I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3067 

To clarify that a violation of certain terms of service and related materials 

is an unfair or deceptive act or practice and subject to enforcement 

by the Federal Trade Commission. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 7, 2021 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself and Ms. CASTOR of Florida) introduced the 

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

A BILL 

To clarify that a violation of certain terms of service and 

related materials is an unfair or deceptive act or practice 

and subject to enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission. 

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 Consumer Pro5 tection Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TERMS OF SERVICE REQUIRED FOR SOCIAL MEDIA 

2 PLATFORMS AND ONLINE MARKETPLACES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each social media platform or on4 line marketplace shall establish, maintain, and make pub5 licly available at all times and in a machine-readable for6 mat, terms of service in a manner that is clear, easily un7 derstood, and written in plain and concise language. The 

8 terms of service shall meet the following requirements: 

9 (1) The terms of service shall include— 

10 (A) any terms or conditions of use of any 

11 service provided by such person to a consumer; 

12 (B) any policies of such person with regard 

13 to such service or use of such service by a con14 sumer; and 

15 (C) the consumer protection policy con16 sistent with subsection (b). 

17 (2) The terms of service shall cover issues re18 lated to the behavior of a service or a user of such 

19 service, and shall at a minimum include terms of use 

20 related to— 

21 (A) payment methods; 

22 (B) content ownership, including content 

23 generated by a user; 

24 (C) policies related to sharing user content 

25 with third parties; 


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1 (D) any disclaimers, limitations, notices of 

2 nonliability, or the consequences of not agreeing 

3 to or complying with the terms of service; and 

4 (E) any other topic the Commission deems 

5 appropriate. 

6 (b) REQUIRED CONSUMER PROTECTION POLICY.— 

7 (1) FOR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS.—For so8 cial media platforms, the consumer protection policy 

9 required by subsection (a) shall include— 

10 (A) a description of the content and behav11 ior permitted or prohibited on its service both 

12 by the platform and by users; 

13 (B) whether content may be blocked, re14 moved, or modified, or if service to users may 

15 be terminated and the grounds upon which such 

16 actions will be taken; 

17 (C) whether a person can request that con18 tent be blocked, removed, or modified, or that 

19 a user’s service be terminated, and how to make 

20 such a request; 

21 (D) a description of how a user will be no22 tified of and can respond to a request that his 

23 or her content be blocked, removed, or modified, 

24 or service be terminated, if such actions are 

25 taken; 


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1 (E) how a person can appeal a decision to 

2 block, remove, or modify content, allow content 

3 to remain, or terminate or not terminate service 

4 to a user, if such actions are taken; and 

5 (F) any other topic the Commission deems 

6 appropriate. 

7 (2) FOR ONLINE MARKETPLACES.—For online 

8 marketplaces, the consumer protection policy re9 quired by subsection (a) shall include— 

10 (A) a description of the products, product 

11 descriptions, and marketing material, allowed or 

12 disallowed on the marketplace; 

13 (B) whether a product, product descrip14 tions, and marketing material may be blocked, 

15 removed, or modified, or if service to a user 

16 may be terminated and the grounds upon which 

17 such actions will be taken; 

18 (C) whether users will be notified of prod19 ucts that have been recalled or are dangerous, 

20 and how they will be notified; 

21 (D) for users— 

22 (i) whether a user can report sus23 pected fraud, deception, dangerous prod24 ucts, or violations of the online marketVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:21 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3067.IH H3067

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1 place’s terms of service, and how to make 

2 such report; 

3 (ii) whether a user who submitted a 

4 report will be notified of whether action 

5 was taken as a result of the report, the ac6 tion that was taken and the reason why ac7 tion was taken or not taken, and how the 

8 user will be notified; 

9 (iii) how to appeal the result of a re10 port; and 

11 (iv) under what circumstances a user 

12 is entitled to refund, repair, or other rem13 edy and the remedy to which the user may 

14 be entitled, how the user will be notified of 

15 such entitlement, and how the user may 

16 claim such remedy; and 

17 (E) for sellers— 

18 (i) how sellers are notified of a report 

19 by a user or a violation of the terms of 

20 service or consumer protection policy; 

21 (ii) how to contest a report by a user; 

22 (iii) how a seller who is the subject of 

23 a report will be notified of what action will 

24 be or must be taken as a result of the re25 port and the justification for such action; 


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1 (iv) how to appeal a decision of the 

2 online marketplace to take an action in re3 sponse to a user report or for a violation 

4 of the terms of service or consumer protec5 tion policy; and 

6 (v) the policy regarding refunds, re7 pairs, replacements, or other remedies as a 

8 result of a user report or a violation of the 

9 terms of service or consumer protection 

10 policy. 

