II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 797 

To require transparency, accountability, and protections for consumers online. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 17 (legislative day, MARCH 16), 2021 

Mr. SCHATZ (for himself and Mr. THUNE) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

A BILL 

To require transparency, accountability, and protections for 

consumers online. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Platform Account5 ability and Consumer Transparency Act’’ or the ‘‘PACT 

6 Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 


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1 (1) COMMISSION.—Except as otherwise pro2 vided, the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal 

3 Trade Commission. 

4 (2) DEMONETIZE.—The term ‘‘demonetize’’, 

5 with respect to content on an interactive computer 

6 service, means to take action to prohibit the infor7 mation content provider that generated or dissemi8 nated the content from receiving direct financial 

9 compensation from the interactive computer service 

10 provider based on the content. 

11 (3) DEPRIORITIZE.—The term ‘‘deprioritize’’, 

12 with respect to content on an interactive computer 

13 service, means to take affirmative, content-specific 

14 action to reduce the priority level of the content. 

15 (4) ILLEGAL ACTIVITY.—The term ‘‘illegal ac16 tivity’’ means activity conducted by an information 

17 content provider that has been determined by a trial 

18 or appellate Federal or State court to violate Fed19 eral criminal or civil law. 

20 (5) ILLEGAL CONTENT.—The term ‘‘illegal con21 tent’’ means information provided by an information 

22 content provider that has been determined by a trial 

23 or appellate Federal or State court to violate— 

24 (A) Federal criminal or civil law; or 

25 (B) State defamation law. 


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1 (6) INDIVIDUAL PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘indi2 vidual provider’’ means a provider of an interactive 

3 computer service that, during the most recent 12- 

4 month period— 

5 (A) received fewer than 100,000 unique 

6 monthly visitors; and 

7 (B) accrued revenue of less than 

8 $1,000,000. 

9 (7) INFORMATION CONTENT PROVIDER.—The 

10 term ‘‘information content provider’’ has the mean11 ing given the term in section 230 of the Communica12 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230). 

13 (8) INTERACTIVE COMPUTER SERVICE.—The 

14 term ‘‘interactive computer service’’ has the meaning 

15 given the term in section 230 of the Communica16 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230). 

17 (9) POTENTIALLY POLICY-VIOLATING CON18 TENT.—The term ‘‘potentially policy-violating con19 tent’’ means content that may violate the acceptable 

20 use policy of the provider of an interactive computer 

21 service. 

22 (10) SMALL BUSINESS PROVIDER.—The term 

23 ‘‘small business provider’’ means a provider of an 

24 interactive computer service that is not an individual 


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1 provider and, during the most recent 12-month pe2 riod— 

3 (A) received fewer than 1,000,000 unique 

4 monthly visitors; and 

5 (B) accrued revenue of less than 

6 $50,000,000. 

7 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 

9 (1) Technological advancements involving the 

10 internet and interactive computer service providers 

11 have led to innovations that offer substantial benefit 

12 to the people and the economy of the United States. 

13 (2) People in the United States increasingly 

14 rely on interactive computer services to commu15 nicate, gather information, and conduct transactions 

16 that are central to our economic, political, social, 

17 and cultural life. 

18 (3) The content moderation decisions made by 

19 providers of interactive computer services shape the 

20 online information ecosystem available to people in 

21 the United States and impact free expression. 

22 (4) There is a compelling government interest 

23 in having providers of interactive computer services 

24 provide information to the public about their content 

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1 pact those policies may have on the speech interests 

2 of their consumers. 

3 (5) The people of the United States benefit 

4 from transparent information about the decisions 

5 interactive computer service providers make regard6 ing their content moderation practices, including re7 moving, maintaining, blocking, amplifying, 

8 prioritizing, or deprioritizing information provided 

9 by other consumers. 

10 (6) The Federal Government should hold inter11 active computer service providers accountable when 

12 they fail to respond to consumers’ concerns about 

13 their content moderation decisions. 

14 (7) Federal and State court decisions and Fed15 eral statutes and regulations that apply to offline 

16 commerce do not always govern online commerce 

17 and communications. 

18 (8) The rights of consumers should extend to 

19 online commerce and communications to provide a 

20 level playing field for all consumers and companies, 

21 and to prevent wrongdoing and victimization of peo22 ple in the United States. 

