II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1914 

To amend the Communications Decency Act to encourage providers of interactive computer services to provide content moderation that is politically 

neutral. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 19, 2019 

Mr. HAWLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Decency Act to encourage 

providers of interactive computer services to provide content moderation that is politically neutral. 

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 ‘‘Ending Support for 

5 Internet Censorship Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. POLITICAL NEUTRALITY IN CONTENT MODERA7 TION. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 230 of the Communica9 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the 

2 following new paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENT OF POLITICALLY UNBIASED

4 CONTENT MODERATION BY COVERED COMPANIES.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Paragraphs (1) and 

6 (2) shall not apply in the case of a covered com7 pany unless the company has in effect an im8 munity certification from the Federal Trade 

9 Commission (referred to in this paragraph as 

10 the ‘Commission’) under subparagraph (B) that 

11 the company does not moderate information 

12 provided by other information content providers 

13 in a manner that is biased against a political 

14 party, political candidate, or political viewpoint. 

15 ‘‘(B) FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION IMMU16 NITY CERTIFICATION.— 

17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Commission 

18 shall certify any provider of an interactive 

19 computer service that— 

20 ‘‘(I) is a covered company or an21 ticipates that it will become a covered 

22 company within the next 2 years; 

23 ‘‘(II) applies to the Commission 

24 for a certification under this subpara25 graph; and 


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1 ‘‘(III) proves to the Commission 

2 by clear and convincing evidence that 

3 the provider does not (and, during the 

4 2-year period preceding the date on 

5 which the provider submits the appli6 cation for certification, did not) mod7 erate information provided by other 

8 information content providers in a po9 litically biased manner. 

10 ‘‘(ii) POLITICALLY BIASED MODERA11 TION.—The moderation practices of a pro12 vider of an interactive computer service are 

13 politically biased if— 

14 ‘‘(I) the provider moderates in15 formation provided by other informa16 tion content providers in a manner 

17 that— 

18 ‘‘(aa) is designed to nega19 tively affect a political party, po20 litical candidate, or political view21 point; or 

22 ‘‘(bb) disproportionately re23 stricts or promotes access to, or 

24 the availability of, information 

25 from a political party, political 


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1 candidate, or political viewpoint; 

2 or 

3 ‘‘(II) an officer or employee of 

4 the provider makes a decision about 

5 moderating information provided by 

6 other information content providers 

7 that is motivated by an intent to neg8 atively affect a political party, political 

9 candidate, or political viewpoint. 

10 ‘‘(iii) EXCEPTIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(I) BUSINESS NECESSITY.—An 

12 action of a provider of an interactive 

13 computer service that disproportion14 ately restricts access to, or the avail15 ability of, information from a political 

16 party, political candidate, or political 

17 viewpoint shall not be considered to be 

18 a politically biased moderation prac19 tice if the action is necessary for busi20 ness or the information involved is not 

21 speech that would be protected under 

22 the First Amendment of the United 

23 States Constitution, there is no avail24 able alternative that has a less dis25 proportionate effect, and the provider 


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1 does not act with the intent to dis2 criminate based on political affiliation, 

3 political party, or political viewpoint. 

4 ‘‘(II) ACTIONS BY EMPLOYEES.— 

5 A provider of an interactive computer 

6 service shall not be denied a certifi7 cation under this subparagraph on the 

8 basis of an employee of the provider 

9 acting in the manner described in 

10 clause (ii)(II) in making a decision 

11 about moderating information pro12 vided by other information content 

13 providers if the provider, immediately 

14 upon learning of the actions of the 

15 employee— 

16 ‘‘(aa) publicly discloses in a 

17 conspicuous manner that an em18 ployee of the provider acted in a 

19 politically biased manner with re20 spect to moderating information 

21 content; and 

22 ‘‘(bb) terminates or other23 wise disciplines the employee. 

24 ‘‘(iv) CERTIFICATION PROCESS.— 


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1 ‘‘(I) APPROVAL.—The Commis2 sion shall not certify a provider of an 

3 interactive computer service under 

4 this subparagraph unless at least one 

5 more than a majority of the Commis6 sioners approve such certification. 

7 ‘‘(II) TIMELINE.—The Commis8 sion shall ensure that timely applica9 tions for certification under this sub10 paragraph are processed within 6 

11 months. 

12 ‘‘(III) PUBLICATION OF DIS13 SENTING OPINIONS.—The Commission 

14 shall make publicly available the dis15 senting opinion of any Commissioner 

16 who disagrees with a decision of the 

17 Commission to certify, or deny certifi18 cation to, a provider of an interactive 

19 computer service. 

