Political Bias In Algorithm Sorting Emails Act of 2022 or the Political BIAS Emails Act of 2022
This bill restricts email providers from applying filtering algorithms that label political campaign messages as spam and requires providers to publicly report on their email delivery practices.
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4409 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4409
To prohibit providers of email services from using filtering algorithms
to flag emails from political campaigns that consumers have elected to
receive as spam.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 15, 2022
Mr. Thune (for himself, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Blunt, Ms.
Ernst, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Daines, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Marshall, Mr.
Cramer, Mr. Crapo, Ms. Lummis, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Rubio, Mrs. Blackburn,
Mr. Boozman, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Hawley, Mr. Risch, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Braun,
Mr. Tuberville, Mr. Moran, Mrs. Fischer, Mr. Scott of South Carolina,
Mr. Grassley, and Mr. Sullivan) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit providers of email services from using filtering algorithms
to flag emails from political campaigns that consumers have elected to
receive as spam.
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 ``Political Bias In Algorithm Sorting
Emails Act of 2022'' or the ``Political BIAS Emails Act of 2022''.
SEC. 2. UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE ACTS AND PRACTICES RELATING TO FILTERING
POLITICAL EMAILS THAT A CONSUMER HAS ELECTED TO RECEIVE.
(a) Conduct Prohibited.--
(1) In general.--It shall be unlawful for an operator of an
email service to use a filtering algorithm to apply a label to
an email sent to an email account from a political campaign
unless the owner or user of the account took action to apply
such a label.
(2) Effective date.--The prohibition under subsection (1)
shall take effect on the date that is 3 months after the date
of enactment of this Act.
(b) Quarterly Transparency Report.--
(1) In general.--Beginning with the first year that begins
on or after the date that is 120 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, each operator of an email service shall
be required to make publicly available, on a quarterly basis, a
transparency report that meets the requirements of this
subsection.
(2) Content of report.--Each quarterly report by an
operator of an email service required under this subsection
shall include the following:
(A) The total number of instances during the
previous quarter in which emails from political
campaigns were flagged as spam.
(B) The number of instances during the previous
quarter in which emails from political campaigns were
flagged as spam by a filtering algorithm without
direction from the email account owner or user.
(C) The total number of instances during the
previous quarter when emails from political campaigns
of candidates belonging to the Republican Party were
flagged as spam.
(D) The percentage of emails during the previous
quarter of the year flagged as spam from political
campaigns of candidates belonging to the Republican
Party.
(E) The number of instances during the previous
quarter in which emails from political campaigns of
candidates belonging to the Republican Party were
flagged as spam by a filtering algorithm without
direction from the email account owner or user.
(F) The percentage of emails during the previous
quarter of the year flagged as spam by a filtering
algorithm without direction from the email account
owner or user for emails from political campaigns of
candidates belonging to the Republican Party.
(G) The total number of instances during the
previous quarter when emails from political campaigns
of candidates belonging to the Democratic Party were
flagged as spam.
(H) The percentage of emails during the previous
quarter of the year flagged as spam from political
campaigns of candidates belonging to the Democratic
Party.
(I) The number of instances during the previous
quarter in which emails from political campaigns of
candidates belonging to the Democratic Party were
flagged as spam by a filtering algorithm without
direction from the email account owner or user.
(J) The percentage of emails during the previous
quarter of the year flagged as spam by a filtering
algorithm without direction from the email account
owner or user for emails from political campaigns of
candidates belonging to the Democratic Party.
(K) A descriptive summary of the kinds of tools,
practices, actions, and techniques used by an operator
of an email service during the previous quarter in
determining which emails from political campaigns to
flag as spam.
(3) Publication and format.--The operator of an email
service shall publish each quarterly report required under this
subsection with an open license, in a machine-readable and open
format, and in a location that is easily accessible to
consumers.
(c) Disclosure for Political Campaigns.--
(1) In general.--Beginning 3 months after the date of the
enactment of this Act, each operator of an email service shall
be required to disclose to a political campaign, upon the
request of the campaign and subject to paragraph (3), a report
that includes any of the information described in paragraph (2)
that is requested by the campaign.
(2) Content of the disclosure.--The information described
in this paragraph is the following:
(A) The number of instances during the previous
quarter when emails from the political campaign
requesting the information were flagged as spam.
(B) The percentage of emails sent from the
political campaign requesting the information that were
flagged as spam during the previous quarter.
(C) The number of instances during the previous
calendar quarter when emails from the political
campaign requesting the information were flagged as
spam by a filtering algorithm.
(D) The total number of emails sent from the
political campaign requesting the information that
reached the intended recipient's primary inbox.
(E) The percentage of emails sent from the
political campaign requesting the information that
reached the intended recipient's primary inbox.
(F) A descriptive summary as to why an email from
the political campaign requesting the information did
not reach the intended recipient's primary inbox.
(3) Frequency of requests.--A political campaign may not
request that an operator of an email service provide a report
containing any of the information described in paragraph (2)
more than--
(A) once per week during election years;
(B) twice per month during non-election years; and
(C) once a week in the 12 months preceding the date
of a special election in which a candidate associated
with the political campaign is seeking election.
(4) Best practices.--An operator of an email service shall
provide to a political campaign, upon request, best practices
on steps the political campaign should take to increase the
number of emails from the political campaign that reach the
intended recipient's primary inbox.
(5) Deadline for providing disclosure to political
campaigns.--An operator of an email service that receives a
request from a political campaign for a disclosure report
described in paragraph (1) or best practices described in
paragraph (4) shall provide such report or best practices to
the political campaign not later than 4 days after the operator
receives the request.
(d) Enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission.--
(1) Unfair or deceptive acts or practices.--A violation of
subsection (a), (b), or (c) shall be treated as a violation of
a rule defining an unfair or a deceptive act or practice under
section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15
U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)).
(2) Powers of commission.--
(A) In general.--The Federal Trade Commission shall
enforce this section in the same manner, by the same
means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and
duties as though all applicable terms and provisions of
the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.)
were incorporated into and made a part of this section.
(B) Privileges and immunities.--Any person who
violates subsection (a) shall be subject to the
penalties and entitled to the privileges and immunities
provided in the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C.
41 et seq.).
(C) Authority preserved.--Nothing in this section
shall be construed to limit the authority of the
Federal Trade Commission under any other provision of
law.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Filtering algorithm.--The term ``filtering algorithm''
means a computational process, including one derived from
algorithmic decision making, machine learning, statistical
analysis, or other data processing or artificial intelligence
techniques, used by an email service to identify and filter
emails sent to an email account.
(2) Operator.--
(A) In general.--The term ``operator'' means any
person who operates an email service and includes any
person that wholly owns a subsidiary entity that
operates an email service.
(B) Exclusions.--Such term shall not include any
person who operates an email service if such service is
wholly owned, controlled, and operated by a person
that--
(i) for the most recent 6-month period, did
not employ more than 500 employees; and
(ii) for the most recent 12-month period,
averaged less than $5,000,000,000 in annual
gross receipts.
(3) Political campaign.--The term ``political campaign''
includes--
(A) an individual who is a candidate (as such term
is defined in section 301(2) of the Federal Election
Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101(2));
(B) an authorized committee (as such term is
defined in section 301(6) of such Act);
(C) a connected organization (as such term is
defined in section 301(7) of such Act);
(D) a national committee (as such term is defined
in section 301(15) of such Act);
(E) a State committee (as such term is defined in
section 301(15) of such Act); and
(F) a joint fundraising committee that includes any
entity described in subparagraphs (A) through (E).
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S2969-2970)
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