I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8975 

To prohibit the usage of exploitative and deceptive practices by large online 

operators and to promote consumer welfare in the use of behavioral 

research by such providers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 16, 2020 

Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To prohibit the usage of exploitative and deceptive practices 

by large online operators and to promote consumer welfare in the use of behavioral research by such providers. 

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 ‘‘Deceptive Experiences 

5 To Online Users Reduction Act’’ or the ‘‘DETOUR Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act the following definition apply: 

8 (1) BEHAVIORAL OR PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPERI9 MENT, RESEARCH, OR STUDY.—The term ‘‘behavVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:46 Dec 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8975.IH H8975

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1 ioral or psychological experiment, research, or 

2 study’’ means the study, including through human 

3 experimentation, of overt or observable actions and 

4 mental phenomena inferred from behavior, including 

5 interactions between and among individuals and the 

6 activities of social groups. 

7 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

8 means the Federal Trade Commission. 

9 (3) COMPULSIVE USAGE.—The term ‘‘compul10 sive usage’’ means any response stimulated by exter11 nal factors that causes an individual to engage in re12 petitive, purposeful, and intentional behavior causing 

13 psychological distress, loss of control, anxiety, de14 pression, or harmful stress responses. 

15 (4) INDEPENDENT REVIEW BOARD.—The term 

16 ‘‘independent review board’’ means a board, com17 mittee, or other group that serves to protect the wel18 fare, rights, and privacy of users and is formally 

19 designated by a large online operator to review, ap20 prove the initiation of, and conduct periodic review 

21 of, any behavioral or psychological experiment, re22 search, or study, conducted by such an operator or 

23 by any entity directed by such an operator to con24 duct such behavioral or psychological experiment, re25 search, or study, involving human subjects. 


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1 (5) INFORMED CONSENT.—The term ‘‘informed 

2 consent’’— 

3 (A) means the express, affirmative consent 

4 freely given by a user immediately prior to any 

5 user data being collected from such user for any 

6 behavioral or psychological experiment, re7 search, or study, where such user is provided 

8 adequate and understandable information— 

9 (i) to allow for an informed decision 

10 about voluntary participation in such a be11 havioral or psychological experiment, re12 search, or study; and 

13 (ii) to ensure the understanding of 

14 such user of the information and any asso15 ciated benefits, risks, or consequences of 

16 participation prior to obtaining the vol17 untary agreement to participate by the 

18 user; and 

19 (B) does not include— 

20 (i) the consent of an individual under 

21 the age of 18; 

22 (ii) language that limits or purports 

23 to limit the liability of a large online oper24 ator; or 


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1 (iii) the consent to a provision con2 tained in a general contract or service 

3 agreement. 

4 (6) LARGE ONLINE OPERATOR.—The term 

5 ‘‘large online operator’’ means any person that— 

6 (A) provides an online service; 

7 (B) has more than 100,000,000 authenti8 cated users of an online service in any 30-day 

9 period; and 

10 (C) is subject to the jurisdiction of the 

11 Commission under the Federal Trade Commis12 sion Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.). 

13 (7) ONLINE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘online serv14 ice’’ means a website or interactive computer service, 

15 other than an internet access service, that is made 

16 available to the public over the internet and enables 

17 users to generate content that can be viewed by 

18 other users of the service or that connects users for 

19 the purpose of such users engaging in dialogue, 

20 sharing information, or otherwise interacting. 

21 (8) PARENTAL CONSENT.—The term ‘‘parental 

22 consent’’ means the verifiable consent of a parent or 

23 guardian for a child under the age of 18 who uses 

24 an online service. 


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1 (9) USER.—The term ‘‘user’’ means any indi2 vidual who uses an online service. 

3 (10) USER DATA.—The term ‘‘user data’’ 

4 means any information relating to an identified or 

5 identifiable individual user, whether directly sub6 mitted to the large online operator by the user or de7 rived from the observed activity of the user by the 

8 large online operator. Such term includes any such 

9 information purchased or otherwise obtained from 

10 third parties. 

11 (11) USER INTERFACE.—The term ‘‘user inter12 face’’ refers to any content accessible to a user of an 

13 online service or means by which a user interacts 

14 with such online service or engages with other users 

15 of an online service. 