23 SEC. 4. POLICY. 

24 It is the policy of the United States— 


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1 (1) to preserve the internet and other inter2 active computer services as forums for diversity of 

3 political discourse, opportunities for cultural develop4 ment, and places for intellectual and commercial ac5 tivity; 

6 (2) to ensure consumers have accessible and 

7 clear information about the acceptable use policies of 

8 interactive computer service providers so that con9 sumers are informed about the content moderation 

10 policies and practices of those providers when they 

11 participate in, or engage with, those services; 

12 (3) to create accountability and transparency 

13 measures to diminish the likelihood that interactive 

14 computer service providers are engaging in unfair or 

15 deceptive practices; 

16 (4) to encourage the development and use of 

17 technologies that minimize illegal activities and con18 tent and potentially policy-violating content; 

19 (5) to ensure that the consumer rights of users 

20 of interactive computer services are maintained and 

21 extended to activities that the users may participate 

22 in online; and 

23 (6) to hold interactive computer service pro24 viders accountable, and exempt them from immunity 

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1 tions Act of 1934 (commonly known as ‘‘section 230 

2 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996’’) (47 

3 U.S.C. 230), when they help develop illegal content 

4 or contribute to illegal content or conduct online. 

5 SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY AND PROCESS REQUIREMENTS. 

6 (a) ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY.— 

7 (1) PUBLICATION OF ACCEPTABLE USE POL8 ICY.—A provider of an interactive computer service 

9 shall publish an acceptable use policy in accordance 

10 with paragraph (2) in a location that is easily acces11 sible to the user. 

12 (2) CONTENTS OF POLICY.—The acceptable use 

13 policy of a provider of an interactive computer serv14 ice shall— 

15 (A) reasonably inform users about the 

16 types of content that are allowed on the inter17 active computer service; 

18 (B) explain the steps the provider takes to 

19 ensure content complies with the acceptable use 

20 policy; 

21 (C) explain the means by which users can 

22 notify the provider of potentially policy-violating 

23 content, illegal content, or illegal activity, which 

24 shall include— 


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1 (i) subject to subsection (e), making 

2 available a live company representative 

3 through a toll-free telephone number dur4 ing regular business hours for not fewer 

5 than 8 hours per day and 5 days per week 

6 to assist users with the process of making 

7 a complaint; 

8 (ii) an email address or relevant in9 take mechanism to handle user complaints; 

10 and 

11 (iii) subject to subsection (e), a com12 plaint system described in subsection (b); 

13 and 

14 (D) include publication of a biannual 

15 transparency report outlining actions taken to 

16 enforce the policy, as described in subsection 

17 (d). 

18 (b) COMPLAINT SYSTEM.—Subject to subsection (e), 

19 a provider of an interactive computer service shall provide 

20 a system that is easily accessible to a user through which 

21 the user may submit in good faith, and track, a complaint 

22 regarding any content or activity on the interactive com23 puter service, including a complaint regarding— 

24 (1) potentially policy-violating content, illegal 

25 content, or illegal activity; or 


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1 (2) a decision of the interactive computer serv2 ice provider to remove content posted by the infor3 mation content provider. 

4 (c) PROCESSING OF COMPLAINTS.— 

5 (1) COMPLAINTS REGARDING ILLEGAL CON6 TENT, ILLEGAL ACTIVITY, OR POTENTIALLY POLICY7 VIOLATING CONTENT.— 

8 (A) ILLEGAL CONTENT OR ILLEGAL ACTIV9 ITY.— 

10 (i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to sub11 section (e), and except as provided in 

12 clause (ii), if a provider of an interactive 

13 computer service receives notice of illegal 

14 content or illegal activity on the interactive 

15 computer service that substantially com16 plies with the requirements under para17 graph (3)(B)(ii) of section 230(c) of the 

18 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

19 230(c)), as added by section 6(a), the pro20 vider shall remove the content or stop the 

21 activity not later than 4 days after receiv22 ing the notice, subject to reasonable excep23 tions, including concerns about the legit24 imacy of the notice. 


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1 (ii) TIMELINE FOR NOTICE EMA2 NATING FROM DEFAULT JUDGMENTS AND

3 STIPULATED AGREEMENTS.—If a notice of 

4 illegal content or illegal activity described 

5 in clause (i) emanates from a default judg6 ment or stipulated agreement, that clause 

7 shall be applied by substituting ‘‘10 days’’ 

8 for ‘‘4 days’’. 

