[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 560 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 560

  To amend section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to reaffirm 
        civil rights, victims' rights, and consumer protections.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 28, 2023

Mr. Warner (for himself, Ms. Hirono, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Kaine, and Mr. 
  Blumenthal) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to reaffirm 
        civil rights, victims' rights, and consumer protections.

    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 ``Safeguarding Against Fraud, 
Exploitation, Threats, Extremism, and Consumer Harms Act'' or the 
``SAFE TECH Act''.

SEC. 2. COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT IMPROVEMENTS.

    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.--Except as provided in paragraph 
                (3), no provider'';
                            (ii) by striking ``any information'' and 
                        inserting ``any speech'';
                            (iii) by inserting before the period at the 
                        end the following: ``, unless the provider or 
                        user has accepted payment to make the speech 
                        available or, in whole or in part, created or 
                        funded the creation of the speech''; and
                            (iv) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Affirmative defense.--In any action in which 
                the defendant raises subparagraph (A) as a defense, the 
                defendant shall have the burden of persuasion, by a 
                preponderance of the evidence, that the defendant is a 
                provider or user of an interactive computer service and 
                is being treated as the publisher or speaker of speech 
                provided by another information content provider.'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ``paragraph 
                (1)'' and inserting ``subparagraph (A)''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Exclusion from `good samaritan' immunity.--
                    ``(A) Injunctive relief.--Paragraph (1) shall not 
                apply to any request for injunctive relief arising from 
                the failure of a provider of an interactive computer 
                service to remove, restrict access to or availability 
                of, or prevent the dissemination of material that is 
                likely to cause irreparable harm.
                    ``(B) Limitation of liability.--In the case of a 
                provider of an interactive computer service that 
                complies with an order granting injunctive relief 
                described in subparagraph (A), that compliance shall 
                not subject the provider to liability for removing, 
                restricting access to or availability of, or preventing 
                the dissemination of material that is subject to the 
                order.''; and
            (2) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) No effect on civil rights laws.--Nothing in this 
        section shall be construed to limit, impair, or prevent any 
        action alleging discrimination on the basis of any protected 
        class, or conduct that has the effect or consequence of 
        discriminating on the basis of any protected class, under any 
        Federal or State law.
            ``(7) No effect on antitrust laws.--Nothing in this section 
        shall be construed to prevent, impair, or limit any action 
        brought under Federal or State antitrust law.
            ``(8) No effect on stalking, harassment, or intimidation 
        laws.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent, 
        impair, or limit any action alleging stalking, cyberstalking, 
        harassment, cyberharassment, or intimidation based, in whole or 
        in part, on sex (including sexual orientation and gender 
        identity), race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, or 
        physical or mental disability brought under Federal or State 
        law.
            ``(9) No effect on international human rights law.--Nothing 
        in this section shall be construed to prevent, impair, or limit 
        any action brought under section 1350 of title 28, United 
        States Code.
            ``(10) No effect on wrongful death actions.--Nothing in 
        this section shall be construed to prevent, impair, or limit 
        any civil action for a wrongful death.''.
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