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<bill bill-stage="Introduced-in-House" dms-id="HC60B36690E55411DA75070112C6BA8E3" public-private="public" key="H" bill-type="olc">
<metadata xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
<dublinCore>
<dc:title>116 HR 8323 IH: Bianca’s Law</dc:title>
<dc:publisher>U.S. House of Representatives</dc:publisher>
<dc:date>2020-09-21</dc:date>
<dc:format>text/xml</dc:format>
<dc:language>EN</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
</dublinCore>
</metadata>
<form>
<distribution-code display="yes">I</distribution-code>
<congress display="yes">116th CONGRESS</congress><session display="yes">2d Session</session>
<legis-num display="yes">H. R. 8323</legis-num>
<current-chamber>IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES</current-chamber>
<action display="yes">
<action-date date="20200921">September 21, 2020</action-date>
<action-desc><sponsor name-id="B001308">Mr. Brindisi</sponsor> introduced the following bill; which was referred to the <committee-name committee-id="HIF00">Committee on Energy and Commerce</committee-name></action-desc>
</action>
<legis-type>A BILL</legis-type>
<official-title display="yes">To require social media companies to establish an office dedicated to identifying and removing violent and gory content that violates such company’s social media platform content moderation standards.</official-title>
</form>
<legis-body id="H40F4A5415CFD46B89950D56453D0CFA2" style="OLC">
<section id="H52815328515249F4A148F5FEC67235D0" section-type="section-one"><enum>1.</enum><header>Short title</header><text display-inline="no-display-inline">This Act may be cited as <quote><short-title>Bianca’s Law</short-title></quote>.</text></section> <section id="H2C276878D4994550826175D8AD98DB12"><enum>2.</enum><header>Office dedicated to identifying and removing violent and gory content</header> <subsection id="HC107F68B4F2E4DC0B238EFA19E4296C1"><enum>(a)</enum><header>In general</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, each social media company shall establish an office to identify and address violent and gory content that violates such company’s social media platform content moderation standards or terms of service agreements. At least one dedicated staff member who reports directly to the highest official at the social media company who shall, either directly or through a supervised designee—</text>
<paragraph id="H2FC3F719345B4BFA9511A590358C23E3"><enum>(1)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">educate and train employees about compliance requirements that are consistent with the social media company’s company’s social media platform content moderation standards or terms of service agreements;</text></paragraph> <paragraph id="HCEA125EE7690460AADAA169FFFD1F49C"><enum>(2)</enum><text>train employees involved in processing of content on the social media platform that violates such standards or agreements;</text></paragraph>
<paragraph id="H63B8C693197C44909ED6E309FB506D16"><enum>(3)</enum><text>conduct regular, comprehensive audits to ensure compliance and make records of such audits publicly available on the social media platform;</text></paragraph> <paragraph id="H60F84046A92F4BDFBC393DCCCF5996EF"><enum>(4)</enum><text>maintain updated, clear, and understandable records of all relevant practices undertaken by the social media company; and</text></paragraph>
<paragraph id="H80FFDAC10D4E4F1BAA93B5890AA8876F"><enum>(5)</enum><text>serve as the point of contact between the social media company and the Federal Trade Commission.</text></paragraph></subsection> <subsection id="H4417EF4CEDBE4C4DB7AD4FA52BAE222A"><enum>(b)</enum><header>Name and contact information</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The company shall also make the name and contact information (including phone number) for this officer publicly available. </text></subsection>
<subsection id="H104425A92C1C4287A8F5D090B9876E32"><enum>(c)</enum><header>Definitions</header><text>As used in this Act—</text> <paragraph id="HD0BDE13E7B874BEA91055122695490CF"><enum>(1)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">the term <term>social media company</term> means any person that owns, manages, or operates a social media platform and has an annual revenue in excess of $10,000,000; </text></paragraph>
<paragraph id="H09605D75A4664B4EBBB74DF56454E6CB"><enum>(2)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">the term <term>social media platform</term>—</text> <subparagraph id="H525D7895C76F421DBC14284AD04F8946"><enum>(A)</enum><text>means a website or internet medium, including a mobile application, that—</text>
<clause id="H61605EE65DAF4D1384C8B12BB71DCC54"><enum>(i)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">permits a person to become a registered user, establish an account, or create a profile for the purpose of allowing users to create, share, and view user-generated content through such an account or profile; </text></clause> <clause id="HCF037B6F3DB44902A9B8754C349AE38B"><enum>(ii)</enum><text>enables one or more users to generate content that can be viewed by other users of the medium; and</text></clause>
<clause id="H9C01698B68BF4B71BDE573C8C28A4140"><enum>(iii)</enum><text>serves as a medium for users to view content generated by other users of the medium; and </text></clause></subparagraph> <subparagraph id="H3AB5314F3BDA498D83110728AD3DD2D9"><enum>(B)</enum><text>does not include—</text>
<clause id="H871D765AA6C645DAB80A52B0B6DAB653"><enum>(i)</enum><text>any such platform that serves fewer than 100,000 users who access their account or profile at least once a month; or</text></clause> <clause id="H487185AD04FA471B910BD0BAAF41C397"><enum>(ii)</enum><text>an email program, email distribution lists, multi-person text message groups, or a website that is primarily for the purpose of internet commerce; </text></clause>
<clause id="H5B8B361890D54DD0A5996CA7E630B112"><enum>(iii)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">a private platform or messaging service used by an entity solely to communicate with others employed by or affiliated with such entity; or</text></clause> <clause id="H4B4272BD04B64F5FB5B8F50B4B0C7507"><enum>(iv)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">an internet-based platform whose primary purpose is—</text>