9 (B) POTENTIALLY POLICY-VIOLATING CON10 TENT.—Subject to subsection (e), if a provider 

11 of an interactive computer service receives a 

12 complaint made in good faith through the com13 plaint system of the provider established under 

14 subsection (b) regarding potentially policy-vio15 lating content on the interactive computer serv16 ice, the provider shall, not later than 14 days 

17 after receiving the complaint— 

18 (i) review the content; 

19 (ii) determine whether the content ad20 heres to the acceptable use policy of the 

21 provider; and 

22 (iii) initiate appropriate steps based 

23 on the determination made under clause 

24 (ii), subject to reasonable extensions in 

25 cases requiring extraordinary investigation. 


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1 (2) PROCESS AFTER REMOVAL OF CONTENT.— 

2 (A) REMOVAL BASED ON USER COM3 PLAINT.— 

4 (i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 

5 (ii), if a provider of an interactive com6 puter service removes potentially policy-vio7 lating content based on a user complaint, 

8 the provider of the interactive computer 

9 service shall, concurrently with the re10 moval— 

11 (I) notify the information content 

12 provider and the complainant of the 

13 removal and explain why the content 

14 was removed; 

15 (II) allow the information content 

16 provider to appeal the decision; and 

17 (III) notify the information con18 tent provider and the complainant 

19 of— 

20 (aa) the determination re21 garding the appeal under sub22 clause (II); and 

23 (bb) in the case of a reversal 

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1 tent in question, the reason for 

2 the reversal. 

3 (ii) EXCEPTIONS.—A provider of an 

4 interactive computer service shall not be 

5 required to provide an information content 

6 provider with notice or an opportunity to 

7 appeal under clause (i) if— 

8 (I) the provider of the interactive 

9 computer service is unable to contact 

10 the information content provider after 

11 taking reasonable steps to do so; or 

12 (II)(aa) the provider of the inter13 active computer service reasonably be14 lieves that such notice would risk im15 minent harm to any person or impede 

16 law enforcement activities; or 

17 (bb) a law enforcement agency, 

18 based on a reasonable belief that such 

19 notice would interfere with an ongoing 

20 investigation, requests that the pro21 vider of the interactive computer serv22 ice not provide such notice. 

23 (B) REMOVAL BASED ON MODERATION DE24 CISIONS OF INTERACTIVE COMPUTER SERVICE

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1 puter service receives notice, through a com2 plaint from the information content provider, 

3 that the provider of the interactive computer 

4 service removed content of the information con5 tent provider that the information content pro6 vider believes does not violate the acceptable 

7 use policy of the provider of the interactive 

8 computer service, the provider of the interactive 

9 computer service shall, not later than 14 days 

10 after receiving notice— 

11 (i) review the content; 

12 (ii) determine whether the content ad13 heres to the acceptable use policy of the 

14 provider of the interactive computer serv15 ice; 

16 (iii) take appropriate steps based on 

17 the determination made under clause (ii); 

18 and 

19 (iv) notify the information content 

20 provider regarding the determination made 

21 under clause (ii) and steps taken under 

22 clause (iii). 

23 (d) BIANNUAL TRANSPARENCY REPORT.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (e), as 

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1 section (a), a provider of an interactive computer 

2 service shall publish a transparency report every 6 

3 months in accordance with this subsection. 

4 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—A provider of an inter5 active computer service shall include in the trans6 parency report required under paragraph (1)— 

7 (A) the total number of unique monthly 

8 visitors to the interactive computer service dur9 ing the preceding 6-month and 12-month peri10 ods; 

11 (B) the number of instances during the 

12 preceding 6-month period in which illegal con13 tent, illegal activity, or potentially policy-vio14 lating content was flagged— 

15 (i) due to a complaint by a user of the 

16 interactive computer service; 

17 (ii) internally, by— 

18 (I) an employee or contractor of 

19 the provider; or 

20 (II) an internal automated detec21 tion tool, not including content or ac22 tivity identified as— 

23 (aa) spam; or 

24 (bb) fraudulent activity; or 


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1 (iii) by another type of entity, such as 

2 a government agency, third-party re3 searcher, or other provider of an inter4 active computer service; 

5 (C) the number of instances during the 

6 preceding 6-month period in which the inter7 active computer service provider took action 

8 with respect to illegal content, illegal activity, or 

9 known potentially policy-violating content due 

10 to its nature as illegal content, illegal activity, 

11 or known potentially policy-violating content, 

12 respectively, and the type of action taken, in13 cluding the number of instances of content re14 moval, content demonetization, content 

