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 1876 IS Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definitions. Sec. 3. Qualified research projects, qualified researchers, and qualified data and information. Sec. 4. Obligations and immunity for platforms. Sec. 5. Obligations and immunity for qualified researchers. Sec. 6. Reporting. Sec. 7. Enforcement. Sec. 8. Establishing a safe harbor for research on social media platforms. Sec. 9. Rulemaking authority. Sec. 10. Authorization of appropriations. Sec. 11. Severability. SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 3 means the Federal Trade Commission. 4 (2) CHAIR.—The term ‘‘Chair’’ means the 5 Chair of the Federal Trade Commission. 6 (3) NSF.—The term ‘‘NSF’’ means the Na- 7 tional Science Foundation. 8 (4) PERSONAL INFORMATION.—The term ‘‘per- 9 sonal information’’ means any information, regard- 10 less of how the information is collected, inferred, or 11 obtained that is linked or reasonably linkable to a 12 specific consumer or consumer device. 13 (5) PLATFORM.—The term ‘‘platform’’ means 14 any entity subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal 15 Trade Commission under section 5(a)(2) of the Fed- 16 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45(a)(2)) 17 that— 18 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Jul 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1876.IS S1876 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 1876 IS (A) operates a website, desktop applica- 1 tion, augmented or virtual reality application, 2 or mobile application that— 3 (i) permits a person to become a reg- 4 istered user, establish an account, or create 5 a profile for the purpose of allowing the 6 user to create, share, and view user-gen- 7 erated content through such an account or 8 profile; 9 (ii) enables one or more users to gen- 10 erate content that can be viewed by other 11 users of the platform; and 12 (iii) primarily serves as a medium for 13 users to interact with content generated by 14 other users of the platform and for the 15 platform to deliver ads to users; and 16 (B) has at least 50,000,000 unique month- 17 ly users in the United States for a majority of 18 the months in the most recent 12-month period. 19 (6) QUALIFIED DATA AND INFORMATION.— 20 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 21 graph (B), the term ‘‘qualified data and infor- 22 mation’’ means data and information from a 23 platform— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Jul 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1876.IS S1876 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 1876 IS (i) that the NSF determines is nec- 1 essary to allow a qualified researcher to 2 carry out a qualified research project; and 3 (ii) that— 4 (I) is feasible for the platform to 5 provide; 6 (II) is proportionate to the needs 7 of the qualified researchers to com- 8 plete the qualified research project; 9 (III) will not cause the platform 10 undue burden in providing the data 11 and information to the qualified re- 12 searcher; and 13 (IV) would not be otherwise 14 available to the qualified researcher. 15 (B) EXCLUSIONS.—Such term does not in- 16 clude any of the following: 17 (i) Direct and private messages be- 18 tween users. 19 (ii) Biometric information, such as a 20 fingerprint, voiceprint, eye retinas, irises, 21 or other unique biological patters or char- 22 acteristics. 23 (iii) Precise geospatial information. 24 (7) QUALIFIED RESEARCHER.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Jul 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1876.IS S1876 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 1876 IS (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 1 graph (B), the term ‘‘qualified researcher’’ 2 means a researcher affiliated with a United 3 States university or a United States nonprofit 4 organization (as described in section 501(c) of 5 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) that is spe- 6 cifically identified in a research proposal that is 7 approved as a qualified research project pursu- 8 ant to section 3. 9 (B) EXCLUSION.—Such term does not in- 10 clude a researcher who is affiliated with a Fed- 11 eral, State, local, or tribal law enforcement or 12 intelligence agency. 13 (8) QUALIFIED RESEARCH PROJECT.—The 14 term ‘‘qualified research project’’ means a research 15 plan that has been approved pursuant to section 3. 16 (9) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 17 the 50 States of the United States, the District of 18 Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American 19 Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. 20 (10) USER.—The term ‘‘user’’ means a person 21 that uses a platform for any purpose, including ad- 22 vertisers and sellers, regardless of whether that per- 23 son has an account or is otherwise registered with 24 the platform. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Jul 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1876.IS S1876 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 1876 IS SEC. 3. QUALIFIED RESEARCH PROJECTS, QUALIFIED RE- 1 SEARCHERS, AND QUALIFIED DATA AND IN- 2 FORMATION. 3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 4 the date of enactment of this Act, the NSF shall establish, 5 in consultation with the Commission, a research program 6 to review research applications for approval as qualified 7 research projects. 8 (b) RESEARCH PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—The re- 9 search program established by the NSF and the Commis- 10 sion under this section shall— 11 (1) provide that the NSF shall— 12 (A) establish a process to solicit research 13 applications in order to identify qualified re- 14 search projects; 15 (B) review research applications for sci- 16 entific merit; 17 (C) ensure research applications identify 18 proposed qualified researchers; 19 (D) publish guidelines and criteria to be 20 used by the NSF in determining how it will re- 21 view research applications seeking approval to 22 be a qualified research project; 23 (E) identify, in consultation with the Com- 24 mission, what data and information in a plat- 25 form’s possession will be qualified data and in- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Jul 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1876.IS S1876 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 1876 IS formation for the purposes of carrying out a 1 qualified research project; 2 (F) ensure that approved research applica- 3 tions do not request data described in section 4 2(6)(B); and 5 (G) prescribe and publish guidelines and 6 criteria, in consultation with the Commission, 7 used to determine how the NSF and Commis- 8 sion will identify qualified data and information 9 necessary to conduct a qualified research 10 project; 11 (2) provide that the Commission shall— 12 (A) review research applications for pri- 13 vacy and cybersecurity risks; 14 (B) for each qualified research project, es- 15 tablish appropriate privacy and cybersecurity 16 safeguards that a platform must implement in 17 the provision of, and with which qualified re- 18 searchers must comply to access, qualified data 19 and information that a platform is required to 20 share with qualified researchers pursuant to a 21 qualified research project, and such safe- 22 guards— 23 (i) must account for the relative sensi- 24 tivity of the qualified data and information 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Jul 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1876.IS S1876 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 1876 IS involved and be sufficient to protect such 1 data and information; and 2 (ii) may include alternative protec- 3 tions, as appropriate and in consideration 4 of the aims of the qualified research 5 project, including— 6 (I) encryption of the data in 7 transit and when not in use; 8 (II) delivery of the data in a for- 9 mat that employs methods to prevent 10 qualified researchers from identifying 11 individuals in the dataset; 12 (III) data access logs; and 13 (IV) keystroke logs; 14 (C) in the case of each qualified research 15 project, consider whether to require the plat- 16 form to provide a secure physical or virtual en- 17 vironment to facilitate delivery of the qualified 18 data and information; 19 (D) establish appropriate privacy and cy- 20 bersecurity safeguards that a qualified re- 21 searcher must implement when receiving, stor- 22 ing, or analyzing qualified data and information 23 or generating new data using such qualified 24 data and information, including inferential data 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Jul 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1876.IS S1876 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 1876 IS based on such qualified data and information, 1 and such safeguards may include a requirement 2 that a qualified researcher delete qualified data 3 and information after completion of a qualified 4 research project, however any such safeguard 5 must provide the qualified researcher the ability 6 to retain enough information about the quali- 7 fied data and information to allow the re- 8 searcher or their peers to recreate the qualified 9 research project upon request to, and approval 10 from, the NSF and Commission pursuant to 11 this section; 12 (E) publish a list of criteria for deter- 13 mining the privacy and cybersecurity safe- 14 guards required for qualified data and informa- 15 tion related to a qualified research project; 16 (F) provide a platform that is the subject 17 of a qualified research project with the oppor- 18 tunity to provide comment about the privacy 19 and cybersecurity safeguards required for the 20 qualified research project; 21 (G) provide researchers with the oppor- 22 tunity to provide comment about the privacy 23 and cybersecurity safeguards required for a 24 qualified research project; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Jul 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1876.IS S1876 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 1876 IS (H) establish a process to ensure that 1 qualified researchers will be able to comply with 2 any such privacy and cybersecurity safeguards; 3 and 4 (I) publish a list of criteria for determining 5 whether qualified researchers will be able to 6 comply with any such privacy and cybersecurity 7 safeguards; 8 (3) provide that a research application may not 9 be denied on grounds of the race, color, age, sex, na- 10 tional origin, political affiliation, or disability of the 11 researcher; 12 (4) provide that a research application shall not 13 be approved as a qualified research project unless 14 it— 15 (A) has been approved by an institutional 16 review board; 17 (B) has been deemed exempt from institu- 18 tional review board review; or 19 (C) is excluded from the criteria for insti- 20 tutional review board review; 21 (5) provide a platform the opportunity to com- 22 ment on and appeal to the NSF and the Commission 23 the approval of a qualified research project for which 24 the platform is required to provide qualified data 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Jul 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1876.IS S1876 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •S 1876 IS and information to qualified researcher the grounds 1 that— 2 (A) the platform cannot provide the quali- 3 fied data and information; 4 (B) providing access to the qualified data 5 and information would lead to significant 6 vulnerabilities in the security of the platform’s 7 service or user privacy; or 8 (C) the privacy and cybersecurity safe- 9 guards established by the Commission are not 10 sufficient to protect the qualified data and in- 11 formation; and 12 (6) require that any analysis by a qualified re- 13 searcher derived from a qualified research project 14 that the qualified researcher intends to publish un- 15 dergo prepublication review by the Commission to 16 ensure that the analysis does not expose personal in- 17 formation, or trade secrets. 18 (c) QUALIFIED RESEARCHER CAPACITY.—A qualified 19 research project may not proceed unless the proposed 20 qualified researchers can demonstrate that they have the 21 capacity to comply with the privacy and cybersecurity 22 safeguards established for the qualified research project. 23 (d) AIM OF PROJECT.—A research application shall 24 not be approved as a qualified research project unless it 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Jul 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1876.IS S1876 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •S 1876 IS is in the public interest, aims to study activity on a plat- 1 form, and is used for noncommercial purposes. 2 (e) NO JUDICIAL REVIEW.—A determination by the 3 Commission or the NSF under this section regarding 4 whether a research application will be deemed a qualified 5 research project shall not be subject to judicial review. 6 (f) NO GOVERNMENT ACCESS.—If a platform pro- 7 vides qualified data and information to a qualified re- 8 searcher, no government entity may seek access to such 9 qualified data and information from the qualified re- 10 searcher. 11 (g) RESEARCHER CONSORTIA.—The Commission and 12 NSF shall establish procedures and necessary safeguards 13 under this section that allow for consortia of researchers 14 to apply to seek data for the purpose of conducting a se- 15 ries of qualified research projects. 16 SEC. 4. OBLIGATIONS AND IMMUNITY FOR PLATFORMS. 17 (a) PROVISION OF QUALIFIED DATA AND INFORMA- 18 TION.—A platform shall provide access to qualified data 19 and information relating to a qualified research project to 20 a qualified researcher under the terms and privacy and 21 cybersecurity safeguards dictated by the Commission pur- 22 suant to [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]