I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8596 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide accountability for 

bad actors who abuse the Good Samaritan protections provided under 

that Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 16, 2020 

Mr. BUDD (for himself, Mr. CRAWFORD, Mr. FLORES, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. 

GOODEN, Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina, and Mr. WALTZ) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide accountability for bad actors who abuse the Good Samaritan protections provided under that Act, 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 ‘‘Limiting Section 230 

5 Immunity to Good Samaritans Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SCOPE OF PROTECTION. 

2 Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

3 U.S.C. 230) is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (c)— 

5 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

6 (i) by striking ‘‘No provider’’ and in7 serting the following: 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara9 graph (B), no provider’’; and 

10 (ii) by adding at the end the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(B) CONDITION.—With respect to an 

13 edge provider, subparagraph (A) shall only 

14 apply if the provider adopts and maintains writ15 ten terms of service that— 

16 ‘‘(i) take precedence over other such 

17 terms in case of any conflict between the 

18 sets of terms; 

19 ‘‘(ii) describe any policies of the edge 

20 provider relating to restricting access to or 

21 availability of material; and 

22 ‘‘(iii) promise that the edge provider 

23 shall— 

24 ‘‘(I) design and operate the pro25 vided service in good faith; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) if the provider is found, in 

2 a civil action brought in Federal or 

3 State court, or by an arbitrator, to 

4 breach the promise made under sub5 clause (I) with respect to a claimant 

6 user, pay that user— 

7 ‘‘(aa) the greater of— 

8 ‘‘(AA) damages of not 

9 less than $5,000; or 

10 ‘‘(BB) actual damages; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(bb) with respect to litiga13 tion or arbitration by the user to 

14 enforce the promise— 

15 ‘‘(AA) a reasonable at16 torney’s fee; and 

17 ‘‘(BB) costs and other 

18 expenses described in sec19 tions 1821 and 1920 of title 

20 28, United States Code (or, 

21 in the case of an action 

22 brought in State court or 

23 through arbitration, any 

24 similar costs and other ex25 penses).’’; and 


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1 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(3) GOOD FAITH.—For the purposes of this 

3 subsection, a provider of an interactive computer 

4 service— 

5 ‘‘(A) acts in good faith if the provider acts 

6 with an honest belief and purpose, observes fair 

7 dealing standards, and acts without fraudulent 

8 intent; and 

9 ‘‘(B) does not act in good faith if the pro10 vider takes an action that includes— 

11 ‘‘(i) the intentionally selective enforce12 ment of the terms of service of the inter13 active computer service, including the in14 tentionally selective enforcement of policies 

15 of the provider relating to restricting ac16 cess to or availability of material; 

17 ‘‘(ii) enforcing the terms of service of 

18 the interactive computer service, including 

19 enforcing policies of the provider to restrict 

20 access to or availability of material, 

21 against a user by employing an algorithm 

22 that selectively enforces those terms, if the 

23 provider knows, or acts in reckless dis24 regard of the fact, that the algorithm se25 lectively enforces those terms; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) the intentional failure to honor a 

2 public or private promise made by, or on 

3 behalf of, the provider; or 

4 ‘‘(iv) any other intentional action 

5 taken by the provider without an honest 

6 belief and purpose, without observing fair 

7 dealing standards, or with fraudulent in8 tent.’’; 

9 (2) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(6) NO EFFECT ON LEGAL PROMISES.—Noth12 ing in this section shall be construed to impair or 

13 limit any claim for breach of contract, promissory 

14 estoppel, or breach of a duty of good faith.’’; and 

15 (3) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the 

16 following: 

17 ‘‘(5) EDGE PROVIDER.—The term ‘edge pro18 vider’— 

19 ‘‘(A) means an entity that— 

20 ‘‘(i) provides an interactive computer 

21 service— 

22 ‘‘(I) through a website, online ap23 plication, or mobile application (in24 cluding a single interactive computer 


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1 service that is provided through more 

2 than 1 such website or application); 

3 ‘‘(II) through which information 

4 provided by another information con5 tent provider is distributed; and 

6 ‘‘(III) that, in any month during 

7 the most recently completed 12-month 

8 period— 

9 ‘‘(aa) more than 30,000,000 

10 users in the United States 

11 accessed, without regard to the 

12 means by which the users 

13 accessed the service; or 

14 ‘‘(bb) more than 

15 300,000,000 users worldwide 

16 accessed, without regard to the 

17 means by which the users 

18 accessed the service; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) during the most recently com20 pleted taxable year, had more than 

21 $1,500,000,000 in global revenue; and 

22 ‘‘(B) does not include an organization de23 scribed in section 501(c) of the Internal RevVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8596.IH H8596

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1 enue Code of 1986 that is exempt from taxation 

2 under section 501(a) of such Code.’’. 

Æ 


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