15 deprioritization, appending content with an as16 sessment, account suspension, account removal, 

17 or any other action taken in accordance with 

18 the acceptable use policy of the provider, cat19 egorized by— 

20 (i) the category of rule violated, with 

21 respect to the acceptable use policy; 

22 (ii) the source of the flag, including 

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1 sonnel employed or contracted for by the 

2 provider; 

3 (iii) the country of the information 

4 content provider; and 

5 (iv) whether the action was in re6 sponse to a coordinated campaign, as de7 termined by the interactive computer serv8 ice provider; 

9 (D) the number of instances during the 

10 preceding 6-month period in which the inter11 active computer service provider decided to not 

12 take action under subsection (c)(1)(B)(iii) with 

13 respect to content that violated the acceptable 

14 use policy of the provider; 

15 (E)(i) the number of instances during the 

16 preceding 6-month period in which an informa17 tion content provider appealed a decision to re18 move potentially policy-violating content; and 

19 (ii) the percentage of appeals described in 

20 clause (i) that resulted in the restoration of 

21 content; 

22 (F) a descriptive summary of the kinds of 

23 tools, practices, actions, and techniques used 

24 during the preceding 6-month period in enforc25 ing the acceptable use policy of the interactive 


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1 computer service provider that does not jeop2 ardize the effectiveness of these tools; and 

3 (G) any other information with respect to 

4 the preceding 6-month period that would en5 hance the effectiveness of the transparency re6 port, as determined by the interactive computer 

7 service provider. 

8 (3) PRIVACY.—An interactive computer service 

9 provider shall publish the transparency report under 

10 paragraph (1) in a manner that preserves the pri11 vacy of information content providers. 

12 (4) FORMAT.—A provider of an interactive 

13 computer service shall publish the information de14 scribed in paragraph (2) with an open license, in a 

15 machine-readable and open format, and in a location 

16 that is easily accessible to consumers. 

17 (e) INDIVIDUAL AND SMALL BUSINESS PROVIDER

18 EXEMPTIONS.— 

19 (1) INDIVIDUAL PROVIDERS.—The following 

20 provisions shall not apply to an individual provider: 

21 (A) Clauses (i) and (iii) of subsection 

22 (a)(2)(C) (relating to a live company represent23 ative and a complaint system, respectively). 

24 (B) Subsection (b) (relating to a complaint 

25 system). 


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1 (C) Paragraphs (1)(B) and (2) of sub2 section (c) (relating to processing complaints 

3 regarding potentially policy-violating content 

4 and the process after removal of such content, 

5 respectively). 

6 (D) Subsection (d) (relating to a trans7 parency report). 

8 (2) SMALL BUSINESS PROVIDERS.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The following provi10 sions shall not apply to a small business pro11 vider: 

12 (i) Subsection (a)(2)(C)(i) (relating to 

13 a live company representative). 

14 (ii) Subsection (d) (relating to a 

15 transparency report). 

16 (B) DEADLINE FOR PROCESSING COM17 PLAINTS REGARDING POTENTIALLY POLICY-VIO18 LATING CONTENT.—Subsection (c)(1)(B) shall 

19 be applied to a small business provider by sub20 stituting ‘‘21 days’’ for ‘‘14 days’’. 

21 (f) INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICE EXEMP22 TION.—Subsections (a) through (e) shall not apply to— 

23 (1) a provider of an interactive computer serv24 ice that is used by another interactive computer 

25 service for the management, control, or operation of 


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1 that other interactive computer service, including for 

2 services such as web hosting, domain registration, 

3 content delivery networks, caching, security, back4 end data storage, and cloud management; or 

5 (2) a provider of broadband internet access 

6 service, as that term is defined in section 8.1(b) of 

7 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc8 cessor regulation). 

9 (g) ENFORCEMENT BY COMMISSION.— 

10 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC11 TICES.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—A violation of sub13 section (c)(1)(B), (c)(2), or (d) shall be treated 

14 as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or de15 ceptive act or practice under section 

16 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission 

17 Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). 

18 (B) LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY.—Nothing 

19 in subparagraph (A) shall be construed to su20 persede paragraph (1) or (2) of section 230(c) 

21 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

22 230(c)) or to otherwise authorize the Commis23 sion to review any action or decision by a pro24 vider of an interactive computer service related 


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1 to the application of the acceptable use policy of 

2 the provider. 

