[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9043 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9043

 To require social media companies to establish an office dedicated to 
 identifying and removing violent or extremist content associated with 
  or distributed by any entity identified as a terrorist organization.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 21, 2020

    Mr. Gottheimer (for himself and Mr. Fitzpatrick) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
  Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a 
 period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require social media companies to establish an office dedicated to 
 identifying and removing violent or extremist content associated with 
  or distributed by any entity identified as a terrorist organization.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Online Terrorism Prevention Act''.

SEC. 2. OFFICE DEDICATED TO IDENTIFYING AND REMOVING CONTENT ASSOCIATED 
              WITH ANY TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.

    (a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of 
enactment of this Act, each social media company shall establish an 
office to identify and remove violent or extremist content associated 
with or distributed by any entity identified as a terrorist 
organization. The office shall be lead by a dedicated staff member who 
reports directly to the highest official at the social media company. 
The duties of the office shall include--
            (1) educating and training employees about compliance 
        requirements that are consistent with the social media 
        company's social media platform content moderation standards or 
        terms of service agreements and about detecting contributors to 
        the social media platform that are identified as a terrorist 
        organization;
            (2) conducting regular, comprehensive audits to ensure 
        compliance with the identification and removal requirements in 
        this subsection, and making records of such audits publicly 
        available on the social media platform;
            (3) maintaining updated, clear, and understandable records 
        of all relevant practices undertaken by the social media 
        company; and
            (4) serving as the point of contact between the social 
        media company and the Federal Trade Commission.
    (b) Requirement for Immediate Removal Upon Request by Certain 
Officials.--A social media company shall expeditiously remove any 
violent or extremist content associated with or distributed by any 
entity identified as a terrorist organization that appears on its 
social media platform, upon the request of the Federal Trade 
Commission.

SEC. 3. CIVIL ENFORCEMENT.

    (a) Enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission.--
            (1) Unfair or deceptive acts or practices.--A violation of 
        section 2 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 (15 U.S.C. 
        57a(a)(1)(B)).
            (2) Powers of the commission.--
                    (A) In general.--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 (15 U.S.C. 41 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.
                    (B) Regulations.--The Commission may, under section 
                553 of title 5, United States Code, prescribe any 
                regulations it determines necessary to carry out this 
                Act.
                    (C) Effect on other laws.--Nothing in this Act 
                shall be construed in any way to limit the authority of 
                the Commission under any other provision of law.
    (b) Enforcement by State Attorneys General.--
            (1) In general.--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--
                    (A) enjoin further such violation by such person;
                    (B) enforce compliance with such section;
                    (C) obtain civil penalties; and
                    (D) obtain damages, restitution, or other 
                compensation on behalf of residents of the State.
            (2) Notice and intervention by the ftc.--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--
                    (A) to intervene in the action;
                    (B) upon so intervening, to be heard on all matters 
                arising therein; and
                    (C) to file petitions for appeal.
            (3) Limitation on state action while federal action is 
        pending.--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.
            (4) Relationship with state law claims.--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.
    (c) Savings Clause.--Nothing in this subsection (b) shall preempt 
or otherwise affect any State or local law.
    (d) FBI Enforcement.--The Federal Bureau of Investigation may 
exercise its full authority under section 2709 of title 18, United 
States Code, to investigate violations of this Act, and may share any 
information obtained under such section with the Federal Trade 
Commission for enforcement of this Act under subsection (a).
    (e) Criminal Penalties.--Whoever owns, manages, or operates a 
social media company and acts in reckless disregard of the fact that 
content made available on the social media platform of such company in 
violation of section 2 contributed to terrorism, shall constitute an 
offense of ``providing material support to terrorists'' under section 
2339A(a) of title 18, United States Code.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act--
            (1) the term ``social media company'' means any person that 
        owns, manages, or operates a social media platform and has an 
        annual revenue in excess of $10,000,000;
            (2) the term ``social media platform''--
                    (A) means a website or internet medium, including a 
                mobile application, that--
                            (i) 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;
                            (ii) enables one or more users to generate 
                        content that can be viewed by other users of 
                        the medium; and
                            (iii) serves as a medium for users to view 
                        content generated by other users of the medium; 
                        and
                    (B) does not include--
                            (i) any such platform that serves fewer 
                        than 100,000 users who access their account or 
                        profile at least once a month;
                            (ii) an email program, email distribution 
                        lists, multi-person text message groups, or a 
                        website that is primarily for the purpose of 
                        internet commerce;
                            (iii) a private platform or messaging 
                        service used by an entity solely to communicate 
                        with others employed by or affiliated with such 
                        entity; or
                            (iv) an internet-based platform whose 
                        primary purpose is--
                                    (I) to allow users to post product 
                                reviews, business reviews, travel 
                                information and reviews; or
                                    (II) 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
            (3) the term ``terrorist organization'' means--
                    (A) any entity designated as foreign terrorist 
                organizations by the Department of State; and
                    (B) any entity engaged in domestic terrorism or 
                international terrorism, as such terms are defined in 
                section 2331 of title 18, United States Code.
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