16 (12) VERIFIABLE CONSENT.—The term 

17 ‘‘verifiable consent’’ means the express, affirmative 

18 consent freely given by a user to be subjected to the 

19 intended effect or effects of a user interface for an 

20 online service that is— 

21 (A) specific, informed, and unambiguous; 

22 and 

23 (B) given without the exchange of any fi24 nancial or other incentives for such consent. 


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1 SEC. 3. UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE ACTS AND PRACTICES RE2 LATING TO THE MANIPULATION OF USER 

3 INTERFACES. 

4 (a) CONDUCT PROHIBITED.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 

6 large online operator— 

7 (A) to design, modify, or manipulate a user 

8 interface of an online service with the purpose 

9 or substantial effect of obscuring, subverting, or 

10 impairing user autonomy, decision making, or 

11 choice to obtain consent or user data; 

12 (B) to conduct a behavioral or psycho13 logical experiment, research, or study of users 

14 of an online service, except with the informed 

15 consent of each user involved; 

16 (C) to design, modify, or manipulate a user 

17 interface of an online service with the purpose 

18 or substantial effect of cultivating compulsive 

19 usage, including video auto-play functions initi20 ated without verifiable consent of a user; or 

21 (D) to design, modify, or manipulate a 

22 user interface on an online service, or portion 

23 thereof, that is directed to an individual under 

24 the age of 18, with the purpose or substantial 

25 effect of increasing usage of an online service 


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1 through which a user interacts with other users 

2 without parental consent. 

3 (b) DUTIES OF LARGE ONLINE OPERATORS.—Any 

4 large online operator that engages in any form of behav5 ioral or psychological experiment, research, or study based 

6 on the activity or data of its users shall— 

7 (1) disclose, on a routine basis, but not less 

8 than once each 90 days, the general purpose of any 

9 such behavioral or psychological experiment, re10 search, or study to each user whose user data is or 

11 was during the previous 90-day period subject to or 

12 included in any such behavioral or psychological ex13 periment, research, or study; 

14 (2) state on its online platform and readily ac15 cessible to a user through its user interface, any be16 havioral or psychological experiment, research, or 

17 study whose purpose is to increase user engagement 

18 with the online service or to encourage users to take 

19 any action to convert such users into purchasers of 

20 any additional product or service offered by such on21 line service; 

22 (3) present the disclosures described in para23 graphs (1) and (2) in a manner that— 

24 (A) is clear, conspicuous, context-appro25 priate, and easily accessible; and 


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1 (B) is not deceptively obscured; 

2 (4) discontinue any behavioral or psychological 

3 experiment, research, or study, if informed consent 

4 or parental consent was determined by such large 

5 online operator to be inappropriately acquired, or 

6 has reason to believe that such consent was inappro7 priately acquired, and cannot obtain such consent 

8 within 48 hours of such determination, for the proc9 essing of user data for behavioral or psychological 

10 experiment, research, or study; 

11 (5) establish an independent review board for 

12 any behavioral or psychological research, of any pur13 pose, conducted on users or on the basis of user ac14 tivity or data, which shall review and have authority 

15 to approve, require modification in, or disapprove all 

16 behavioral or psychological experiments, research, or 

17 studies; and 

18 (6) ensure that such independent review board 

19 established under paragraph (5) shall register with 

20 the Commission, including providing to the Commis21 sion— 

22 (A) the names and resumes of every board 

23 member; 


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1 (B) the composition and reporting struc2 ture of the board to the management of the op3 erator; 

4 (C) the process by which the board is to be 

5 notified of proposed studies or modifications 

6 along with the processes by which the board is 

7 capable of vetoing or amending such proposals; 

8 (D) any compensation provided to board 

9 members; and 

10 (E) any conflict of interest that might 

11 exist concerning a board member’s participation 

12 in the board. 

13 (c) REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

14 BODY.— 

15 (1) REGISTRATION.—An association of large 

16 online operators may register as a professional 

17 standards body by filing with the Commission an ap18 plication for registration in such form as the Com19 mission, by rule, may prescribe containing the rules 

20 of the association and such other information and 

21 documents as the Commission, by rule, may pre22 scribe as necessary or appropriate in the public in23 terest or for protecting the welfare of users of large 

24 online operators. 


