I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9043 
To require social media companies to establish an office dedicated to identi-
fying and removing violent or extremist content associated with or distrib-
uted by any entity identified as a terrorist organization. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 21, 2020 
Mr. GOTTHEIMER (for himself and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and 
in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To require social media companies to establish an office 
dedicated to identifying and removing violent or extrem-
ist content associated with or distributed by any entity 
identified as a terrorist organization. 
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 Terrorism Pre-
vention Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. OFFICE DEDICATED TO IDENTIFYING AND REMOV-
ING CONTENT ASSOCIATED WITH ANY TER-
RORIST ORGANIZATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 
date of enactment of this Act, each social media company 
shall establish an office to identify and remove violent or 
extremist content associated with or distributed by any en-
tity identified as a terrorist organization. The office shall 
be lead by a dedicated staff member who reports directly 
to the highest official at the social media company. The 
duties of the office shall include— 
(1) educating and training employees about 
compliance requirements that are consistent with the 
social media company’s social media platform con-
tent moderation standards or terms of service agree-
ments and about detecting contributors to the social 
media platform that are identified as a terrorist or-
ganization; 
(2) conducting regular, comprehensive audits to 
ensure compliance with the identification and re-
moval requirements in this subsection, and making 
records of such audits publicly available on the social 
media platform; 
(3) maintaining updated, clear, and under-
standable records of all relevant practices under-
taken by the social media company; and 
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(4) serving as the point of contact between the 
social media company and the Federal Trade Com-
mission. 
(b) REQUIREMENT FOR IMMEDIATE REMOVAL UPON 
REQUEST BY CERTAIN OFFICIALS.—A social media com-
pany shall expeditiously remove any violent or extremist 
content associated with or distributed by any entity identi-
fied as a terrorist organization that appears on its social 
media platform, upon the request of the Federal Trade 
Commission. 
SEC. 3. CIVIL ENFORCEMENT. 
(a) ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COM-
MISSION.— 
(1) UNFAIR
OR
DECEPTIVE
ACTS
OR
PRAC-
TICES.—A violation of section 2 shall be treated as 
a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive 
act or practice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) 
of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 
57a(a)(1)(B)). 
(2) POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 
enforce this Act and any regulations promul-
gated under this Act in the same manner, by 
the same means, and with the same jurisdic-
tion, powers, and duties as though all applicable 
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terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were in-
corporated into and made a part of this Act, 
and any person who violates this Act or a regu-
lation promulgated under this Act shall be sub-
ject to the penalties and entitled to the privi-
leges and immunities provided in the Federal 
Trade Commission Act. 
(B) 
REGULATIONS.—The 
Commission 
may, under section 553 of title 5, United States 
Code, prescribe any regulations it determines 
necessary to carry out this Act. 
(C) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in 
this Act shall be construed in any way to limit 
the authority of the Commission under any 
other provision of law. 
(b) 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 section 2, the attorney gen-
eral, 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 
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bring a civil action in any appropriate United States 
district court or in any other court of competent ju-
risdiction, including a State court, to— 
(A) enjoin further such violation by such 
person; 
(B) enforce compliance with such section; 
(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 (or other such officer) 
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 gen-
eral shall serve such notice immediately upon insti-
tuting 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. 
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(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 paragraph 
during the pendency of that action against any de-
fendant named in the complaint of the Commission 
for any violation of this Act alleged in the complaint. 
(4) RELATIONSHIP WITH STATE LAW CLAIMS.— 
If the attorney general of a State has authority to 
bring an action under State law directed at acts or 
practices that also violate this Act, the attorney gen-
eral may assert the State law claim and a claim 
under this Act in the same civil action. 
(c) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this subsection (b) 
shall preempt or otherwise affect any State or local law. 
(d) FBI ENFORCEMENT.—The Federal Bureau of 
Investigation may exercise its full authority under section 
2709 of title 18, United States Code, to investigate viola-
tions of this Act, and may share any information obtained 
under such section with the Federal Trade Commission 
for enforcement of this Act under subsection (a). 
(e) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Whoever owns, manages, 
or operates a social media company and acts in reckless 
disregard of the fact that content made available on the 
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social media platform of such company in violation of sec-
tion 2 contributed to terrorism, shall constitute an offense 
of ‘‘providing material support to terrorists’’ under section 
2339A(a) of title 18, United States Code. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
As used in this Act— 
(1) the term ‘‘social media company’’ means 
any person that owns, manages, or operates a social 
media platform and has an annual revenue in excess 
of $10,000,000; 
(2) the term ‘‘social media platform’’— 
(A) means a website or internet medium, 
including a mobile application, that— 
(i) permits a person to become a reg-
istered user, establish an account, or create 
a profile for the purpose of allowing users 
to create, share, and view user-generated 
content through such an account or profile; 
(ii) enables one or more users to gen-
erate content that can be viewed by other 
users of the medium; and 
(iii) serves as a medium for users to 
view content generated by other users of 
the medium; and 
(B) does not include— 
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(i) any such platform that serves 
fewer than 100,000 users who access their 
account or profile at least once a month; 
(ii) an email program, email distribu-
tion 
lists, 
multi-person 
text 
message 
groups, or a website that is primarily for 
the purpose of internet commerce; 
(iii) a private platform or messaging 
service used by an entity solely to commu-
nicate with others employed by or affiliated 
with such entity; or 
(iv) an internet-based platform whose 
primary purpose is— 
(I) to allow users to post product 
reviews, business reviews, travel infor-
mation and reviews; or 
(II) to provide news or entertain-
ment content, but that may also in-
clude a comment section for users to 
discuss such news or entertainment 
content if such comment section does 
not include functionality that permits 
a user to share images, videos, or 
other visual depictions; and 
(3) the term ‘‘terrorist organization’’ means— 
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(A) any entity designated as foreign ter-
rorist organizations by the Department of 
State; and 
(B) any entity engaged in domestic ter-
rorism or international terrorism, as such terms 
are defined in section 2331 of title 18, United 
States Code. 
Æ 
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