11 (c) STANDARD SHORT-FORM STATEMENTS AND

12 GRAPHIC ICONS FOR CONSUMER PROTECTION PRAC13 TICES.— 

14 (1) STUDY AND REPORT.—Not later than 180 

15 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

16 Commission shall conduct a study to determine the 

17 most effective method of communicating common 

18 consumer protection practices in short-form con19 sumer disclosure statements or graphic icons that 

20 disclose the consumer protection and content mod21 eration practices of social media platforms and on22 line marketplaces. The Commission shall submit a 

23 report to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

24 of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

25 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 


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1 Senate with the results of the study. The report 

2 shall also be made publicly available on the website 

3 of the Commission. 

4 (2) REGULATIONS.—Except as provided in 

5 paragraph (3), after completion of the study and not 

6 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 

7 this Act, the Commission shall finalize regulations 

8 based on the results of such study that require social 

9 media platforms and online marketplaces to commu10 nicate their consumer protection and content mod11 eration practices, and any other information as the 

12 Commission may determine, in a clear and con13 spicuous manner. 

14 (3) EXCEPTION.—If the Commission deter15 mines, by a majority vote of the Commissioners, that 

16 short-form consumer disclosure statements or graph17 ic icons will not advance consumer understanding of 

18 consumer protection and content moderation prac19 tices of social media platforms and online market20 places, the Commission shall include its reasoning 

21 for making that determination in the report to Con22 gress required by paragraph (1) and shall not final23 ize the rulemaking until it determines such rules 

24 would advance consumer understanding of consumer 


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1 protection and content moderation practices of social 

2 media platforms and online marketplaces. 

3 SEC. 3. CONSUMER PROTECTION PROGRAM. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each social media platform and 

5 online marketplace shall establish and implement a con6 sumer protection program that includes policies, practices, 

7 and procedures regarding consumer protection and con8 tent moderation— 

9 (1) to— 

10 (A) ensure compliance with applicable Fed11 eral, State, and local consumer protection laws; 

12 (B) develop, implement, and ensure com13 pliance with the terms of service required by 

14 section 2; 

15 (C) develop and implement policies regard16 ing the content and behavior permitted on its 

17 service both by the platform and users, and en18 sure compliance with such policies, practices 

19 and procedures; 

20 (D) mitigate risks that could be harmful to 

21 consumer’s safety, well-being, and reasonable 

22 expectations of users of the social media plat23 form or online marketplace; 

24 (E) implement reasonable safeguards with25 in, and training and education of employees and 


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1 contractors of, the social media platform or on2 line marketplace to promote compliance with all 

3 consumer protection laws and the consumer 

4 protection program; and 

5 (F) disclose any other requirement the 

6 Commission deems appropriate; and 

7 (2) taking into consideration— 

8 (A) the size of, and the nature, scope, and 

9 complexity of the activities engaged in by the 

10 social media platform and online marketplace; 

11 (B) the activities engaged in by users on 

12 the social media platform or online market13 place; and 

14 (C) the cost of implementing the program. 

15 (b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—As part of the 

16 consumer protection program, a social media platform or 

17 online marketplace shall— 

18 (1) establish processes to monitor, manage, and 

19 enforce the social media platform’s or online market20 place’s consumer protection program, and dem21 onstrate the covered entity’s compliance with Fed22 eral, State, and local consumer protection laws; 

23 (2) establish processes to assess and mitigate 

24 the risks to individuals resulting from the social 

25 media platform’s or online marketplace’s amplifiVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:21 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3067.IH H3067

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1 cation of content or products not in compliance with 

2 its terms of service; 

3 (3) establish a process to periodically review 

4 and update the consumer protection program; 

5 (4) appoint a consumer protection officer, who 

6 reports directly to the chief executive officer; and 

7 (5) establish and implement controls to monitor 

8 and mitigate known or reasonably foreseeable risks 

9 to consumers resulting from hosting content or prod10 ucts. 

11 (c) ANNUAL FILINGS TO THE FTC.— 

12 (1) FILING REQUIREMENTS.—Each social 

13 media platform or online marketplace that either has 

14 annual revenue in excess of $250,000 in the prior 

15 year or that has more than 10,000 monthly active 

16 users on average in the prior year, shall be required 

17 to submit to the Commission, on an annual basis, a 

18 filing that includes— 

19 (A) a detailed and granular description of 

20 each of the requirements in section 2 and this 

21 section; 

22 (B) the name and contact information of 

23 the consumer protection officer required under 

24 subsection (b)(4); and 


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1 (C) a description of any material changes 

2 in the consumer protection program or the 

3 terms of service since the most recent prior dis4 closure to the Commission. 

