Limiting Section 230 Immunity to Good Samaritans Act
This bill requires an edge provider of an interactive computer service (e.g., social media website) to adopt and maintain written terms of service binding itself to a contractual duty of good faith in order to qualify for the statutory protection against being treated as the publisher of information distributed through the service by a third party.
An edge provider is a provider of an interactive computer service through which information published by other content providers is distributed and that has more than (1) $1.5 billion in annual global revenue, and (2) 30 million monthly users in the United States or 300 million monthly users worldwide.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8596 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8596
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide accountability for
bad actors who abuse the Good Samaritan protections provided under that
Act, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 16, 2020
Mr. Budd (for himself, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Flores, Mr. Biggs, Mr. Gooden,
Mr. Bishop of North Carolina, and Mr. Waltz) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide accountability for
bad actors who abuse the Good Samaritan protections provided under that
Act, 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 ``Limiting Section 230 Immunity to
Good Samaritans Act''.
SEC. 2. SCOPE OF PROTECTION.
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) Condition.--With respect to an edge provider,
subparagraph (A) shall only apply if the provider
adopts and maintains written terms of service that--
``(i) take precedence over other such terms
in case of any conflict between the sets of
terms;
``(ii) describe any policies of the edge
provider relating to restricting access to or
availability of material; and
``(iii) promise that the edge provider
shall--
``(I) design and operate the
provided service in good faith; and
``(II) if the provider is found, in
a civil action brought in Federal or
State court, or by an arbitrator, to
breach the promise made under subclause
(I) with respect to a claimant user,
pay that user--
``(aa) the greater of--
``(AA) damages of
not less than $5,000;
or
``(BB) actual
damages; and
``(bb) with respect to
litigation or arbitration by
the user to enforce the
promise--
``(AA) a reasonable
attorney's fee; and
``(BB) costs and
other expenses
described in sections
1821 and 1920 of title
28, United States Code
(or, in the case of an
action brought in State
court or through
arbitration, any
similar costs and other
expenses).''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(3) Good faith.--For the purposes of this subsection, a
provider of an interactive computer service--
``(A) acts in good faith if the provider acts with
an honest belief and purpose, observes fair dealing
standards, and acts without fraudulent intent; and
``(B) does not act in good faith if the provider
takes an action that includes--
``(i) the intentionally selective
enforcement of the terms of service of the
interactive computer service, including the
intentionally selective enforcement of policies
of the provider relating to restricting access
to or availability of material;
``(ii) enforcing the terms of service of
the interactive computer service, including
enforcing policies of the provider to restrict
access to or availability of material, against
a user by employing an algorithm that
selectively enforces those terms, if the
provider knows, or acts in reckless disregard
of the fact, that the algorithm selectively
enforces those terms;
``(iii) the intentional failure to honor a
public or private promise made by, or on behalf
of, the provider; or
``(iv) any other intentional action taken
by the provider without an honest belief and
purpose, without observing fair dealing
standards, or with fraudulent intent.'';
(2) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the following:
``(6) No effect on legal promises.--Nothing in this section
shall be construed to impair or limit any claim for breach of
contract, promissory estoppel, or breach of a duty of good
faith.''; and
(3) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the following:
``(5) Edge provider.--The term `edge provider'--
``(A) means an entity that--
``(i) provides an interactive computer
service--
``(I) through a website, online
application, or mobile application
(including a single interactive
computer service that is provided
through more than 1 such website or
application);
``(II) through which information
provided by another information content
provider is distributed; and
``(III) that, in any month during
the most recently completed 12-month
period--
``(aa) more than 30,000,000
users in the United States
accessed, without regard to the
means by which the users
accessed the service; or
``(bb) more than
300,000,000 users worldwide
accessed, without regard to the
means by which the users
accessed the service; and
``(ii) during the most recently completed
taxable year, had more than $1,500,000,000 in
global revenue; and
``(B) does not include an organization described in
section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
that is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of
such Code.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
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