I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9043 

To require social media companies to establish an office dedicated to identifying and removing violent or extremist content associated with or distributed by any entity identified as a terrorist organization. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 21, 2020 

Mr. GOTTHEIMER (for himself and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following 

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

in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require social media companies to establish an office 

dedicated to identifying and removing violent or extremist content associated with or distributed by any entity 

identified as a terrorist organization. 

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 ‘‘Online Terrorism Pre5 vention Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OFFICE DEDICATED TO IDENTIFYING AND REMOV2 ING CONTENT ASSOCIATED WITH ANY TER3 RORIST ORGANIZATION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 

5 date of enactment of this Act, each social media company 

6 shall establish an office to identify and remove violent or 

7 extremist content associated with or distributed by any en8 tity identified as a terrorist organization. The office shall 

9 be lead by a dedicated staff member who reports directly 

10 to the highest official at the social media company. The 

11 duties of the office shall include— 

12 (1) educating and training employees about 

13 compliance requirements that are consistent with the 

14 social media company’s social media platform con15 tent moderation standards or terms of service agree16 ments and about detecting contributors to the social 

17 media platform that are identified as a terrorist or18 ganization; 

19 (2) conducting regular, comprehensive audits to 

20 ensure compliance with the identification and re21 moval requirements in this subsection, and making 

22 records of such audits publicly available on the social 

23 media platform; 

24 (3) maintaining updated, clear, and under25 standable records of all relevant practices under26 taken by the social media company; and 


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1 (4) serving as the point of contact between the 

2 social media company and the Federal Trade Com3 mission. 

4 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR IMMEDIATE REMOVAL UPON

5 REQUEST BY CERTAIN OFFICIALS.—A social media com6 pany shall expeditiously remove any violent or extremist 

7 content associated with or distributed by any entity identi8 fied as a terrorist organization that appears on its social 

9 media platform, upon the request of the Federal Trade 

10 Commission. 

11 SEC. 3. CIVIL ENFORCEMENT. 

12 (a) ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COM13 MISSION.— 

14 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC15 TICES.—A violation of section 2 shall be treated as 

16 a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive 

17 act or practice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) 

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

19 57a(a)(1)(B)). 

20 (2) POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 

22 enforce this Act and any regulations promul23 gated under this Act in the same manner, by 

24 the same means, and with the same jurisdic25 tion, powers, and duties as though all applicable 


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1 terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 

2 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were in3 corporated into and made a part of this Act, 

4 and any person who violates this Act or a regu5 lation promulgated under this Act shall be sub6 ject to the penalties and entitled to the privi7 leges and immunities provided in the Federal 

8 Trade Commission Act. 

9 (B) REGULATIONS.—The Commission 

10 may, under section 553 of title 5, United States 

11 Code, prescribe any regulations it determines 

12 necessary to carry out this Act. 

13 (C) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in 

14 this Act shall be construed in any way to limit 

15 the authority of the Commission under any 

16 other provision of law. 

17 (b) ENFORCEMENT BY STATE ATTORNEYS GEN18 ERAL.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the chief law enforcement 

20 officer of a State, or an official or agency designated 

21 by a State, has reason to believe that any person has 

22 violated or is violating section 2, the attorney gen23 eral, official, or agency of the State, in addition to 

24 any authority it may have to bring an action in 

25 State court under its consumer protection law, may 


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1 bring a civil action in any appropriate United States 

2 district court or in any other court of competent ju3 risdiction, including a State court, to— 

4 (A) enjoin further such violation by such 

5 person; 

6 (B) enforce compliance with such section; 

7 (C) obtain civil penalties; and 

8 (D) obtain damages, restitution, or other 

9 compensation on behalf of residents of the 

10 State. 

11 (2) NOTICE AND INTERVENTION BY THE

12 FTC.—The attorney general (or other such officer) 

13 of a State shall provide prior written notice of any 

14 action under paragraph (1) to the Commission and 

15 provide the Commission with a copy of the complaint 

16 in the action, except in any case in which such prior 

17 notice is not feasible, in which case the attorney gen18 eral shall serve such notice immediately upon insti19 tuting such action. The Commission shall have the 

20 right— 

21 (A) to intervene in the action; 

22 (B) upon so intervening, to be heard on all 

23 matters arising therein; and 

24 (C) to file petitions for appeal. 


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1 (3) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION WHILE FED2 ERAL ACTION IS PENDING.—If the Commission has 

3 instituted a civil action for violation of this Act, no 

4 State attorney general, or official or agency of a 

5 State, may bring an action under this paragraph 

6 during the pendency of that action against any de7 fendant named in the complaint of the Commission 

8 for any violation of this Act alleged in the complaint. 

9 (4) RELATIONSHIP WITH STATE LAW CLAIMS.— 

10 If the attorney general of a State has authority to 

11 bring an action under State law directed at acts or 

12 practices that also violate this Act, the attorney gen13 eral may assert the State law claim and a claim 

14 under this Act in the same civil action. 

15 (c) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this subsection (b) 

16 shall preempt or otherwise affect any State or local law. 

17 (d) FBI ENFORCEMENT.—The Federal Bureau of 

18 Investigation may exercise its full authority under section 

19 2709 of title 18, United States Code, to investigate viola20 tions of this Act, and may share any information obtained 

21 under such section with the Federal Trade Commission 

22 for enforcement of this Act under subsection (a). 

23 (e) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Whoever owns, manages, 

24 or operates a social media company and acts in reckless 

25 disregard of the fact that content made available on the 


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1 social media platform of such company in violation of sec2 tion 2 contributed to terrorism, shall constitute an offense 

3 of ‘‘providing material support to terrorists’’ under section 

4 2339A(a) of title 18, United States Code. 

5 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

6 As used in this Act— 

7 (1) the term ‘‘social media company’’ means 

8 any person that owns, manages, or operates a social 

9 media platform and has an annual revenue in excess 

10 of $10,000,000; 

11 (2) the term ‘‘social media platform’’— 

12 (A) means a website or internet medium, 

13 including a mobile application, that— 

14 (i) permits a person to become a reg15 istered user, establish an account, or create 

16 a profile for the purpose of allowing users 

17 to create, share, and view user-generated 

18 content through such an account or profile; 

19 (ii) enables one or more users to gen20 erate content that can be viewed by other 

21 users of the medium; and 

22 (iii) serves as a medium for users to 

23 view content generated by other users of 

24 the medium; and 

25 (B) does not include— 


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1 (i) any such platform that serves 

2 fewer than 100,000 users who access their 

3 account or profile at least once a month; 

4 (ii) an email program, email distribu5 tion lists, multi-person text message 

6 groups, or a website that is primarily for 

7 the purpose of internet commerce; 

8 (iii) a private platform or messaging 

9 service used by an entity solely to commu10 nicate with others employed by or affiliated 

11 with such entity; or 

12 (iv) an internet-based platform whose 

13 primary purpose is— 

14 (I) to allow users to post product 

15 reviews, business reviews, travel infor16 mation and reviews; or 

17 (II) to provide news or entertain18 ment content, but that may also in19 clude a comment section for users to 

20 discuss such news or entertainment 

21 content if such comment section does 

22 not include functionality that permits 

23 a user to share images, videos, or 

24 other visual depictions; and 

25 (3) the term ‘‘terrorist organization’’ means— 


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1 (A) any entity designated as foreign ter2 rorist organizations by the Department of 

3 State; and 

4 (B) any entity engaged in domestic ter5 rorism or international terrorism, as such terms 

6 are defined in section 2331 of title 18, United 

7 States Code. 

Æ 


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