I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2889 
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 
APRIL 10, 2025 
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 Com-
mission. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Online Consumer Pro-
tection Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. TERMS OF SERVICE REQUIRED FOR SOCIAL MEDIA 
PLATFORMS AND ONLINE MARKETPLACES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Each social media platform or on-
line marketplace shall establish, maintain, and make pub-
licly available at all times and in a machine-readable for-
mat, terms of service in a manner that is clear, easily un-
derstood, and written in plain and concise language. The 
terms of service shall meet the following requirements: 
(1) The terms of service shall include— 
(A) any terms or conditions of use of any 
service provided by such person to a consumer; 
(B) any policies of such person with regard 
to such service or use of such service by a con-
sumer; and 
(C) the consumer protection policy con-
sistent with subsection (b). 
(2) The terms of service shall cover issues re-
lated to the behavior of a service or a user of such 
service, and shall at a minimum include terms of use 
related to— 
(A) payment methods; 
(B) content ownership, including content 
generated by a user; 
(C) policies related to sharing user content 
with third parties; 
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(D) any disclaimers, limitations, notices of 
nonliability, or the consequences of not agreeing 
to or complying with the terms of service; and 
(E) any other topic the Commission deems 
appropriate. 
(b) REQUIRED CONSUMER PROTECTION POLICY.— 
(1) FOR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS.—For so-
cial media platforms, the consumer protection policy 
required by subsection (a) shall include— 
(A) a description of the content and behav-
ior permitted or prohibited on its service both 
by the platform and by users; 
(B) whether content may be blocked, re-
moved, or modified, or if service to users may 
be terminated and the grounds upon which such 
actions will be taken; 
(C) whether a person can request that con-
tent be blocked, removed, or modified, or that 
a user’s service be terminated, and how to make 
such a request; 
(D) a description of how a user will be no-
tified of and can respond to a request that his 
or her content be blocked, removed, or modified, 
or service be terminated, if such actions are 
taken; 
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(E) whether a user who requested content 
be blocked, removed, or modified will be notified 
of whether action was taken as a result of the 
request, the action that was taken, the reason 
why action was taken or not taken, and how the 
user will be notified; 
(F) how a person can appeal a decision to 
block, remove, or modify content, allow content 
to remain, or terminate or not terminate service 
to a user, if such actions are taken; 
(G) a description of how a user will be no-
tified of the result of the appeal; 
(H) a description of the tools and support 
available to users who have experienced cyber 
harassment; and 
(I) any other topic the Commission deems 
appropriate. 
(2) FOR ONLINE MARKETPLACES.—For online 
marketplaces, the consumer protection policy re-
quired by subsection (a) shall include— 
(A) a description of the products, product 
descriptions, and marketing material, allowed or 
disallowed on the marketplace; 
(B) whether a product, product descrip-
tions, and marketing material may be blocked, 
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removed, or modified, or if service to a user 
may be terminated and the grounds upon which 
such actions will be taken; 
(C) whether users will be notified of prod-
ucts that have been recalled or are dangerous, 
and how they will be notified; 
(D) for users— 
(i) whether a user can report sus-
pected fraud, deception, dangerous prod-
ucts, or violations of the online market-
place’s terms of service, and how to make 
such report; 
(ii) whether a user who submitted a 
report will be notified of whether action 
was taken as a result of the report, the ac-
tion that was taken and the reason why ac-
tion was taken or not taken, and how the 
user will be notified; 
(iii) how to appeal the result of a re-
port; 
(iv) whether a user who appealed the 
result of a report will be notified of wheth-
er action was taken as a result of the ap-
peal, the action that was taken, the reason 
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why action was taken or not taken, and 
how the user will be notified; and 
(v) under what circumstances a user 
is entitled to refund, repair, or other rem-
edy and the remedy to which the user may 
be entitled, how the user will be notified of 
such entitlement, and how the user may 
claim such remedy; and 
(E) for sellers— 
(i) how sellers are notified of a report 
by a user or a violation of the terms of 
service or consumer protection policy; 
(ii) how to contest a report by a user; 
(iii) how a seller who is the subject of 
a report will be notified of what action will 
be or must be taken as a result of the re-
port and the justification for such action; 
(iv) how to appeal a decision of the 
online marketplace to take an action in re-
sponse to a user report or for a violation 
of the terms of service or consumer protec-
tion policy; and 
(v) the policy regarding refunds, re-
pairs, replacements, or other remedies as a 
result of a user report or a violation of the 
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terms of service or consumer protection 
policy. 
