I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8517 

To amend section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure that 

the immunity under such section incentivizes online platforms to responsibly address illegal content while not immunizing the disparate treatment 

of ideological viewpoints and continuing to encourage a vibrant, open, 

and competitive internet, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 2, 2020 

Mr. JORDAN (for himself, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. COLLINS

of Georgia, Mr. BUCK, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. 

RESCHENTHALER, Mr. CLINE, Mr. STEUBE, and Mr. TIFFANY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 

and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 

to ensure that the immunity under such section 

incentivizes online platforms to responsibly address illegal 

content while not immunizing the disparate treatment 

of ideological viewpoints and continuing to encourage 

a vibrant, open, and competitive internet, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect Speech Act’’. 

3 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 

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

5 (47 U.S.C. 230(c)) is amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘(c) PROTECTION FOR ‘GOOD SAMARITAN’ BLOCK7 ING AND SCREENING OF OFFENSIVE MATERIAL.— 

8 ‘‘(1) TREATMENT OF PUBLISHER OR SPEAK9 ER.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No provider or user of 

11 an interactive computer service shall be treated 

12 as the publisher or speaker of any information 

13 provided by another information content pro14 vider. 

15 ‘‘(B) APPLICABILITY OF IMMUNITY.—Sub16 paragraph (A) shall not apply to any action by 

17 a provider or user of an interactive computer 

18 service to restrict access to or availability of 

19 material provided by another information con20 tent provider. Any immunity under this section 

21 for such action shall be provided solely by para22 graph (2). 

23 ‘‘(C) NO LIABILITY FOR GOOD FAITH RE24 MOVAL.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), no 

25 provider or user of an interactive computer 

26 service shall be treated as the publisher or 


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1 speaker for any other information on the service 

2 provided by another information content pro3 vider solely on account of actions voluntarily 

4 taken in good faith to restrict access to or 

5 availability of specific material that the provider 

6 or user has an objectively reasonable belief vio7 lates the terms of service or use of the provider 

8 or user, as applicable. 

9 ‘‘(2) CIVIL LIABILITY.—No provider or user of 

10 an interactive computer service shall be held liable 

11 on account of— 

12 ‘‘(A) any action voluntarily taken in good 

13 faith to restrict access to or availability of ma14 terial that the provider or user has an objec15 tively reasonable belief is obscene, lewd, lasciv16 ious, filthy, excessively violent, promoting ter17 rorism or violent extremism, harassing, pro18 moting self-harm, or unlawful, whether or not 

19 such material is constitutionally protected; or 

20 ‘‘(B) any action taken to enable or make 

21 available to information content providers or 

22 others the technical means to restrict access to 

23 material described in subparagraph (A). 

24 ‘‘(3) LIABILITY FOR INFORMATION.—Being re25 sponsible in whole or in part for the creation or deVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:30 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8517.IH H8517

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1 velopment of information includes instances in which 

2 a person or entity solicits, comments upon, funds, or 

3 affirmatively and substantively contributes to, modi4 fies, or alters information provided by another per5 son or entity. 

6 ‘‘(4) GOOD FAITH.—In addition to the other 

7 applicable requirements, in order for a provider or 

8 user to avoid liability under paragraph (1)(C) or 

9 (2)(A), such provider or user shall meet the fol10 lowing requirements, if applicable: 

11 ‘‘(A) Makes publicly available terms of 

12 service or use that state plainly and with par13 ticularity the criteria the interactive computer 

14 service employs in content-moderation practices 

15 of the service. 

16 ‘‘(B) Restricts access to or availability of 

17 material consistent with those terms of service 

18 or use and with any official representations or 

19 disclosures regarding the internet service pro20 vider’s content-moderation practices. 

21 ‘‘(C) Does not restrict access to or avail22 ability of material on deceptive grounds or 

23 apply terms of service or use to restrict access 

24 to or availability of material that is similarly 


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1 situated to material that the service inten2 tionally declines to restrict. 

3 ‘‘(D) Supplies the provider of the material 

4 with timely notice describing with particularity 

5 the reasonable factual basis for the restriction 

6 of access and a meaningful opportunity to re7 spond, unless— 

8 ‘‘(i) a law enforcement agency asks 

9 that such notice not be made; 

10 ‘‘(ii) a service reasonably believes that 

11 the material relates to terrorism or other 

12 criminal activity; or 

13 ‘‘(iii) such notice would risk imminent 

14 harm to others.’’. 

Æ 


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