II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2338 

To improve fairness in political speech, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 14, 2021 

Mr. DAINES introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To improve fairness in political speech, 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 ‘‘Preserving Political 

5 Speech Online Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FAIRNESS IN POLITICAL ADVERTISING. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

8 date of enactment of this section, the Commission shall 

9 initiate a rulemaking proceeding in accordance with sec10 tion 553 of title 5, United States Code, to require any 

11 online platform or third party advertiser that displays, 


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1 hosts, or otherwise allows the advertisement of a legally 

2 qualified candidate in an election for Federal office to 

3 abide by the following rules of fair access and equal oppor4 tunity: 

5 (1) Any online platform or third party adver6 tiser who permits a legally qualified candidate in an 

7 election for Federal office to display or otherwise 

8 post an advertisement on such online platform or 

9 through such third party advertiser shall afford 

10 equal advertisement opportunities to any other le11 gally qualified candidate for such office in such elec12 tion. 

13 (2) Any online platform or third party adver14 tiser shall charge comparable rates to each legally 

15 qualified candidate for any advertising service de16 scribed in paragraph (1). 

17 (3) Any online platform or third party adver18 tiser shall have no power of censorship over the con19 tent of any advertisement described in this sub20 section. 

21 (b) TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENT.—An online plat22 form shall maintain, and make available online for public 

23 inspection in a machine readable format, a complete 

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1 gally qualified candidate on such online platform within 

2 24 hours of such purchase. 

3 (c) ENFORCEMENT BY THE COMMISSION.— 

4 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC5 TICES.—A violation of subsection (a) or (b) or a rule 

6 promulgated thereunder shall be treated as a viola7 tion of a rule defining an unfair or a deceptive act 

8 or practice under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal 

9 Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). 

10 (2) POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 

12 enforce this section in the same manner, by the 

13 same means, and with the same jurisdiction, 

14 powers, and duties as though all applicable 

15 terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 

16 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were in17 corporated into and made a part of this section. 

18 (B) PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES.—Any 

19 person who violates subsection (a) or (b) or a 

20 rule promulgated thereunder shall be subject to 

21 the penalties and entitled to the privileges and 

22 immunities provided in the Federal Trade Com23 mission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.). 

24 (C) AUTHORITY PRESERVED.—Nothing in 

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1 thority of the Federal Trade Commission under 

2 any other provision of law. 

3 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

5 means the Federal Trade Commission. 

6 (2) ELECTION.—The term ‘‘election’’ has the 

7 meaning given that term in section 301 of the Fed8 eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 

9 30101). 

10 (3) FEDERAL OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Federal of11 fice’’ has the meaning given that term in section 301 

12 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 

13 U.S.C. 30101). 

14 (4) LEGALLY QUALIFIED CANDIDATE.—The 

15 term ‘‘legally qualified candidate’’ has the meaning 

16 given that term for purposes of section 315 of the 

17 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 315). 

18 (5) ONLINE PLATFORM.—The term ‘‘online 

19 platform’’ means any public-facing website, web ap20 plication, or digital application, including a social 

21 network, video streaming service, advertisement net22 work, or search engine. 

23 (6) THIRD PARTY ADVERTISER.—The term 

24 ‘‘third party advertiser’’ means any advertisement 

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1 utes or serves advertisements on an affiliated or un2 affiliated online platform. 

3 SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

4 COMMISSION EQUAL OPPORTUNITY RE5 QUIREMENTS TO ADDITIONAL LICENSEES. 

6 Part I of title III of the Communications Act of 1934 

7 (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

8 the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 344. APPLICATION OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITY PRIN10 CIPLES TO LICENSEES THAT SERVE POLIT11 ICAL ADVERTISING THROUGH OTHER MEANS. 

12 ‘‘Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

13 of this section, the Commission shall initiate a rulemaking 

14 to apply the principles of equal opportunity under sections 

15 312(a)(7) and 315 to any licensee that— 

16 ‘‘(1) displays, hosts, or otherwise allows the ad17 vertisement of a legally qualified candidate for any 

18 public office; and 

19 ‘‘(2) is not already subject to those principles 

20 under this Act or under a regulation promulgated by 

21 the Commission.’’. 

22 SEC. 4. PROTECTION FOR ‘‘GOOD SAMARITAN’’ BLOCKING 

23 AND SCREENING OF OFFENSIVE MATERIAL. 

24 Section 230(c)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 

25 (47 U.S.C. 230(c)(2)) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and 

2 (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively, and adjust3 ing the margins accordingly; 

4 (2) in clause (i), as so redesignated— 

5 (A) by striking ‘‘filthy,’’; and 

6 (B) by striking ‘‘harassing, or otherwise 

7 objectionable, whether or not such material is 

8 constitutionally protected’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘harassing or threatening, or promoting illegal 

10 activity’’; 

11 (3) in clause (ii), as so redesignated, by striking 

12 ‘‘paragraph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘clause (i)’’; 

13 (4) in the matter preceding clause (i), as so re14 designated, by striking ‘‘No provider or user’’ and 

15 inserting the following: 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No provider or user’’; 

17 and 

18 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(B) PROHIBITION OF BAD FAITH BLOCK20 ING AND SCREENING.— 

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of 

22 subparagraph (A)(i), it shall not be consid23 ered good faith for a provider of an inter24 active computer service to block, censor, or 

25 screen material on the grounds of race, 


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1 color, religion, sex, national origin, or polit2 ical affiliation or speech. 

3 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—Clause (i) shall 

4 not apply to a provider of an interactive 

5 computer service that operates services 

6 dedicated to a specific set of issues, poli7 cies, beliefs, or viewpoints.’’. 

Æ 


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