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1 (2) DETERMINATION BY THE COMMISSION.—An 

2 association of large online operators may not reg3 ister as a professional standards body unless the 

4 Commission determines that— 

5 (A) the association is so organized and has 

6 the capacity to enforce compliance by its mem7 bers and persons associated with its members, 

8 with the provisions of this Act; 

9 (B) the rules of the association provide 

10 that any large online operator may become a 

11 member of such association; 

12 (C) the rules of the association assure a 

13 fair representation of its members in the selec14 tion of its directors and administration of its 

15 affairs and provide that one or more directors 

16 shall be representative of users and not be asso17 ciated with, or receive any direct or indirect 

18 funding from, a member of the association or 

19 any large online operator; 

20 (D) the rules of the association are de21 signed to prevent exploitative and manipulative 

22 acts or practices, to promote transparent and 

23 fair principles of technology development and 

24 design, to promote research in keeping with 

25 best practices for behavioral or psychological exVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:46 Dec 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8975.IH H8975

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1 periments, research, or studies or the designs of 

2 a user interfaces and informed consent, and to 

3 continually evaluate industry practices and 

4 issue binding guidance consistent with the ob5 jectives of this Act; 

6 (E) the rules of the association provide 

7 that its members and persons associated with 

8 its members shall be appropriately disciplined 

9 for violation of any provision of this Act, the 

10 rules or regulations thereunder, or the rules of 

11 the association, by expulsion, suspension, limi12 tation of activities or functions, fine, censure, 

13 being suspended or barred from being associ14 ated with a member, or any other appropriate 

15 sanction; and 

16 (F) the rules of the association are in ac17 cordance with the provisions of this Act, and, in 

18 general, provide a fair procedure for the dis19 ciplining of members and persons associated 

20 with members, the denial of membership to any 

21 person seeking membership therein, the barring 

22 of any person from becoming associated with a 

23 member thereof, and the prohibition or limita24 tion by the association of any person with reVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:46 Dec 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8975.IH H8975

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1 spect to access to services offered by the asso2 ciation or a member thereof. 

3 (3) RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACTIVITIES.—Any 

4 association registered under paragraph (1) shall de5 velop, on a continuing basis, guidance and bright6 line rules for the development and design of tech7 nology products of large online operators consistent 

8 with the duties of a large online operator described 

9 under subsection (b). 

10 (d) ENFORCEMENT BY THE COMMISSION.— 

11 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC12 TICE.—A violation of subsection (a) or (b) shall be 

13 treated as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or 

14 deceptive act or practice under section 18(a)(1)(B) 

15 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 

16 57a(a)(1)(B)). 

17 (2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than one year 

18 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commis19 sion shall prescribe regulations under section 553 of 

20 title 5, United States Code, that— 

21 (A) establish rules and procedures for ob22 taining the informed consent, verifiable consent, 

23 or parental consent of users; 

24 (B) establish rules for the registration, for25 mation, oversight, and management of the indeVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:46 Dec 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8975.IH H8975

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1 pendent review boards, including standards that 

2 ensure effective independence of such entities 

3 from improper or undue influence by a large 

4 online operator; 

5 (C) establish rules for the registration, for6 mation, oversight, and management of profes7 sional standards bodies, including procedures 

8 for the regular oversight of such bodies and rev9 ocation of their designation; and 

10 (D) in consultation with each professional 

11 standards body that registers under subsection 

12 (c), define conduct that does not have the pur13 pose or substantial effect of subverting or im14 pairing user autonomy, decision making, or 

15 choice, or of cultivating compulsive usage for 

16 users or increasing the usage of an online serv17 ice by a child without parental consent, such 

18 as— 

19 (i) de minimis user interface changes 

20 derived from testing consumer preferences, 

21 including different styles, layouts, or text, 

22 where such changes are not done with the 

23 purpose of obtaining user consent or user 

24 data; 


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1 (ii) algorithms or data outputs outside 

2 the control of a large online operator or its 

3 affiliates; and 

4 (iii) establishing default settings that 

5 provide enhanced privacy protection to 

6 users or otherwise enhance their autonomy 

7 and decision-making ability. 

Æ 


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