Protecting Constitutional Rights from Online Platform Censorship Act

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 83 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 83

   To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to protect constitutional 
    rights from online platform censorship, and for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 4, 2021

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

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                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to protect constitutional 
    rights from online platform censorship, 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 ``Protecting Constitutional Rights 
from Online Platform Censorship Act''.

SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 230(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 
(47 U.S.C. 230) is amended--
            (1) in the heading, by striking ``Protection for `Good 
        Samaritan' Blocking and Screening of Offensive Material'' and 
        inserting ``Blocking and Screening of Lawful and Constitutional 
        Material''; and
            (2) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:
            ``(2) Prohibition.--
                    ``(A) In general.--It shall be unlawful for any 
                internet platform to take an action to restrict access 
                to or the availability of protected material of a user 
                of such platform.
                    ``(B) Private right of action.--If an internet 
                platform takes an action to restrict access to or the 
                availability of protected material of a user of such 
                platform, such user may bring an action in an 
                appropriate State court or an appropriate district 
                court of the United States against such platform to 
                obtain the relief described under subparagraph (C).
                    ``(C) Relief.--A user that prevails in a civil 
                action under subparagraph (B) may obtain monetary 
                relief of not less than $10,000 but not more than 
                $50,000 per action described under subparagraph (A).
                    ``(D) Protected material defined.--In this 
                paragraph, the term `protected material' means material 
                that is protected under the Constitution or otherwise 
                protected under Federal, State, or local law.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, 
shall take effect 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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