3 (2) POWERS OF COMMISSION.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

5 subparagraph (C), the Commission shall enforce 

6 this section in the same manner, by the same 

7 means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, 

8 and duties as though all applicable terms and 

9 provisions of the Federal Trade Commission 

10 Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incorporated 

11 into and made a part of this Act. 

12 (B) PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES.—Ex13 cept as provided in subparagraph (C), any per14 son who violates this section shall be subject to 

15 the penalties and entitled to the privileges and 

16 immunities provided in the Federal Trade Com17 mission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.). 

18 (C) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.—Not19 withstanding section 4 of the Federal Trade 

20 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 44) or any jurisdic21 tional limitation of the Commission, the Com22 mission shall also enforce this section, in the 

23 same manner provided in subparagraphs (A) 

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1 nizations not organized to carry on business for 

2 their own profit or that of their members. 

3 (h) NO EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in this 

4 section shall impair, limit, expand, or otherwise affect the 

5 scope or application of— 

6 (1) rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Proce7 dure; 

8 (2) section 1651 of title 28, United States Code 

9 (commonly known as the ‘‘All Writs Act’’); or 

10 (3) any law pertaining to intellectual property, 

11 including— 

12 (A) title 17, United States Code; and 

13 (B) the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for 

14 the registration and protection of trademarks 

15 used in commerce, to carry out the provisions 

16 of certain international conventions, and for 

17 other purposes’’, approved July 5, 1946 (com18 monly known as the ‘‘Trademark Act of 1946’’ 

19 or the ‘‘Lanham Act’’) (15 U.S.C. 1051 et 

20 seq.). 

21 (i) GAO REPORT ON WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION

22 AND AWARDS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

23 enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 

24 United States shall submit a report to Congress assessing 

25 the viability, including the anticipated cost and benefit to 


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1 consumers, of establishing a whistleblower protection and 

2 award program for employees and contractors of inter3 active computer services, to be administered by the Com4 mission, that would enable reporting and enforcement of 

5 violations of consumer protections that take place online. 

6 (j) NIST VOLUNTARY FRAMEWORK.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 

8 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 

9 of the National Institute of Standards and Tech10 nology shall develop a voluntary framework, with 

11 input from relevant experts, that consists of non12 binding standards, guidelines, and best practices to 

13 manage risk and shared challenges related to, for 

14 the purposes of this Act, good faith moderation 

15 practices by interactive computer service providers. 

16 (2) CONTENTS.—The framework developed 

17 under paragraph (1) shall include— 

18 (A) technical standards and processes for 

19 the sharing of information among providers of 

20 an interactive computer service; 

21 (B) recommendations on automated detec22 tion tools and the appropriate nature and level 

23 of human review to correct for machine error in 

24 assessing nuanced or context-specific issues; 


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1 (C) standards and processes for providing 

2 researchers access to data to conduct scientific, 

3 historical, statistical, and other relevant re4 search, including with respect to content that is 

5 removed, demonetized, or deprioritized by the 

6 provider of an interactive computer service; and 

7 (D) methods to strengthen the capacity of 

8 a provider of an interactive computer service to 

9 authenticate documentation of a determination 

10 by a court that content or an activity violates 

11 Federal law or State defamation law. 

12 SEC. 6. PROTECTION EXEMPTIONS. 

13 (a) EXEMPTION FROM LIABILITY PROTECTION.— 

14 Section 230(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

15 U.S.C. 230(c)) is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(3) PROTECTION EXEMPTION.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara19 graph (B), the protection under paragraph (1) 

20 shall not apply to a provider of an interactive 

21 computer service, with respect to illegal content 

22 shared or illegal activity occurring on the inter23 active computer service, if the provider— 

24 ‘‘(i) has actual knowledge of the ille25 gal content or illegal activity; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) does not remove the illegal con2 tent or stop the illegal activity— 

3 ‘‘(I) within 4 days of acquiring 

4 that knowledge, subject to reasonable 

5 exceptions based on concerns about 

6 the legitimacy of the notice; or 

7 ‘‘(II) if the knowledge is acquired 

8 from a notice that emanates from a 

9 default judgment or stipulated agree10 ment— 

11 ‘‘(aa) within 10 days of ac12 quiring that knowledge; or 

13 ‘‘(bb) if the provider seeks 

14 to vacate the default judgment or 

15 stipulated agreement under sub16 paragraph (B)(i)(III) and the 

17 proceeding initiated under that 

18 subparagraph results in a deter19 mination that the default judg20 ment or stipulated agreement 

21 should remain intact, within 24 

22 hours of that determination. 

