Big Tech Accountability for Broadband Act

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to promulgate regulations to collect regulatory fees from large technology platforms. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Big Tech Accountability for Broadband Act 2. Collection of regulatory fees from large technology platforms (a) Regulations (1) In general Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall, notwithstanding subsection (d) of section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 254 (2) Fee structure Such regulations shall include a fee structure to be assessed on covered businesses. (b) Considerations In promulgating regulations under subsection (a), the Commission shall consider including in such regulations a mechanism to prohibit a telecommunications carrier from levying on a customer of such carrier charges relating to the required contributions of such carriers to Federal universal service support mechanism under section 254(d) of the Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 254 (c) Definitions In this Act: (1) Broadband internet access service The term broadband internet access service (2) Commission The term Commission (3) Covered business The term covered business (A) means a business offering an online platform which— (i) in any month during the most recently completed 12-month period— (I) more than 30,000,000 users in the United States accessed, without regard to the means by which the users accessed the service; or (II) more than 300,000,000 users worldwide accessed, without regard to the means by which the users accessed the service; and (ii) during the most recently completed taxable year, had more than $10,000,000,000 in global revenue; and (B) does not include an organization described in section 501(c) (4) Online platform The term online platform (A) enable a user to generate content that can be viewed by other users on the platform or to interact with other content on the platform; (B) facilitate the offering, sale, purchase, payment, or shipping of products or services, including software applications, between and among consumers or businesses not controlled by the platform operator; or (C) enable user searches or queries that access or display a large volume of information.

Summary: Big Tech Accountability for Broadband Act This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to promulgate regulations requiring covered businesses to contribute to the federal universal service support mechanism. A covered business is a business offering an online platform (e.g., a social media platform) that has (1) more than 30 million U.S. users or 300 million worldwide users, and (2) more than $10 billion in global revenue. The federal universal service support mechanism collects money from telecommunications companies and uses it to expand broadband access and infrastructure, especially in unserved and underserved areas. In promulgating such regulations, the FCC must consider including a mechanism that prohibits a telecommunications carrier from requiring a customer to pay charges related to universal service support contributions if the customer is considered unserved or underserved with respect to broadband internet access.