20 ‘‘(IV) PUBLIC INPUT.—The Com21 mission shall establish a process to 

22 allow information content providers 

23 to— 

24 ‘‘(aa) submit complaints or 

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1 ject to politically biased content 

2 moderation by a provider of an 

3 interactive computer service; and 

4 ‘‘(bb) attend or participate 

5 in any hearings that the Commis6 sion holds with respect to an ap7 plication for certification from a 

8 provider. 

9 ‘‘(V) RENEWALS.—An applica10 tion to renew a certification shall be 

11 treated in the same manner as an ap12 plication for a new certification. 

13 ‘‘(C) DURATION OF CERTIFICATION.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 

15 (ii), a certification obtained under subpara16 graph (B) shall remain in effect with re17 spect to a provider of an interactive com18 puter service for a period of 2 years, and 

19 may subsequently be renewed for addi20 tional 2-year periods. 

21 ‘‘(ii) EXTENSION FOR PROCESSING A

22 SUBSEQUENT APPLICATION.—If a provider 

23 of an interactive computer service submits 

24 an application to renew a certification 

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1 cation is still in effect, such certification 

2 shall remain in effect while the Commis3 sion processes such application, but in no 

4 case shall a certification remain in effect 

5 for more than 30 months without being re6 newed. 

7 ‘‘(D) COSTS.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Commission 

9 shall charge a fee in connection with an 

10 application from a provider of an inter11 active computer service for a certification 

12 (or a renewal of a certification) under sub13 paragraph (B). 

14 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—The amount of 

15 any fee imposed under clause (i) with re16 spect to an application shall not exceed the 

17 costs to the Commission in processing such 

18 application.’’; and 

19 (2) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the 

20 following new paragraphs: 

21 ‘‘(5) COVERED COMPANY.—The term ‘covered 

22 company’ means a provider of an interactive com23 puter service (other than an organization described 

24 in section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

25 1986 which is exempt from taxation under section 


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1 501(a) of such Code) that, at any time during the 

2 most recent 12-month period— 

3 ‘‘(A) had more than 30,000,000 active 

4 monthly users in the United States; 

5 ‘‘(B) had more than 300,000,000 active 

6 monthly users worldwide; or 

7 ‘‘(C) had more than $500,000,000 in glob8 al annual revenue. 

9 ‘‘(6) MODERATE.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘moderate’ 

11 means— 

12 ‘‘(i) to influence if, when, where, or 

13 how information or other content provided 

14 by a third-party user appears on a covered 

15 company’s interactive computer service; or 

16 ‘‘(ii) to alter the information or other 

17 content provided by a third-party user that 

18 appears on a covered company’s interactive 

19 computer service. 

20 ‘‘(B) ALGORITHMS.—Such term shall in21 clude actions taken through an algorithm or 

22 other automated process. 

23 ‘‘(7) BUSINESS NECESSITY.—The term ‘nec24 essary for business’ refers to a lawful act that ad25 vances the growth, development, or profitability of a 


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1 company but does not include any action designed to 

2 appeal to, or gain favor from, persons or groups be3 cause of their political beliefs, political party mem4 bership, or support for political candidates.’’. 

5 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section 230(c)(2)(B) 

6 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

7 230(c)(2)(B)) is amended by striking ‘‘paragraph (1)’’ 

8 and inserting ‘‘subparagraph (A)’’. 

9 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

10 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date that is 18 

11 months after the date of enactment of this Act. 

12 SEC. 3. AUTHORITIES AND DUTIES OF THE FEDERAL 

13 TRADE COMMISSION. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Trade Commission 

15 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Commission’’) is au16 thorized to do the following: 

17 (1) STAFFING.—To hire sufficient staff (wheth18 er on a part-time, full-time, or contract basis) to 

19 process applications under paragraph (3) of section 

20 230(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

21 U.S.C. 230(c)), as added by section 2(a). 

22 (2) APPLICATIONS PROCESSES.—To establish 

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1 tions Act of 1934 (including setting rates for appli2 cation fees and setting application deadlines). 

3 (b) RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.—Not later than 180 

4 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commis5 sion shall promulgate regulations, in accordance with sec6 tion 553 of title 5, United States Code, to carry out this 

7 section and the amendments made by section 2(a). 

8 (c) REPORTS.—Not later than 5 years after the date 

9 of enactment of this Act, and every 5 years thereafter, 

10 the Commission shall submit a report to Congress on 

11 whether the ability of interactive computer services (as 

12 such term is defined in section 230(f) of the Communica13 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f))) to moderate content 

14 provided by other information content providers is such 

15 that the protection provided by section 230(c) of such Act 

16 is no longer necessary or should be modified. 

Æ 


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