I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5495 
To prohibit providers of email services from using filtering algorithms to 
flag emails from political campaigns that consumers have elected to 
receive as spam. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 14, 2023 
Mrs. LESKO (for herself, Ms. VAN DUYNE, Mr. STEUBE, Mr. PFLUGER, Mr. 
DUNCAN, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Mr. ISSA, and Ms. STEFANIK) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce 
A BILL 
To prohibit providers of email services from using filtering 
algorithms to flag emails from political campaigns that 
consumers have elected to receive as spam. 
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 ‘‘Political Bias In Algo-
rithm Sorting Emails Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘Political BIAS 
Emails Act of 2023’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:06 Sep 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5495.IH
H5495
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
SEC. 2. UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE ACTS AND PRACTICES RE-
LATING TO FILTERING POLITICAL EMAILS 
THAT A CONSUMER HAS ELECTED TO RE-
CEIVE. 
(a) CONDUCT PROHIBITED.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for an 
operator of an email service to use a filtering algo-
rithm to apply a label to an email sent to an email 
account from a political campaign unless the owner 
or user of the account took action to apply such a 
label. 
(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The prohibition under 
paragraph (1) shall take effect on the date that is 
3 months after the date of enactment of this Act. 
(b) QUARTERLY TRANSPARENCY REPORT.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Beginning with the first 
year that begins on or after the date that is 120 
days after the date of enactment of this Act, each 
operator of an email service shall be required to 
make publicly available, on a quarterly basis, a 
transparency report that meets the requirements of 
this subsection. 
(2) CONTENT OF REPORT.—Each quarterly re-
port by an operator of an email service required 
under this subsection shall include the following: 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:06 Sep 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5495.IH
H5495
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
(A) The total number of instances during 
the previous quarter in which emails from polit-
ical campaigns were flagged as spam. 
(B) The number of instances during the 
previous quarter in which emails from political 
campaigns were flagged as spam by a filtering 
algorithm without direction from the email ac-
count owner or user. 
(C) The total number of instances during 
the previous quarter when emails from political 
campaigns of candidates belonging to the Re-
publican Party were flagged as spam. 
(D) The percentage of emails during the 
previous quarter of the year flagged as spam 
from political campaigns of candidates belong-
ing to the Republican party. 
(E) The number of instances during the 
previous quarter in which emails from political 
campaigns of candidates belonging to the Re-
publican Party were flagged as spam by a fil-
tering algorithm without direction from the 
email account owner or user. 
(F) The percentage of emails during the 
previous quarter of the year flagged as spam by 
a filtering algorithm without direction from the 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:06 Sep 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5495.IH
H5495
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
email account owner or user for emails from po-
litical campaigns of candidates belonging to the 
Republican Party. 
(G) The total number of instances during 
the previous quarter when emails from political 
campaigns of candidates belonging to the 
Democratic Party were flagged as spam. 
(H) The percentage of emails during the 
previous quarter of the year flagged as spam 
from political campaigns of candidates belong-
ing to the Democratic party. 
(I) The number of instances during the 
previous quarter in which emails from political 
campaigns of candidates belonging to the 
Democratic Party were flagged as spam by a 
filtering algorithm without direction from the 
email account owner or user. 
(J) The percentage of emails during the 
previous quarter of the year flagged as spam by 
a filtering algorithm without direction from the 
email account owner or user for emails from po-
litical campaigns of candidates belonging to the 
Democratic party. 
(K) A descriptive summary of the kinds of 
tools, practices, actions, and techniques used by 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:06 Sep 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5495.IH
H5495
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
an operator of an email service during the pre-
vious quarter in determining which emails from 
political campaigns to flag as spam. 
(3) PUBLICATION AND FORMAT.—The operator 
of an email service shall publish each quarterly re-
port required under this subsection with an open li-
cense, in a machine-readable and open format, and 
in a location that is easily accessible to consumers. 
(c) DISCLOSURE FOR POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning 3 months after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, each operator 
of an email service shall be required to disclose to 
a political campaign, upon the request of the cam-
paign and subject to paragraph (3), a report that in-
cludes any of the information described in paragraph 
(2) that is requested by the campaign. 
(2) CONTENT OF THE DISCLOSURE.—The infor-
mation described in this paragraph is the following: 
(A) The number of instances during the 
previous quarter when emails from the political 
campaign requesting the information were 
flagged as spam. 
