Stopping Terrorists Online Presence and Holding Accountable Tech Entities

(a)

(1)

In general

No later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, each social media company described in subsection (f)(4) shall publish terms of service, or lack thereof, for each social media platform owned or operated by the company in a manner reasonably designed to inform all users of the social media platform of the existence and contents of the terms of service applicable to the following: (A)A foreign terrorist organization designated under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. (B)Individuals or entities designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224. (2)

Additional publication of information

In addition to the terms of service published pursuant to paragraph (1), the social media company shall also publish the following information: (A)Contact information for the purpose of allowing users to ask the social media company questions about the terms of service. (B)A description of— (i)the process that a user must follow— (I)to flag an item of content that the user believes violates the terms of service; or (II)to flag a group or another user that the user believes has violated the terms of service; and (ii)the social media company’s commitments on response and resolution time. (C)A list of ways in which an item of content or a user may be actioned by the social media company. (b)

(1)

In general

Each social media company shall electronically submit, on a triannual basis, a terms of service report to the Attorney General pursuant to paragraph (2), regarding information and enforcement of the terms of service identified in subsection (a)(1), that will include the following: (A)The version of the terms of service for each social media platform owned or operated by the company in effect as of the date of the report. (B)Data related to violations of the terms of service of identified under subsection (a), including the following: (i)The total number of items of content flagged. (ii)The total number of actioned items of content. (iii)The total number of actioned items of content that resulted in action taken by the social media company against the user or group of users responsible for the content. (iv)The total number of actioned items of content that were removed, demonetized, or deprioritized by the social media company. (v)The number of times actioned items of content were viewed by users. (vi)The number of times actioned items of content were shared, and the number of users that viewed the content before it was actioned. (vii)The number of times users appealed social media company actions taken on that platform and the number of reversals of social media company actions on appeal disaggregated by each type of action. (C)All information required by subparagraph (B) shall be disaggregated into the following categories: (i)The category of content, including any relevant categories described in subparagraph (B). (ii)The type of content, including posts, comments, messages, profiles of users, or groups of users. (iii)The type of media of the content, including text, images, and videos. (iv)How the content was flagged, including whether the content was flagged by— (I)company employees or contractors of the social media company; (II)artificial intelligence software; (III)community moderators of the social media platform; (IV)civil society partners; or (V)users of the social media platform. (v)How the content was actioned, including whether the content was actioned by— (I)employees or contractors of the social media company; (II)artificial intelligence software; (III)community moderators of the social media platform; (IV)civil society partners; and (V)actioned by users. (D)A complete and detailed evaluation of the changes over time, including identifiable trends and analysis, with respect to the information in subparagraphs (A) through (C) since the previous report, if applicable, and those thereafter. (2)

Deadline

Not later than 360 days after the date of enactment of this section, each social media company shall submit the first report required pursuant to paragraph (1). After the submission of the first report, the following reports will occur no later than January 31, April 30, and October 31 the following years. (3)

Publication

The Attorney General shall make all reports submitted under this section available to the public in a searchable repository on the website of the Department of Justice. (c)

Civil penalty

(1)

In general

The Attorney General may bring an action for a civil penalty of not more than $5,000,000 per violation per day against any social media company that does not submit a report required under subsection (b). (2)

Violations

A social media company shall be considered in violation of the provisions of this chapter for each day the social media company does any of the following: (A)Fails to post terms of service in accordance with subsection (a). (B)Fails to timely submit to the Attorney General a report required pursuant to subsection (b). (C)Materially omits or misrepresents required information in a report submitted pursuant to subsection (b). (d)

Reports

(1)

National intelligence estimate

Not later than 360 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Director of National Intelligence shall submit a National Intelligence Estimate on the use of platforms by the individuals and entities identified under subsection (a)(1) to Congress. The Director shall ensure an unclassified version of the assessment is published on the Department’s website no later than 30 days following the submission to Congress. (2)

Comptroller general reports

Not later than 540 days after the date of enactment of this section, and then again 540 days after, the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress reports on the implementation of this section. (e)

Sunset

The authority to carry out this section shall terminate on the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment of this section. (f)

Definitions

In this section: (1)

Actioned

The term actioned means that, pursuant to a violation of the terms of service of a social media platform— (A) in the case of an item of content, that item of content was removed, demonetized, or deprioritized from the social media platform; or (B) in the case of a user, that user was banned from the social media platform, or the account of that user was demonetized. (2)

Content

The term content means, on an internet-based service or application— (A)a statement or comment made by a user; or (B)media that are created, posted, shared, or otherwise interacted with by a user.

The term does not include media on a service or application exclusively for the purpose of cloud storage, transmitting files, or file collaboration.

(3)

Social media platform

The term social media platform means any entity subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission under section 5(a)(2) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45(a)(2)) that— (A)is a website, desktop application, or mobile application that— (i)permits a person to become a registered user, establish an account, or create a profile for the purpose of allowing the user to create, share, and view user-generated content through such an account or profile; (ii)enables one or more users to generate content that can be viewed by other users of the platform; and (iii)primarily serves as a medium for users to interact with content generated by other users of the platform and for the platform to deliver ads to users; and (B)has at least 25,000,000 unique monthly users in the United States for a majority of the months in the most recent 12-month period. (4)

Social media company

The term social media company means a person or entity that owns or operates one or more social media platforms. (5)

The term terms of service means a policy or set of policies adopted by a social media company that specifies, at least, the user behavior and activities that are permitted on the internet-based service owned or operated by the social media company, and the user behavior and activities that may subject the user or an item of content to being actioned. (g)

Rule of construction

(1)

In general

Nothing in this section shall be construed to diminish or infringe upon any right protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. (2)

Confidentiality and Privacy

The publication of the reports authorized in subsection (d) shall comply with any Federal, State, and local laws affecting confidentiality and privacy, including the Privacy Act of 1974.