[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1525 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1525

    To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to address governmental 
     interference in content moderation decisions by providers of 
         interactive computer services, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 10, 2023

  Mr. Schmitt introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to address governmental 
     interference in content moderation decisions by providers of 
         interactive computer services, 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 ``Curtailing Online Limitations that 
Lead Unconstitutionally to Democracy's Erosion Act'' or the ``COLLUDE 
Act''.

SEC. 2. CONTENT MODERATION, CREATION AND DEVELOPMENT, AND DISTRIBUTION.

    Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) by striking ``No provider'' and 
                        inserting the following:
                    ``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), no 
                provider''; and
                            (ii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Affirmative defense.--In a criminal or civil 
                action against a provider or user of an interactive 
                computer service that treats the provider or user as 
                the publisher or speaker of any information, the 
                provider or user shall bear the burden of proving that 
                the provider or user is not an information content 
                provider with respect to that information for purposes 
                of subparagraph (A).'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ``paragraph 
                (1)'' and inserting ``subparagraph (A)''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Loss of protection in cases of governmental 
        censorship.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B), this subsection shall not apply to a 
                provider of an interactive computer service that 
                restricts access to or availability of material--
                            ``(i) in a manner that reasonably appears 
                        to express, promote, limit the visibility of, 
                        or suppress legitimate political speech, 
                        including a discernible viewpoint; and
                            ``(ii) as a result of a communication 
                        that--
                                    ``(I) is sent to the provider by--
                                            ``(aa) a governmental 
                                        entity; or
                                            ``(bb) a non-governmental 
                                        entity that is acting at the 
                                        request or behest of a 
                                        governmental entity; and
                                    ``(II) the applicable entity under 
                                subclause (I) sends only to the 
                                provider and not to any other entity.
                    ``(B) Exception.--A communication that is for a 
                legitimate law enforcement purpose or a national 
                security purpose shall not be considered to be a 
                communication that is described in subparagraph 
                (A)(ii).''; and
            (2) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) Legitimate law enforcement purpose.--The term 
        `legitimate law enforcement purpose' means, with respect to a 
        communication, that the purpose of the communication is so that 
        a law enforcement agency can, within the lawful authority of 
        that agency, investigate a criminal offense.
            ``(6) National security purpose.--The term `national 
        security purpose' means, with respect to a communication, that 
        the purpose of the communication relates to--
                    ``(A) intelligence activities;
                    ``(B) cryptologic activities that relate to the 
                national security of the United States;
                    ``(C) command and control of the Armed Forces;
                    ``(D) equipment that is an integral part of a 
                weapon or a weapons system; or
                    ``(E) the direct fulfillment of a military or 
                intelligence mission.''.
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