23 ‘‘(B) NOTICE EMANATING FROM DEFAULT

24 JUDGMENT OR STIPULATED AGREEMENT.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) VACATUR OF DEFAULT JUDG2 MENT OR STIPULATED AGREEMENT.—Sub3 paragraph (A) shall not apply to a provider 

4 of an interactive computer service if— 

5 ‘‘(I) a notice of illegal content or 

6 illegal activity described in that sub7 paragraph emanates from a default 

8 judgment or stipulated agreement; 

9 ‘‘(II) the notice described in sub10 clause (I) does not include a sworn af11 fidavit with sufficient evidence to con12 stitute a prima facie showing in sup13 port of each underlying cause of ac14 tion upon which the default judgment 

15 or stipulated agreement was obtained; 

16 ‘‘(III) not later than 10 days 

17 after receiving the notice, the inter18 active computer service provider files, 

19 in good faith, to intervene and seek to 

20 vacate the default judgment or stipu21 lated agreement in the court in which 

22 the judgment was obtained; and 

23 ‘‘(IV) the proceeding initiated 

24 under subclause (III) results in 


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1 vacatur of the default judgment or 

2 stipulated agreement. 

3 ‘‘(ii) COSTS AND FEES.—If the pro4 ceeding initiated under clause (i)(III) re5 sults in a determination that the default 

6 judgment or stipulated agreement was 

7 sought fraudulently, the provider of the 

8 interactive computer service may seek re9 imbursement of costs and fees relating to 

10 the proceeding. 

11 ‘‘(C) NOTICE OF ILLEGAL CONTENT OR IL12 LEGAL ACTIVITY.— 

13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A provider of an 

14 interactive computer service shall be 

15 deemed to have actual knowledge of illegal 

16 content or illegal activity for purposes of 

17 subparagraph (A) only if the provider re18 ceives notice of such content or activity 

19 that substantially complies with the re20 quirements under clause (ii) of this sub21 paragraph. 

22 ‘‘(ii) ELEMENTS.—Notice of illegal 

23 content or illegal activity provided to a 

24 provider of an interactive computer service 


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1 as described in clause (i) shall be in writ2 ing and include the following: 

3 ‘‘(I) A copy of the order from a 

4 trial or appellate Federal or State 

5 court, in its entirety, and unsealed if 

6 the court has ordered it to be sealed, 

7 under which the content or activity 

8 was determined to violate Federal 

9 criminal or civil law or State defama10 tion law, and to the extent available, 

11 any references substantiating the va12 lidity of the order, such as the web 

13 addresses of public court docket infor14 mation. 

15 ‘‘(II) Information that is reason16 ably sufficient to allow the provider to 

17 identify and locate the illegal content 

18 or illegal activity, including each user 

19 or account engaged in the illegal ac20 tivity and specific locations of content 

21 or accounts involved in the illegal con22 tent or activity, such as URLs, links, 

23 or unique usernames. 

24 ‘‘(III) Information reasonably 

25 sufficient to permit the provider to 


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1 contact the complaining party, which 

2 shall include— 

3 ‘‘(aa) if the complaining 

4 party is a user of the interactive 

5 computer service, information 

6 identifying the user account; and 

7 ‘‘(bb) if the complaining 

8 party is not a user of the inter9 active computer service, an email 

10 address of the complaining party. 

11 ‘‘(IV) A statement by the com12 plaining party, made under penalty of 

13 perjury in accordance with section 

14 1746 of title 28, United States Code, 

15 that— 

16 ‘‘(aa) the information in the 

17 notice is accurate; and 

18 ‘‘(bb) the content or activity 

19 described in the notice has been 

20 determined by a trial or appellate 

21 Federal or State court to violate 

22 Federal criminal or civil law or 

23 State defamation law. 

24 ‘‘(D) NOTICE TO INFORMATION CONTENT

25 PROVIDER BEFORE REMOVAL OR STOPPING.—A 


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1 provider of an interactive computer service that 

2 receives notice of illegal content or illegal activ3 ity shall notify the information content provider 

4 before removing the content or stopping the ac5 tivity, subject to commercially reasonable expec6 tations. 

