I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2154 

To amend section 230(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 to prevent 

immunity for interactive computer services for certain claims, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 23, 2021 

Mr. MALINOWSKI (for himself, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. JACOBS of California, Mr. 

NEGUSE, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. PHILLIPS, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. STEVENS, and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend section 230(c) of the Communications Act of 

1934 to prevent immunity for interactive computer services for certain claims, 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 ‘‘Protecting Americans 

5 from Dangerous Algorithms Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY 

2 ACT. 

3 Section 230(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 

4 (47 U.S.C. 230(c)) is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following new paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(3) ALGORITHMIC AMPLIFICATION.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para8 graph (1), an interactive computer service shall 

9 be considered to be an information content pro10 vider and the protection under such paragraph 

11 shall not apply for any claim described in sub12 paragraph (B). 

13 ‘‘(B) CONDITIONS FOR CLAIM.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A claim in this 

15 subparagraph requires the following: 

16 ‘‘(I) A claim in a civil action is 

17 brought under— 

18 ‘‘(aa) section 1980 or 1981 

19 of the Revised Statutes (42 

20 U.S.C. 1985; 42 U.S.C. 1986); 

21 or 

22 ‘‘(bb) section 2333 of title 

23 18, United States Code. 

24 ‘‘(II) Except as provided in 

25 clause (ii), the claim involves a case in 

26 which the interactive computer service 


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1 used an algorithm, model, or other 

2 computational process to rank, order, 

3 promote, recommend, amplify, or 

4 similarly alter the delivery or display 

5 of information (including any text, 

6 image, audio, or video post, page, 

7 group, account, channel, or affiliation) 

8 provided to a user of the service if the 

9 information is directly relevant to the 

10 claim. 

11 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding 

12 clause (i)(II), the requirement is not met 

13 if— 

14 ‘‘(I) the information delivery or 

15 display is ranked, ordered, promoted, 

16 recommended, amplified, or similarly 

17 altered in a way that is obvious, un18 derstandable, and transparent to a 

19 reasonable user based only on the de20 livery or display of the information 

21 (without the need to reference the 

22 terms of service or any other agree23 ment), including sorting informa24 tion— 


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1 ‘‘(aa) chronologically or re2 verse chronologically; 

3 ‘‘(bb) by average user rating 

4 or number of user reviews; 

5 ‘‘(cc) alphabetically; 

6 ‘‘(dd) randomly; and 

7 ‘‘(ee) by views, downloads, 

8 or a similar usage metric; or 

9 ‘‘(II) the algorithm, model, or 

10 other computational process is used 

11 for information a user specifically 

12 searches for. 

13 ‘‘(C) EXEMPTIONS.— 

14 ‘‘(i) SMALL BUSINESSES.—This para15 graph shall not apply to an interactive 

16 computer service that (in combination with 

17 each subsidiary and affiliate of the service) 

18 has 10,000,000 or fewer unique monthly 

19 visitors or users for not fewer than three 

20 of the preceding 12 months. 

21 ‘‘(ii) INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE.— 

22 This paragraph shall not apply to a pro23 vider of an interactive computer service, 

24 when that service is used by another inter25 active computer service for the manageVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 May 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2154.IH H2154

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1 ment, control, or operation of that other 

2 interactive computer service, including 

3 for— 

4 ‘‘(I) web hosting; 

5 ‘‘(II) domain registration; 

6 ‘‘(III) content delivery networks; 

7 ‘‘(IV) caching; 

8 ‘‘(V) data storage; and 

9 ‘‘(VI) cybersecurity.’’. 

Æ 


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