5 (2) OFFICER CERTIFICATION.—For each entity 

6 that submits an annual filing under paragraph (1), 

7 the entity’s principal executive officer and the con8 sumer protection officer required under subsection 

9 (b)(4), shall be required to certify in each such an10 nual filing that— 

11 (A) the signing officer has reviewed the fil12 ing; 

13 (B) based on such officer’s knowledge, the 

14 filing does not contain any untrue statement of 

15 a material fact or omit to state a material fact 

16 necessary to make the statements, in light of 

17 the circumstances under which such statements 

18 were made, not misleading; 

19 (C) based on such officer’s knowledge, the 

20 filing fairly presents in all material respects the 

21 consumer protection practices of the social 

22 media platform or online marketplace; and 

23 (D) the signing consumer protection offi24 cer— 


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1 (i) is responsible for establishing and 

2 maintaining safeguards and controls to 

3 protect consumers and administer the con4 sumer protection program; and 

5 (ii) has provided all material conclu6 sions about the effectiveness of such safe7 guards and controls. 

8 (3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Commission 

9 shall make publicly available on the website of the 

10 Commission the filings submitted under paragraph 

11 (1). The Commission may withhold information in12 cluded in such a filing if the Commission determines 

13 such information should not be public. If the Com14 mission withholds any information, the Commission 

15 shall make publicly available on the website the cat16 egory of information withheld and the reasons for 

17 withholding it. 

18 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT. 

19 (a) ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS20 SION.— 

21 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC22 TICES.—Any violation of this Act shall be treated as 

23 a violation of a regulation under section 18(a)(1)(B) 

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


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1 57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or deceptive acts or 

2 practices. 

3 (2) POWERS OF COMMISSION.—The Commis4 sion shall enforce this Act in the same manner, by 

5 the same means, and with the same jurisdiction, 

6 powers, and duties as though all applicable terms 

7 and provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act 

8 (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incorporated into and 

9 made a part of this Act. Any person who violates 

10 this Act shall be subject to the penalties and entitled 

11 to the privileges and immunities provided in the 

12 Federal Trade Commission Act. 

13 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Commission shall promul14 gate regulations under section 553 of title 5, United 

15 States Code, to carry out the purposes of this Act. 

16 (c) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

17 (1) ENFORCEMENT BY INDIVIDUALS.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—An individual alleging 

19 damages as a result of a violation of this Act 

20 may bring a civil action in any court of com21 petent jurisdiction, State or Federal. 

22 (B) RELIEF.—In a civil action brought 

23 under subparagraph (A) in which the plaintiff 

24 prevails, the court may award— 


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1 (i) damages as provided in subpara2 graph (C); 

3 (ii) reasonable attorney’s fees and liti4 gation costs; and 

5 (iii) any other relief, including equi6 table or declaratory relief, that the court 

7 determines appropriate. 

8 (C) DAMAGES.—A prevailing plaintiff is 

9 entitled to actual damages as a result of the 

10 violation of this Act. 

11 (2) INVALIDITY OF PRE-DISPUTE ARBITRATION

12 AGREEMENTS AND PRE- DISPUTE JOINT ACTION

13 WAIVERS.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

15 other provision of law, no pre-dispute arbitra16 tion agreement or pre-dispute joint action waiv17 er shall be valid or enforceable with respect to 

18 a dispute arising under this Act. 

19 (B) APPLICABILITY.—Any determination 

20 as to whether or how this paragraph applies to 

21 any dispute shall be made by a court, rather 

22 than an arbitrator, without regard to whether 

23 such agreement purports to delegate such deter24 mination to an arbitrator. 

25 (C) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 


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1 (i) PRE-DISPUTE ARBITRATION

2 AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘pre-dispute arbi3 tration agreement’’ means any agreement 

4 to arbitrate a dispute that has not arisen 

5 at the time of making the agreement. 

6 (ii) PRE-DISPUTE JOINT-ACTION

7 WAIVER.—The term ‘‘pre-dispute joint-ac8 tion waiver’’ means an agreement, whether 

9 or not part of a pre-dispute arbitration 

10 agreement, that would prohibit, or waive 

11 the right of, one of the parties to the 

12 agreement to participate in a joint, class, 

13 or collective action in a judicial, arbitral, 

14 administration, or other forum, concerning 

15 a dispute that has not yet arisen at the 

16 time of making the agreement. 