(c) STANDARD
SHORT-FORM
STATEMENTS
AND 
GRAPHIC ICONS
FOR CONSUMER PROTECTION PRAC-
TICES.— 
(1) STUDY AND REPORT.—Not later than 180 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Commission shall conduct a study to determine the 
most effective method of communicating common 
consumer protection practices in short-form con-
sumer disclosure statements or graphic icons that 
disclose the consumer protection and content mod-
eration practices of social media platforms and on-
line marketplaces. The Commission shall submit a 
report to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 
Senate with the results of the study. The report 
shall also be made publicly available on the website 
of the Commission. 
(2) REGULATIONS.—Except as provided in 
paragraph (3), after completion of the study and not 
later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the Commission shall finalize regulations 
based on the results of such study that require social 
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media platforms and online marketplaces to commu-
nicate their consumer protection and content mod-
eration practices, and any other information as the 
Commission may determine, in a clear and con-
spicuous manner. 
(3) EXCEPTION.—If the Commission deter-
mines, by a majority vote of the Commissioners, that 
short-form consumer disclosure statements or graph-
ic icons will not advance consumer understanding of 
consumer protection and content moderation prac-
tices of social media platforms and online market-
places, the Commission shall include its reasoning 
for making that determination in the report to Con-
gress required by paragraph (1) and shall not final-
ize the rulemaking until it determines such rules 
would advance consumer understanding of consumer 
protection and content moderation practices of social 
media platforms and online marketplaces. 
SEC. 3. CONSUMER PROTECTION PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Each social media platform and 
online marketplace shall establish and implement a con-
sumer protection program that includes policies, practices, 
and procedures regarding consumer protection and con-
tent moderation— 
(1) to— 
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(A) ensure compliance with applicable Fed-
eral, State, and local consumer protection laws; 
(B) develop, implement, and ensure com-
pliance with the terms of service required by 
section 2; 
(C) develop and implement policies regard-
ing the content and behavior permitted on its 
service both by the platform and users, and en-
sure compliance with such policies, practices 
and procedures; 
(D) mitigate risks that could be harmful to 
consumers’ safety, well-being, and reasonable 
expectations of users of the social media plat-
form or online marketplace, including cyber 
harassment; 
(E) implement reasonable safeguards with-
in, and training and education of employees and 
contractors of, the social media platform or on-
line marketplace to promote compliance with all 
consumer protection laws and the consumer 
protection program; and 
(F) disclose any other requirement the 
Commission deems appropriate; and 
(2) taking into consideration— 
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(A) the size of, and the nature, scope, and 
complexity of the activities engaged in by the 
social media platform and online marketplace; 
(B) the activities engaged in by users on 
the social media platform or online market-
place; and 
(C) the cost of implementing the program. 
(b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—As part of the 
consumer protection program, a social media platform or 
online marketplace shall— 
(1) establish processes to monitor, manage, and 
enforce the social media platform’s or online market-
place’s consumer protection program, and dem-
onstrate the covered entity’s compliance with Fed-
eral, State, and local consumer protection laws; 
(2) establish processes to assess and mitigate 
the risks to individuals resulting from the social 
media platform’s or online marketplace’s amplifi-
cation of content or products not in compliance with 
its terms of service; 
(3) establish a process to periodically review 
and update the consumer protection program; 
(4) appoint a consumer protection officer, who 
reports directly to the chief executive officer; and 
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(5) establish and implement controls to monitor 
and mitigate known or reasonably foreseeable risks 
to consumers resulting from hosting content or prod-
ucts. 
(c) ANNUAL FILINGS TO THE FTC.— 
(1) 
FILING
REQUIREMENTS.—Each 
social 
media platform or online marketplace that either has 
annual revenue in excess of $250,000 in the prior 
year or that has more than 10,000 monthly active 
users on average in the prior year, shall be required 
to submit to the Commission, on an annual basis, a 
filing that includes— 
(A) a detailed and granular description of 
each of the requirements in section 2 and this 
section; 
(B) the name and contact information of 
the consumer protection officer required under 
subsection (b)(4); and 
(C) a description of any material changes 
in the consumer protection program or the 
terms of service since the most recent prior dis-
closure to the Commission. 
(2) OFFICER CERTIFICATION.—For each entity 
that submits an annual filing under paragraph (1), 
the entity’s principal executive officer and the con-
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sumer protection officer required under subsection 
(b)(4), shall be required to certify in each such an-
nual filing that— 
(A) the signing officer has reviewed the fil-
ing; 
(B) based on such officer’s knowledge, the 
filing does not contain any untrue statement of 
a material fact or omit to state a material fact 
necessary to make the statements, in light of 
the circumstances under which such statements 
were made, not misleading; 
(C) based on such officer’s knowledge, the 
filing fairly presents in all material respects the 
consumer protection practices of the social 
media platform or online marketplace; and 
(D) the signing consumer protection offi-
cer— 
(i) is responsible for establishing and 
maintaining safeguards and controls to 
protect consumers and administer the con-
sumer protection program; and 
(ii) has provided all material conclu-
sions about the effectiveness of such safe-
guards and controls. 
