II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3983 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 17, 2020 

Mr. HAWLEY (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. COTTON, Mr. BRAUN, and Mrs. 

LOEFFLER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

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. 

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 ‘‘Limiting Section 230 

5 Immunity to Good Samaritans Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SCOPE OF PROTECTION. 

7 Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

8 U.S.C. 230) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (c)— 

2 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

3 (i) by striking ‘‘No provider’’ and in4 serting the following: 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara6 graph (B), no provider’’; and 

7 (ii) by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(B) CONDITION.—With respect to an 

10 edge provider, subparagraph (A) shall only 

11 apply if the provider adopts and maintains writ12 ten terms of service that— 

13 ‘‘(i) take precedence over other such 

14 terms in case of any conflict between the 

15 sets of terms; 

16 ‘‘(ii) describe any policies of the edge 

17 provider relating to restricting access to or 

18 availability of material; and 

19 ‘‘(iii) promise that the edge provider 

20 shall— 

21 ‘‘(I) design and operate the pro22 vided service in good faith; and 

23 ‘‘(II) if the provider is found, in 

24 a civil action brought in Federal or 

25 State court, or by an arbitrator, to 


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1 breach the promise made under sub2 clause (I) with respect to a claimant 

3 user, pay that user— 

4 ‘‘(aa) the greater of— 

5 ‘‘(AA) damages of not 

6 less than $5,000; or 

7 ‘‘(BB) actual damages; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(bb) with respect to litiga10 tion or arbitration by the user to 

11 enforce the promise— 

12 ‘‘(AA) a reasonable at13 torney’s fee; and 

14 ‘‘(BB) costs and other 

15 expenses described in sec16 tions 1821 and 1920 of title 

17 28, United States Code (or, 

18 in the case of an action 

19 brought in State court or 

20 through arbitration, any 

21 similar costs and other ex22 penses).’’; and 

23 (B) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(3) GOOD FAITH.—For the purposes of this 

2 subsection, a provider of an interactive computer 

3 service— 

4 ‘‘(A) acts in good faith if the provider acts 

5 with an honest belief and purpose, observes fair 

6 dealing standards, and acts without fraudulent 

7 intent; and 

8 ‘‘(B) does not act in good faith if the pro9 vider takes an action that includes— 

10 ‘‘(i) the intentionally selective enforce11 ment of the terms of service of the inter12 active computer service, including the in13 tentionally selective enforcement of policies 

14 of the provider relating to restricting ac15 cess to or availability of material; 

16 ‘‘(ii) enforcing the terms of service of 

17 the interactive computer service, including 

18 enforcing policies of the provider to restrict 

19 access to or availability of material, 

20 against a user by employing an algorithm 

21 that selectively enforces those terms, if the 

22 provider knows, or acts in reckless dis23 regard of the fact, that the algorithm se24 lectively enforces those terms; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) the intentional failure to honor a 

2 public or private promise made by, or on 

3 behalf of, the provider; or 

4 ‘‘(iv) any other intentional action 

5 taken by the provider without an honest 

6 belief and purpose, without observing fair 

7 dealing standards, or with fraudulent in8 tent.’’; 

9 (2) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(6) NO EFFECT ON LEGAL PROMISES.—Noth12 ing in this section shall be construed to impair or 

13 limit any claim for breach of contract, promissory 

14 estoppel, or breach of a duty of good faith.’’; and 

15 (3) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the 

16 following: 

17 ‘‘(5) EDGE PROVIDER.—The term ‘edge pro18 vider’— 

19 ‘‘(A) means an entity that— 

20 ‘‘(i) provides an interactive computer 

21 service— 

22 ‘‘(I) through a website, online ap23 plication, or mobile application (in24 cluding a single interactive computer 


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1 service that is provided through more 

2 than 1 such website or application); 

3 ‘‘(II) through which information 

4 provided by another information con5 tent provider is distributed; and 

6 ‘‘(III) that, in any month during 

7 the most recently completed 12-month 

8 period— 

9 ‘‘(aa) more than 30,000,000 

10 users in the United States 

11 accessed, without regard to the 

12 means by which the users 

13 accessed the service; or 

14 ‘‘(bb) more than 

15 300,000,000 users worldwide 

16 accessed, without regard to the 

17 means by which the users 

18 accessed the service; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) during the most recently com20 pleted taxable year, had more than 

21 $1,500,000,000 in global revenue; and 

22 ‘‘(B) does not include an organization de23 scribed in section 501(c) of the Internal RevVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 Jun 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3983.IS S3983

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1 enue Code of 1986 that is exempt from taxation 

2 under section 501(a) of such Code.’’. 

Æ 


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