7 ‘‘(E) LIMITATIONS FOR INTERNET INFRA8 STRUCTURE SERVICES.—Subparagraph (A) 

9 shall not apply with respect to— 

10 ‘‘(i) an interactive computer service 

11 that is used by another interactive com12 puter service for the management, control, 

13 or operation of that other interactive com14 puter service, including for services such as 

15 web hosting, domain registration, content 

16 delivery networks, caching, security, back17 end data storage, and cloud management; 

18 or 

19 ‘‘(ii) a provider of broadband internet 

20 access service, as that term is defined in 

21 section 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of Federal 

22 Regulations (or any successor regulation). 

23 ‘‘(F) MONITORING OR AFFIRMATIVE FACT24 SEEKING NOT REQUIRED.—Nothing in this 

25 paragraph shall be construed to condition the 


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1 applicability of paragraph (1) to a provider of 

2 an interactive computer service on the provider 

3 monitoring the interactive computer service or 

4 affirmatively seeking facts indicating illegal con5 tent or illegal activity in order to identify in6 stances of content or activity additional to any 

7 instances about which the provider has received 

8 notice. 

9 ‘‘(G) ENFORCEMENT EXEMPTION.—Noth10 ing in this paragraph shall be construed to im11 pair or limit the application of paragraph (1) or 

12 (2) of subsection (e). 

13 ‘‘(H) NO EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.— 

14 Nothing in this paragraph shall impair, limit, 

15 expand, or otherwise affect the scope or applica16 tion of— 

17 ‘‘(i) rule 65 of the Federal Rules of 

18 Civil Procedure; 

19 ‘‘(ii) section 1651 of title 28, United 

20 States Code (commonly known as the ‘All 

21 Writs Act’); or 

22 ‘‘(iii) any law pertaining to intellectual 

23 property, including— 

24 ‘‘(I) title 17, United States Code; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(II) the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to 

2 provide for the registration and pro3 tection of trademarks used in com4 merce, to carry out the provisions of 

5 certain international conventions, and 

6 for other purposes’’, approved July 5, 

7 1946 (commonly known as the 

8 ‘‘Trademark Act of 1946’’ or the 

9 ‘Lanham Act’) (15 U.S.C. 1051 et 

10 seq.).’’. 

11 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 230(f) of the Commu12 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)) is amended by 

13 adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(5) ILLEGAL ACTIVITY.—The term ‘illegal ac15 tivity’ means activity conducted by an information 

16 content provider that has been determined by a trial 

17 or appellate Federal or State court to violate Fed18 eral criminal or civil law. 

19 ‘‘(6) ILLEGAL CONTENT.—The term ‘illegal 

20 content’ means information provided by an informa21 tion content provider that has been determined by a 

22 trial or appellate Federal or State court to violate— 

23 ‘‘(A) Federal criminal or civil law; or 

24 ‘‘(B) State defamation law.’’. 


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1 (c) TECHNICAL CORRECTION.—Section 230(c)(2)(B) 

2 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

3 230(c)(2)(B)) is amended by striking ‘‘paragraph (1)’’ 

4 and inserting ‘‘subparagraph (A)’’. 

5 SEC. 7. FEDERAL AND STATE ENFORCEMENT. 

6 Section 230(e)(1) of the Communications Act of 

7 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(e)) is amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘(1) NO EFFECT ON FEDERAL CRIMINAL OR

9 CIVIL LAW.—Nothing in this section shall be con10 strued to limit, impair, or prevent the enforcement 

11 or investigation by the Federal Government or a 

12 State attorney general, as applicable, of— 

13 ‘‘(A) any other Federal criminal or civil 

14 statute; or 

15 ‘‘(B) any regulation of an Executive agen16 cy (as defined in section 105 of title 5, United 

17 States Code) or an establishment in the legisla18 tive branch of the Federal Government.’’. 

19 SEC. 8. SEVERABILITY. 

20 If any provision of this Act or an amendment made 

21 by this Act, or the application of such a provision or 

22 amendment to any person or circumstance, is held to be 

23 unenforceable or invalid, the remaining provisions of this 

24 Act and amendments made by this Act, and the applica25 tion of the provision or amendment so held to other perVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:35 Apr 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00032 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S797.IS S797

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1 sons not similarly situated or to other circumstances, shall 

2 not be affected thereby. 

3 SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

4 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

5 take effect on the date that is 18 months after the date 

6 of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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