[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2635 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2635

    To amend section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to limit 
 liability protection provided by such section for providers of social 
                 media service, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 17, 2023

  Mr. Santos introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to limit 
 liability protection provided by such section for providers of social 
                 media service, and for other purposes.

    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 ``The Big-Tech Accountability Act of 
2023''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY FOR PROVIDERS OF SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICE.

    Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230) is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (g); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the following:
    ``(f) Providers of Social Media Service.--
            ``(1) In general.--Paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (c) 
        shall not apply to a provider of a social media service that is 
        a company with respect to any information provided through the 
        service by another information content provider after the date 
        of the enactment of this subsection.
            ``(2) Prohibition.--
                    ``(A) In general.--It shall be unlawful for a 
                provider of social media service that is a company to 
                de-platform a citizen of the United States after the 
                date this 90 days after the enactment of this 
                subsection on the basis of the social, political, or 
                religious status of such citizen even if the citizen 
                through the social media service of the provider 
                clearly violates a policy of the company relating to--
                            ``(i) hate speech;
                            ``(ii) sexual harassment;
                            ``(iii) discrimination on the basis of sex, 
                        religion, or sexual orientation; or
                            ``(iv) making violent threats, violent 
                        speech, or violent declarations.
                    ``(B) Civil penalty.--A provider that violates 
                subparagraph (A) with respect to a citizen of the 
                United States shall be liable for a civil penalty in an 
                amount of $5,000 for each day that the provider de-
                platforms the citizen.
            ``(3) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) De-platform a citizen of the united states.--
                The term `de-platform a citizen of the United States' 
                means, with respect to an account of the citizen, an 
                action taken to--
                            ``(i) decrease engagement with the account 
                        by users of the service;
                            ``(ii) permanently suspend the account; or
                            ``(iii) restricting the ability of a 
                        citizen to provide content through the account.
                    ``(B) Social media service.--The term `social media 
                service'--
                            ``(i) means an interactive computer service 
                        that--
                                    ``(I) allows for or hosts virtual 
                                facilitation of material, content, or 
                                information over the service for the 
                                purpose of facilitating public or 
                                widespread interaction with such 
                                material, content, or information;
                                    ``(II) is meant for public 
                                discourse that focuses on communication 
                                and expression of ideas or opinions; or
                                    ``(III) hosts publicly accessible 
                                information or content, public or 
                                widespread interaction, and content 
                                distribution through the service; and
                            ``(ii) includes interactive computer 
                        service provided by--
                                    ``(I) Meta;
                                    ``(II) Facebook;
                                    ``(III) Twitter;
                                    ``(IV) Instagram; and
                                    ``(V) Tik Tok.''.
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