II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3029 

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

immunity for providers of interactive computer services for certain claims, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 20, 2021 

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

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

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

1934 to remove immunity for providers of 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: 

6 ‘‘(3) ALGORITHMIC AMPLIFICATION.— 

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

9 service shall be considered to be an information 

10 content provider and the protection under that 

11 paragraph shall not apply for any claim de12 scribed in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph. 

13 ‘‘(B) CONDITIONS FOR CLAIM.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A claim described 

15 in this subparagraph is a claim— 

16 ‘‘(I) in a civil action brought 

17 under— 

18 ‘‘(aa) section 1980 or 1981 

19 of the Revised Statutes (42 

20 U.S.C. 1985, 1986); or 

21 ‘‘(bb) section 2333 of title 

22 18, United States Code; and 

23 ‘‘(II) that, except as provided in 

24 clause (ii), involves a case in which 

25 the interactive computer service used 

26 an algorithm, model, or other comVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Oct 23, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3029.IS S3029

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1 putational process to rank, order, pro2 mote, recommend, amplify, or simi3 larly alter the delivery or display of 

4 information (including any text, 

5 image, audio, or video post, page, 

6 group, account, channel, or affiliation) 

7 provided to a user of the service if the 

8 information is directly relevant to the 

9 claim. 

10 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—The requirement 

11 under clause (i)(II) is not satisfied if— 

12 ‘‘(I) the information delivery or 

13 display is ranked, ordered, promoted, 

14 recommended, amplified, or similarly 

15 altered in a way that is obvious, un16 derstandable, and transparent to a 

17 reasonable user based only on the de18 livery or display of the information 

19 (without the need to reference the 

20 terms of service or any other agree21 ment), including sorting informa22 tion— 

23 ‘‘(aa) chronologically or re24 verse chronologically; 


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1 ‘‘(bb) by average user rating 

2 or number of user reviews; 

3 ‘‘(cc) alphabetically; 

4 ‘‘(dd) randomly; and 

5 ‘‘(ee) by views, downloads, 

6 or a similar usage metric; or 

7 ‘‘(II) the algorithm, model, or 

8 other computational process is used 

9 for information for which a user spe10 cifically searches. 

11 ‘‘(C) EXEMPTIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(i) SMALL BUSINESSES.—Subpara13 graph (A) shall not apply to an interactive 

14 computer service that (in combination with 

15 each subsidiary and affiliate of the service) 

16 had not more than 10,000,000 unique 

17 monthly visitors or users for not fewer 

18 than 3 of the preceding 12 months. 

19 ‘‘(ii) INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE.— 

20 Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to a pro21 vider of an interactive computer service 

22 that is used by another interactive com23 puter service for the management, control, 

24 or operation of that other interactive com25 puter service, including for— 


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1 ‘‘(I) web hosting; 

2 ‘‘(II) domain registration; 

3 ‘‘(III) content delivery networks; 

4 ‘‘(IV) caching; 

5 ‘‘(V) data storage; and 

6 ‘‘(VI) cybersecurity.’’. 

Æ 


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