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(3) PUBLIC
AVAILABILITY.—The Commission 
shall make publicly available on the website of the 
Commission the filings submitted under paragraph 
(1). The Commission may withhold information in-
cluded in such a filing if the Commission determines 
such information should not be public. If the Com-
mission withholds any information, the Commission 
shall make publicly available on the website the cat-
egory of information withheld and the reasons for 
withholding it. 
SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT. 
(a) ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS-
SION.— 
(1) UNFAIR
OR
DECEPTIVE
ACTS
OR
PRAC-
TICES.—Any violation of this Act shall be treated as 
a violation of a regulation under section 18(a)(1)(B) 
of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 
57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or deceptive acts or 
practices. 
(2) POWERS
OF
COMMISSION.—The Commis-
sion shall enforce this Act in the same manner, by 
the same means, and with the same jurisdiction, 
powers, and duties as though all applicable terms 
and provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act 
(15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incorporated into and 
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made a part of this Act. Any person who violates 
this Act shall be subject to the penalties and entitled 
to the privileges and immunities provided in the 
Federal Trade Commission Act. 
(b) REGULATIONS.—The Commission shall promul-
gate regulations under section 553 of title 5, United 
States Code, to carry out the purposes of this Act. 
(c) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 
(1) ENFORCEMENT BY INDIVIDUALS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—An individual alleging 
damages as a result of a violation of this Act 
may bring a civil action in any court of com-
petent jurisdiction, State or Federal. 
(B) RELIEF.—In a civil action brought 
under subparagraph (A) in which the plaintiff 
prevails, the court may award— 
(i) damages as provided in subpara-
graph (C); 
(ii) reasonable attorney’s fees and liti-
gation costs; and 
(iii) any other relief, including equi-
table or declaratory relief, that the court 
determines appropriate. 
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(C) DAMAGES.—A prevailing plaintiff is 
entitled to actual damages as a result of the 
violation of this Act. 
(2) INVALIDITY OF PRE-DISPUTE ARBITRATION 
AGREEMENTS
AND
PRE-DISPUTE
JOINT-ACTION 
WAIVERS.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, no pre-dispute arbitra-
tion agreement or pre-dispute joint-action waiv-
er shall be valid or enforceable with respect to 
a dispute arising under this Act. 
(B) APPLICABILITY.—Any determination 
as to whether or how this paragraph applies to 
any dispute shall be made by a court, rather 
than an arbitrator, without regard to whether 
such agreement purports to delegate such deter-
mination to an arbitrator. 
(C) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 
(i) 
PRE-DISPUTE
ARBITRATION 
AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘pre-dispute arbi-
tration agreement’’ means any agreement 
to arbitrate a dispute that has not arisen 
at the time of making the agreement. 
(ii) 
PRE-DISPUTE
JOINT-ACTION 
WAIVER.—The term ‘‘pre-dispute joint-ac-
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tion waiver’’ means an agreement, whether 
or not part of a pre-dispute arbitration 
agreement, that would prohibit, or waive 
the right of, one of the parties to the 
agreement to participate in a joint, class, 
or collective action in a judicial, arbitral, 
administration, or other forum, concerning 
a dispute that has not yet arisen at the 
time of making the agreement. 
(iii) DISPUTE.—The term ‘‘dispute’’ 
means any claim related to an alleged vio-
lation of this Act and between an indi-
vidual and a covered organization. 
(d) ENFORCEMENT
BY STATE ATTORNEYS GEN-
ERAL.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—If the chief law enforcement 
officer of a State, or an official or agency designated 
by a State, has reason to believe that any person has 
violated or is violating this Act, the attorney general, 
official, or agency of the State, in addition to any 
authority it may have to bring an action in State 
court under its consumer protection law, may bring 
a civil action in any appropriate United States dis-
trict court or in any other court of competent juris-
diction, including a State court, to— 
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(A) enjoin further such violation by such 
person; 
(B) enforce compliance with this Act; 
(C) obtain civil penalties; and 
(D) obtain damages, restitution, or other 
compensation on behalf of residents of the 
State. 
(2) NOTICE
AND
INTERVENTION
BY
THE 
FTC.—The attorney general of a State shall provide 
prior written notice of any action under paragraph 
(1) to the Commission and provide the Commission 
with a copy of the complaint in the action, except in 
any case in which such prior notice is not feasible, 
in which case the attorney general shall serve such 
notice immediately upon instituting such action. The 
Commission shall have the right— 
(A) to intervene in the action; 
(B) upon so intervening, to be heard on all 
matters arising therein; and 
(C) to file petitions for appeal. 
(3) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION WHILE FED-
ERAL ACTION IS PENDING.—If the Commission has 
instituted a civil action for violation of this Act, no 
State attorney general, or official or agency of a 
State, may bring an action under this subsection 
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