17 (iii) DISPUTE.—The term ‘‘dispute’’ 

18 means any claim related to an alleged vio19 lation of this Act and between an indi20 vidual and a covered organization. 

21 (d) ENFORCEMENT BY STATE ATTORNEYS GEN22 ERAL.— 

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

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

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


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1 violated or is violating this Act, the attorney general, 

2 official, or agency of the State, in addition to any 

3 authority it may have to bring an action in State 

4 court under its consumer protection law, may bring 

5 a civil action in any appropriate United States dis6 trict court or in any other court of competent juris7 diction, including a State court, to— 

8 (A) enjoin further such violation by such 

9 person; 

10 (B) enforce compliance with this Act; 

11 (C) obtain civil penalties; and 

12 (D) obtain damages, restitution, or other 

13 compensation on behalf of residents of the 

14 State. 

15 (2) NOTICE AND INTERVENTION BY THE

16 FTC.—The attorney general of a State shall provide 

17 prior written notice of any action under paragraph 

18 (1) to the Commission and provide the Commission 

19 with a copy of the complaint in the action, except in 

20 any case in which such prior notice is not feasible, 

21 in which case the attorney general shall serve such 

22 notice immediately upon instituting such action. The 

23 Commission shall have the right— 

24 (A) to intervene in the action; 


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

2 matters arising therein; and 

3 (C) to file petitions for appeal. 

4 (3) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION WHILE FED5 ERAL ACTION IS PENDING.—If the Commission has 

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

7 State attorney general, or official or agency of a 

8 State, may bring an action under this subsection 

9 during the pendency of that action against any de10 fendant named in the complaint of the Commission 

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

12 (4) RELATIONSHIP WITH STATE-LAW CLAIMS.— 

13 If the attorney general of a State has authority to 

14 bring an action under State law directed at acts or 

15 practices that also violate this Act, the attorney gen16 eral may assert the State-law claim and a claim 

17 under this Act in the same civil action. 

18 SEC. 5. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS. 

19 (a) EFFECT OF OTHER LAWS.—Section 230 of the 

20 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230) shall not 

21 apply to any violation of this Act. 

22 (b) EFFECT ON STATE LAWS.—Nothing in this Act 

23 or any regulation promulgated under this Act shall pre24 empt or otherwise affect any State or local law. 


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1 (c) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act, or 

2 the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is 

3 held invalid, the remainder of this Act and the application 

4 of such provision to other persons not similarly situated 

5 or to other circumstances shall not be affected by the in6 validation. 

7 SEC. 6. FTC ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 230(e) of the Commu9 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(e)) is amended by 

10 adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(6) NO EFFECT ON FTC ENFORCEMENT.— 

12 Nothing in this section shall be construed to impair 

13 the enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission 

14 of any provision of law enforced by the Federal 

15 Trade Commission.’’. 

16 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by this 

17 section shall apply with respect to any action or pro18 ceeding that is commenced on or after the date of the en19 actment of this Act. 

20 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

21 As used in this Act, the following definitions apply: 

22 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

23 means the Federal Trade Commission. 

24 (2) CONSUMER PRODUCT.—The term ‘‘con25 sumer product’’ has the meaning given such term in 


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1 section 3(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act 

2 (15 U.S.C. 2052(a)). 

3 (3) ONLINE MARKETPLACE.—The term ‘‘online 

4 marketplace’’ means a website or web application, 

5 that— 

6 (A) includes features that allow for, facili7 tate, or enable third-party sellers to engage in 

8 the sale, purchase, payment, storage, shipping, 

9 or delivery of a consumer product in the United 

10 States; and 

11 (B) hosts one or more third-party sellers. 

12 (4) SELLER.—The term ‘‘seller’’ means a per13 son or entity that sells, offers to sell, or contracts to 

14 sell a consumer product through an online market15 place’s platform. 

16 (5) SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM.—The term ‘‘so17 cial media platform’’ means a website or mobile web 

18 application that— 

19 (A) permits a person to become a reg20 istered user, establish an account, or create a 

21 profile for the purpose of allowing the user to 

22 create, share, and view user-generated content 

23 through such an account or profile; 


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1 (B) enables one or more users to generate 

2 content that can be viewed by other users of the 

3 platform; and 

4 (C) primarily serves as a medium for users 

5 to interact with content generated by other 

6 users of the medium and for the platform to de7 liver ads to users. 

8 (6) USER.—The term ‘‘user’’ means a person 

9 or entity that uses a social media platform or online 

10 marketplace for any purpose, including advertisers 

11 and sellers, regardless of whether that person has an 

12 account or is otherwise registered with the platform. 

Æ 


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