II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2917 

To establish a Federal tort against social media companies that cause bodily 

injury to children or harm the mental health of children. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 

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

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish a Federal tort against social media companies 

that cause bodily injury to children or harm the mental 

health of children. 

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 ‘‘Federal Big Tech Tort 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL TORT FOR SOCIAL MEDIA HARM TO CHIL7 DREN. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

9 (1) the term ‘‘covered interactive computer 

10 service’’ means an interactive computer service— 


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1 (A) provided through a website, online ap2 plication, or mobile application (including a sin3 gle interactive computer service that is provided 

4 through more than one such website or applica5 tion); 

6 (B) through which information provided by 

7 another information content provider is distrib8 uted; 

9 (C) that enables an individual user to cre10 ate an account for the purpose of viewing, gen11 erating, or modifying content that can be 

12 viewed, shared, or otherwise interacted with by 

13 other third-party users of the interactive com14 puter service; and 

15 (D) that does not have peer-to-peer mes16 saging as its principal function; 

17 (2) the term ‘‘interactive computer service’’ has 

18 the meaning given the term in section 230 of the 

19 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230); and 

20 (3) the term ‘‘social media company’’— 

21 (A) means a company that provides, in or 

22 affecting interstate or foreign commerce, a cov23 ered interactive computer service; and 

24 (B) does not include an organization de25 scribed in section 501(c) of the Internal RevVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:24 Oct 02, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2917.IS S2917

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1 enue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation 

2 under section 501(a) of such Code. 

3 (b) LIABILITY.—A social media company shall be lia4 ble in accordance with this section to any individual who 

5 suffers bodily injury or harm to mental health that is at6 tributable, in whole or in part, to the individual’s use of 

7 a covered interactive computer service provided by the so8 cial media company when the individual was less than 16 

9 years of age. 

10 (c) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—An individual who 

11 suffers bodily injury or harm to mental health that is at12 tributable, in whole or in part, to the individual’s use of 

13 a covered interactive computer service provided by a social 

14 media company as described in subsection (b) may bring 

15 a civil action against the social media company in an ap16 propriate district court of the United States or a State 

17 court of competent jurisdiction for— 

18 (1) compensatory damages in an amount equal 

19 to the greater of— 

20 (A) the amount obtained by— 

21 (i) for each year in which the indi22 vidual suffered such injury or harm attrib23 utable, in whole or in part, to such use, di24 viding— 


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1 (I) the annual revenue of the so2 cial media company in the United 

3 States during that year, by 

4 (II) the number of active users of 

5 the covered interactive computer serv6 ice during the month that had the 

7 fewest such users during that year; 

8 and 

9 (ii) adding together the amounts cal10 culated under clause (i) for each year in 

11 which the individual suffered such injury 

12 or harm attributable, in whole or in part, 

13 to such use; or 

14 (B) actual damages; 

15 (2) punitive damages; and 

16 (3) attorney’s fees and costs. 

17 (d) AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE.—It shall be an affirma18 tive defense to an action brought by or on behalf of a user 

19 of a covered interactive computer service provided by a 

20 social media company under subsection (c) that the social 

21 media company, at all relevant times— 

22 (1) took reasonable, affirmative steps to ascer23 tain the age of each user of the covered interactive 

24 computer service; and 


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1 (2) did not know and had no reason to know 

2 that the user in question was less than 16 years of 

3 age when the user used the interactive computer 

4 service. 

5 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.—This Act— 

6 (1) shall take effect on the date that is 180 

7 days after the date of enactment of this Act; and 

8 (2) shall not apply to any use of a covered 

9 interactive computer service that took place before 

10 the effective date under paragraph (1). 

Æ 


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