II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1916 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit companies that host 

videos from enabling child predators, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 20, 2019 

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

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit companies 

that host videos from enabling child predators, 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 Children 

5 from Online Predators Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON RECOMMENDING CERTAIN INTER7 NET VIDEOS FEATURING MINORS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 110 of title 18, United 

9 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 2252C 

10 the following: 


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1 ‘‘§ 2252D. Prohibition on recommending certain inter2 net videos featuring minors 

3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

4 ‘‘(1) the term ‘covered interactive computer 

5 service’ means an interactive computer service that 

6 hosts or displays user-submitted video content and 

7 makes recommendations to users about which videos 

8 to view, including by playing a video automatically 

9 at the end of another video; 

10 ‘‘(2) the term ‘interactive computer service’ has 

11 the meaning given the term in section 230 of the 

12 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230); and 

13 ‘‘(3) the term ‘person’ shall include any man14 agement personnel or officer of the covered inter15 active computer service with the responsibility and 

16 authority to take necessary measures to prevent or 

17 remedy a violation of this section. 

18 ‘‘(b) OFFENSE.—Except as provided in subsection 

19 (c), it shall be unlawful for a covered interactive computer 

20 service to recommend any video to a user of the covered 

21 interactive computer service if the covered interactive com22 puter service knows, or should have known, that the video 

23 features 1 or more minors. 

24 ‘‘(c) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (b) shall not apply to 

25 any video created by a professional production company, 


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1 such as any video that was aired on broadcast or cable 

2 television. 

3 ‘‘(d) SEARCH RESULTS DO NOT CONSTITUTE REC4 OMMENDATION.—For purposes of subsection (b), a video 

5 that appears in a list of videos generated as the result 

6 of using a search function of the covered interactive com7 puter service shall not be considered to be a recommended 

8 video. 

9 ‘‘(e) REQUIREMENTS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A covered interactive com11 puter service shall ask each user uploading video 

12 content to the service, at the time the video content 

13 is uploaded— 

14 ‘‘(A) whether the video features 1 or more 

15 minors; and 

16 ‘‘(B) in the case of a video that the user 

17 believes features 1 or more minors, whether the 

18 user wants— 

19 ‘‘(i) to restrict the video to nonpublic 

20 viewership; or 

21 ‘‘(ii) to make the video available for 

22 viewing by the public. 

23 ‘‘(2) LIABILITY.—A covered interactive com24 puter service may be held liable under this section 

25 for a violation of subsection (b) if— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the covered interactive computer serv2 ice recommends a video designated by the user 

3 that uploaded the video as featuring 1 or more 

4 minors; or 

5 ‘‘(B) the covered interactive computer serv6 ice recommends a video that was incorrectly 

7 designated by the user that uploaded the video 

8 as not featuring 1 or more minors. 

9 ‘‘(f) CRIMINAL PENALTY.—Any person who violates 

10 subsection (b) shall be fined in accordance with this title, 

11 imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both. 

12 ‘‘(g) CIVIL PENALTIES.— 

13 ‘‘(1) FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

15 may bring a civil action in the appropriate dis16 trict court of the United States against any 

17 person who violates subsection (b) or subsection 

18 (e)(1) and, upon proof of such violation by a 

19 preponderance of the evidence, such person 

20 shall be subject to pay a civil penalty of— 

21 ‘‘(i) not more than $1,000 for each 

22 video recommended in violation of sub23 section (b) for each time the video was un24 lawfully recommended; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) not more than $10,000 per day 

2 a violation of subsection (e)(1) occurred. 

3 ‘‘(B) RELATION TO OTHER PRO4 CEEDINGS.—The imposition of a civil penalty 

5 under this paragraph does not preclude any 

6 other criminal or civil statutory, common law, 

7 or administrative remedy, which is available by 

8 law to the United States or any other person. 

9 ‘‘(2) STATE ENFORCEMENT.—In any case in 

10 which the attorney general of a State has reason to 

11 believe that an interest of the residents of that State 

12 has been or is threatened or adversely affected by 

13 any person who violates subsection (b), the attorney 

14 general of the State, as parens patriae, may bring 

15 a civil action against such person on behalf of the 

16 residents of the State in an appropriate State court 

17 or district court of the United States to obtain ap18 propriate relief, including a civil penalty in the same 

19 amounts described in paragraph (1)(A).’’. 

20 (b) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections at 

21 the beginning of chapter 110 of title 18, United States 

22 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

23 section 2252C the following: 

‘‘2252D. Prohibition on recommending certain internet videos featuring minors.’’. 

Æ 


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