(B) The percentage of emails sent from 
the political campaign requesting the informa-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:06 Sep 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5495.IH
H5495
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
tion that were flagged as spam during the pre-
vious quarter. 
(C) The number of instances during the 
previous calendar quarter when emails from the 
political campaign requesting the information 
were flagged as spam by a filtering algorithm. 
(D) The total number of emails sent from 
the political campaign requesting the informa-
tion that reached the intended recipient’s pri-
mary inbox. 
(E) The percentage of emails sent from 
the political campaign requesting the informa-
tion that reached the intended recipient’s pri-
mary inbox. 
(F) A descriptive summary as to why an 
email from the political campaign requesting 
the information did not reach the intended re-
cipient’s primary inbox. 
(3) FREQUENCY
OF
REQUESTS.—A political 
campaign may not request that an operator of an 
email service provide a report containing any of the 
information described in paragraph (2) more than— 
(A) once per week during election years; 
(B) twice per month during non-election 
years; and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:06 Sep 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5495.IH
H5495
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
(C) once a week in the 12 months pre-
ceding the date of a special election in which a 
candidate associated with the political campaign 
is seeking election. 
(4) BEST PRACTICES.—An operator of an email 
service shall provide to a political campaign, upon 
request, best practices on steps the political cam-
paign should take to increase the number of emails 
from the political campaign that reach the intended 
recipient’s primary inbox. 
(5) DEADLINE FOR PROVIDING DISCLOSURE TO 
POLITICAL
CAMPAIGNS.—An operator of an email 
service that receives a request from a political cam-
paign for a disclosure report described in paragraph 
(1) or best practices described in paragraph (4) shall 
provide such report or best practices to the political 
campaign not later than 4 days after the operator 
receives the request. 
(d) ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COM-
MISSION.— 
(1) UNFAIR
OR
DECEPTIVE
ACTS
OR
PRAC-
TICES.—A violation of subsection (a), (b), or (c) 
shall be treated as a violation of a rule defining an 
unfair or a deceptive act or practice under section 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:06 Sep 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5495.IH
H5495
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act 
(15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). 
(2) POWERS OF COMMISSION.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Federal Trade 
Commission shall enforce this section in the 
same manner, by the same means, and with the 
same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though 
all applicable terms and provisions of the Fed-
eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et 
seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of 
this section. 
(B) PRIVILEGES
AND
IMMUNITIES.—Any 
person who violates subsection (a), (b), or (c) 
shall be subject to the penalties and entitled to 
the privileges and immunities provided in the 
Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 
et seq.). 
(C) AUTHORITY PRESERVED.—Nothing in 
this section shall be construed to limit the au-
thority of the Federal Trade Commission under 
any other provision of law. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) FILTERING
ALGORITHM.—The term ‘‘fil-
tering algorithm’’ means a computational process, 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:06 Sep 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5495.IH
H5495
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
including one derived from algorithmic decision mak-
ing, machine learning, statistical analysis, or other 
data processing or artificial intelligence techniques, 
used by an email service to identify and filter emails 
sent to an email account. 
(2) OPERATOR.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘‘operator’’ 
means any person who operates an email serv-
ice and includes any person that wholly owns a 
subsidiary entity that operates an email service. 
(B) EXCLUSIONS.—Such term shall not in-
clude any person who operates an email service 
if such service is wholly owned, controlled, and 
operated by a person that— 
(i) for the most recent 6-month pe-
riod, did not employ more than 500 em-
ployees; and 
(ii) for the most recent 12-month pe-
riod, averaged less than $5,000,000,000 in 
annual gross receipts. 
(3) POLITICAL CAMPAIGN.—The term ‘‘political 
campaign’’ includes— 
(A) an individual who is a candidate (as 
such term is defined in section 301(2) of the 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:06 Sep 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5495.IH
H5495
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 
U.S.C. 30101(2))); 
(B) an authorized committee (as such term 
is defined in section 301(6) of such Act); 
(C) a connected organization (as such term 
is defined in section 301(7) of such Act); 
(D) a national committee (as such term is 
defined in section 301(14) of such Act); 
(E) a State committee (as such term is de-
fined in section 301(15) of such Act); and 
(F) a joint fundraising committee that in-
cludes any entity described in subparagraphs 
(A) through (E). 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
05:06 Sep 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00010
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H5495.IH
H5495
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB