I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8636 

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

immunity for interactive computer services for certain claims, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 20, 2020 

Mr. MALINOWSKI (for himself and Ms. ESHOO) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

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

1934 to prevent immunity for 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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT. 

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

8 (47 U.S.C. 230(c)) is amended by adding at the end the 

9 following new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(3) ALGORITHMIC AMPLIFICATION.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para3 graph (1), an interactive computer service shall 

4 be considered to be an information content pro5 vider and the protection under such paragraph 

6 shall not apply for any claim described in sub7 paragraph (B). 

8 ‘‘(B) CONDITIONS FOR CLAIM.— 

9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A claim in this 

10 subparagraph requires the following: 

11 ‘‘(I) A claim in a civil action is 

12 brought under— 

13 ‘‘(aa) section 1980 or 1981 

14 of the Revised Statutes (42 

15 U.S.C. 1985; 42 U.S.C. 1986); 

16 or 

17 ‘‘(bb) section 2333 of title 

18 18, United States Code. 

19 ‘‘(II) Except as provided in 

20 clause (ii), the claim involves a case in 

21 which the interactive computer service 

22 used an algorithm, model, or other 

23 computational process to rank, order, 

24 promote, recommend, amplify, or 

25 similarly alter the delivery or display 


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1 of information (including any text, 

2 image, audio, or video post, page, 

3 group, account, or affiliation) pro4 vided to a user of the service if the in5 formation is directly relevant to the 

6 claim. 

7 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding 

8 clause (i)(II), the requirement is not met 

9 if— 

10 ‘‘(I) the information delivery or 

11 display is ranked, ordered, promoted, 

12 recommended, amplified, or similarly 

13 altered in a way that is obvious, un14 derstandable, and transparent to a 

15 reasonable user based only on the de16 livery or display of the information 

17 (without the need to reference the 

18 terms of service or any other agree19 ment), including sorting informa20 tion— 

21 ‘‘(aa) chronologically or re22 verse chronologically; 

23 ‘‘(bb) by average user rating 

24 or number of user reviews; 

25 ‘‘(cc) alphabetically; and 


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1 ‘‘(dd) randomly; or 

2 ‘‘(II) the algorithm, model, or 

3 other computational process is used 

4 for information a user specifically 

5 searches for. 

6 ‘‘(C) SMALL BUSINESS EXCEPTION.—This 

7 paragraph shall not apply to an interactive 

8 computer service that (in combination with each 

9 subsidiary and affiliate of the service) has 

10 50,000,000 or fewer unique monthly visitors or 

11 users for a majority of the preceding 12 

12 months.’’. 

Æ 


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