G:\M\16\JORDAN\JORDAN_029.XML ..................................................................... (Original Signature of Member) 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. ll To amend section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure that the immunity under such section incentivizes online platforms to responsibly address illegal content while not immunizing the disparate treatment of ideological viewpoints and continuing to encourage a vibrant, open, and competitive internet, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Mr. JORDAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on llllllllllllll A BILL To amend section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure that the immunity under such section incentivizes online platforms to responsibly address illegal content while not immunizing the disparate treatment of ideological viewpoints and continuing to encourage a vibrant, open, and competitive internet, and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, g:\VHLC\100120\100120.100.xml October 1, 2020 (1:37 p.m.) VerDate Mar 15 2010 13:37 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 000000 (778543 11) PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\ECRICH\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\JORDAN_029.X G:\M\16\JORDAN\JORDAN_029.XML 2 1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 2 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect Speech Act’’. SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 4 Section 230(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 5 (47 U.S.C. 230(c)) is amended to read as follows: 6 7 ‘‘(c) PROTECTION ING AND 8 9 ‘GOOD SAMARITAN’ BLOCK- SCREENING OF OFFENSIVE MATERIAL.— ‘‘(1) TREATMENT OF PUBLISHER OR SPEAK- ER.— 10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No provider or user of 11 an interactive computer service shall be treated 12 as the publisher or speaker of any information 13 provided by another information content pro- 14 vider. 15 ‘‘(B) APPLICABILITY OF IMMUNITY.—Sub- 16 paragraph (A) shall not apply to any action by 17 a provider or user of an interactive computer 18 service to restrict access to or availability of 19 material provided by another information con- 20 tent provider. Any immunity under this section 21 for such action shall be provided solely by para- 22 graph (2). 23 ‘‘(C) NO LIABILITY FOR GOOD FAITH RE- 24 MOVAL.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), no 25 provider or user of an interactive computer 26 service shall be treated as the publisher or g:\VHLC\100120\100120.100.xml October 1, 2020 (1:37 p.m.) VerDate Mar 15 2010 FOR 13:37 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 000000 (778543 11) PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\ECRICH\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\JORDAN_029.X G:\M\16\JORDAN\JORDAN_029.XML 3 1 speaker for any other information on the service 2 provided by another information content pro- 3 vider solely on account of actions voluntarily 4 taken in good faith to restrict access to or 5 availability of specific material that the provider 6 or user has an objectively reasonable belief vio- 7 lates the terms of service or use of the provider 8 or user, as applicable. 9 ‘‘(2) CIVIL provider or user of 10 an interactive computer service shall be held liable 11 on account of— 12 ‘‘(A) any action voluntarily taken in good 13 faith to restrict access to or availability of ma- 14 terial that the provider or user has an objec- 15 tively reasonable belief is obscene, lewd, lasciv- 16 ious, filthy, excessively violent, promoting ter- 17 rorism or violent extremism, harassing, pro- 18 moting self-harm, or unlawful, whether or not 19 such material is constitutionally protected; or 20 ‘‘(B) any action taken to enable or make 21 available to information content providers or 22 others the technical means to restrict access to 23 material described in subparagraph (A). 24 ‘‘(3) LIABILITY 25 13:37 Oct 01, 2020 FOR INFORMATION.—Being re- sponsible in whole or in part for the creation or de- g:\VHLC\100120\100120.100.xml October 1, 2020 (1:37 p.m.) VerDate Mar 15 2010 LIABILITY.—No Jkt 000000 (778543 11) PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\ECRICH\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\JORDAN_029.X G:\M\16\JORDAN\JORDAN_029.XML 4 1 velopment of information includes instances in which 2 a person or entity solicits, comments upon, funds, or 3 affirmatively and substantively contributes to, modi- 4 fies, or alters information provided by another per- 5 son or entity. 6 ‘‘(4) GOOD addition to the other 7 applicable requirements, in order for a provider or 8 user to avoid liability under paragraph (1)(C) or 9 (2)(A), such provider or user shall meet the fol- 10 lowing requirements, if applicable: 11 ‘‘(A) Makes publicly available terms of 12 service or use that state plainly and with par- 13 ticularity the criteria the interactive computer 14 service employs in content-moderation practices 15 of the service. 16 ‘‘(B) Restricts access to or availability of 17 material consistent with those terms of service 18 or use and with any official representations or 19 disclosures regarding the internet service pro- 20 vider’s content-moderation practices. 21 ‘‘(C) Does not restrict access to or avail- 22 ability of material on deceptive grounds or 23 apply terms of service or use to restrict access 24 to or availability of material that is similarly g:\VHLC\100120\100120.100.xml October 1, 2020 (1:37 p.m.) VerDate Mar 15 2010 FAITH.—In 13:37 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 000000 (778543 11) PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\ECRICH\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\JORDAN_029.X G:\M\16\JORDAN\JORDAN_029.XML 5 1 situated to material that the service inten- 2 tionally declines to restrict. 3 ‘‘(D) Supplies the provider of the material 4 with timely notice describing with particularity 5 the reasonable factual basis for the restriction 6 of access and a meaningful opportunity to re- 7 spond, unless— 8 ‘‘(i) a law enforcement agency asks 9 that such notice not be made; 10 ‘‘(ii) a service reasonably believes that 11 the material relates to terrorism or other 12 criminal activity; or 13 ‘‘(iii) such notice would risk imminent 14 harm to others.’’. g:\VHLC\100120\100120.100.xml October 1, 2020 (1:37 p.m.) VerDate Mar 15 2010 13:37 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 000000 (778543 11) PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\ECRICH\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\JORDAN_029.X