<subclause id="H53A50B0EABE849BC8E8F5B280596E4C0"><enum>(I)</enum><text>to allow users to post product reviews, business reviews, travel information and reviews; or</text></subclause> <subclause id="HBADB9BB7C5B243A7A59E19C74923BFFF" commented="no"><enum>(II)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">to provide news or entertainment content, but that may also include a comment section for users to discuss such news or entertainment content if such comment section does not include functionality that permits a user to share images, videos, or other visual depictions; and</text></subclause></clause></subparagraph></paragraph>
<paragraph id="HCF5060656F0B4AD1A5472852354F71D4" commented="no"><enum>(3)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">the term <term>violent and gory content</term> means images, video, or other visual depictions of graphic, serious injury or death in a manner that has no or limited cultural or social value.</text></paragraph></subsection></section> <section id="HAD0955B8E937448A870AB949F577B1F7"><enum>3.</enum><header>Enforcement</header> <subsection id="H115C83F24E0F43F09472E51A385ED29F"><enum>(a)</enum><header>Enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission</header> <paragraph id="H7DC1D976260A43BAA55DE5F0E645FB5B"><enum>(1)</enum><header>Unfair or deceptive acts or practices</header><text>A violation of this Act or a regulation promulgated under this Act shall be treated as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (<external-xref legal-doc="usc" parsable-cite="usc/15/57a">15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)</external-xref>).</text></paragraph>
<paragraph id="HACB3766D3B8A419F96C1C1091A52EF34"><enum>(2)</enum><header>Powers of the Commission</header>
<subparagraph id="H9DAF85007B43463081080C6500D5A9C1"><enum>(A)</enum><header>In general</header><text>The Commission shall enforce this Act and any regulations promulgated under this Act in the same manner, by the same means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all applicable terms and provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act (<external-xref legal-doc="usc" parsable-cite="usc/15/41">15 U.S.C. 41</external-xref> et seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of this Act, and any person who violates this Act or a regulation promulgated under this Act shall be subject to the penalties and entitled to the privileges and immunities provided in the Federal Trade Commission Act.</text></subparagraph> <subparagraph id="H08DCAD58092143868BA5050073C1E5B8" commented="no"><enum>(B)</enum><header>Regulations</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The Commission may, under section 553 of title 5, United States Code, prescribe any regulations it determines necessary to carry out this Act.</text></subparagraph>
<subparagraph id="H1C9C8F16798D4455A68E4BCD1EE066E3"><enum>(C)</enum><header>Effect on other laws</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Nothing in this Act shall be construed in any way to limit the authority of the Commission under any other provision of law.</text></subparagraph></paragraph></subsection> <subsection id="HA46C7D22EC644C76B2E7732F43C56666"><enum>(b)</enum><header>Enforcement by State attorneys general</header> <paragraph id="HF277EA838A7B407185D849C922AEACC1"><enum>(1)</enum><header>In general</header><text>If the chief law enforcement officer of a State, or an official or agency designated by a State, has reason to believe that any person has violated or is violating section 2, the attorney general, official, or agency of the State, in addition to any authority it may have to bring an action in State court under its consumer protection law, may bring a civil action in any appropriate United States district court or in any other court of competent jurisdiction, including a State court, to—</text>
<subparagraph id="H25878BBEABBE4A9A902CA55A48159730"><enum>(A)</enum><text>enjoin further such violation by such person;</text></subparagraph> <subparagraph id="H828B45C7169144999FB6C13AE106CA5B"><enum>(B)</enum><text>enforce compliance with such section;</text></subparagraph>
<subparagraph id="H0486E8353F804D13BA1CE66A723C9AAF"><enum>(C)</enum><text>obtain civil penalties; and</text></subparagraph> <subparagraph id="H5D30E279A80245A88AB56EE83C9A1993"><enum>(D)</enum><text>obtain damages, restitution, or other compensation on behalf of residents of the State. </text></subparagraph></paragraph>
<paragraph id="H40C6A403C8794CCDBBD91D19947A96A5"><enum>(2)</enum><header>Notice and intervention by the FTC</header><text>The attorney general (or other such officer) of a State shall provide prior written notice of any action under paragraph (1) to the Commission and provide the Commission with a copy of the complaint in the action, except in any case in which such prior notice is not feasible, in which case the attorney general shall serve such notice immediately upon instituting such action. The Commission shall have the right—</text> <subparagraph id="H53450DBF74A94E46A87528708EE9D124"><enum>(A)</enum><text>to intervene in the action;</text></subparagraph>
<subparagraph id="H97F7A37E1ED6432483F0348BBEDA11F4"><enum>(B)</enum><text>upon so intervening, to be heard on all matters arising therein; and</text></subparagraph> <subparagraph id="HEB8115E6FAA3461FA85D4FE3991DBD3C"><enum>(C)</enum><text>to file petitions for appeal.</text></subparagraph></paragraph>
<paragraph id="H33B02588199B4DFCA2254A28967CB9A6"><enum>(3)</enum><header>Limitation on State action while Federal action is pending</header><text>If the Commission has instituted a civil action for violation of this Act, no State attorney general, or official or agency of a State, may bring an action under this paragraph during the pendency of that action against any defendant named in the complaint of the Commission for any violation of this Act alleged in the complaint.</text></paragraph> <paragraph id="H1CF5F13D24AD43E395136809864B2AE8"><enum>(4)</enum><header>Relationship with State law claims</header><text>If the attorney general of a State has authority to bring an action under State law directed at acts or practices that also violate this Act, the attorney general may assert the State law claim and a claim under this Act in the same civil action.</text></paragraph></subsection>
<subsection id="HDDA58541D9094432BA43D77029F278C7"><enum>(c)</enum><header>Savings clause</header><text>Nothing in this Act shall preempt or otherwise affect any State or local law.</text></subsection></section> </legis-body> </bill> 

