I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9584 
To promote digital citizenship and media literacy. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 12, 2024 
Ms. SLOTKIN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To promote digital citizenship and media literacy. 
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 ‘‘Digital Citizenship and 
Media Literacy Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) People in the United States rely on infor-
mation from mass media, social media, and digital 
media to make decisions about all aspects of social, 
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economic, and political life, including products and 
services consumption, employment, career and pro-
fessional development, family and leisure choices, 
health and wellness, and democratic engagement. 
Ensuring that people in the United States possess 
the skills to make these informed decisions based on 
media begins early in life. 
(2) Adversaries from Russia, China, and Iran 
are using information warfare to influence democ-
racies across the world, and terrorist organizations 
often use digital communications to recruit mem-
bers. The United States can fight these influences 
by ensuring that citizens of the United States pos-
sess the necessary skills to discern disinformation 
and misinformation and think critically about their 
digital activities. 
(3) Media literacy education has proven critical 
to allies of the United States in building national re-
silience to foreign disinformation campaigns. Coun-
tries like Estonia, Finland, and Ukraine have devel-
oped and implemented successful media literacy edu-
cation programs in schools that have helped counter 
Russian disinformation campaigns. The United 
States has also invested in and promoted media lit-
eracy education abroad, including in the Baltics. 
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(4) Following Russia’s increased aggression to-
wards Ukraine and the West this year, and Russia’s 
invasion of Ukraine, media literacy skills have been 
important in ensuring Ukrainians and citizens of 
Western allied countries are not influenced by Rus-
sian disinformation. 
(5) In order to build similar national resilience 
against foreign disinformation in the United States, 
Congress has recommended investing in media lit-
eracy education. 
(6) The bipartisan and bicameral Cyberspace 
Solarium Commission’s 2020 report recommended 
that the United States invest in media literacy, writ-
ing that ‘‘[b]y promoting modern civics education 
and digital literacy programs, the U.S. Government 
can assist in enhancing the average American’s abil-
ity to discern the trustworthiness of online content, 
and thereby reduce the impact of malicious foreign 
cyber-enabled information campaigns’’, and con-
cluded that Congress should authorize a grant pro-
gram ‘‘to improve digital citizenship and to incor-
porate effective digital literacy curricula in American 
classrooms at the K–12 level and beyond’’. 
(7) Similarly, the Select Committee on Intel-
ligence of the Senate stated, in a bipartisan report 
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released during the 116th Congress, ‘‘Addressing the 
challenge of disinformation in the long-term will ulti-
mately need to be tackled by an informed and dis-
cerning population of citizens who are both alert to 
the threat and armed with the critical thinking skills 
necessary to protect against malicious influence.’’ 
The Committee then recommended that a ‘‘public 
initiative—propelled by Federal funding but led in 
large part by state and local education institutions— 
focused on building media literacy from an early age 
would help build long-term resilience to foreign ma-
nipulation of our democracy’’. 
(8) Media literacy and digital citizenship edu-
cation also empowers young people and is critical to 
improving the health and wellness of young people, 
preventing cyberbullying, and enabling young people 
to make informed decisions about products and serv-
ices, including advertisements and controlled sub-
stances. 
(9) Social media and other online activities have 
been shown to have serious negative impacts on the 
mental and physical health of young people. Many 
studies have found that media literacy education is 
one of the most successful strategies for countering 
body image issues and eating disorders in children. 
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The National Eating Disorders Association, in part-
nership with California State University, Northridge, 
published a Digital Media Literacy toolkit to help 
students, including high school students, learn skills 
to think critically about body images and the online 
content they see. 
(10) Education and childhood development ex-
perts, as well as academic and medical researchers, 
have recommended that a key method for preventing 
and countering the negative impacts described in 
paragraph (9) is to teach media literacy skills to 
young people beginning early in their education. 
(11) A successful and inclusive media literacy 
program must be directed at students beginning in 
kindergarten and should continue throughout the 
completion of postsecondary education. Media lit-
eracy education must be inclusive and accessible for 
all students, including multilingual students, stu-
dents with limited proficiency in English, and stu-
dents with disabilities. Learning to critically analyze 
and create media is a lifelong process that can be 
developed by integrating media literacy competencies 
into academic curriculum across content areas and 
disciplines. 
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SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist-
ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 
Commerce for Communications and Information. 
(2) DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP.—The term ‘‘digital 
citizenship’’ means the ability to— 
(A) safely, responsibly, and ethically use 
communication technologies and digital infor-
mation technology tools and platforms; 
(B) create and share media content using 
principles of social and civic responsibility and 
with awareness of the legal and ethical issues 
involved; and 
(C) participate in the political, economic, 
social, and cultural aspects of life related to 
technology, communications, and the digital 
world by consuming and creating digital con-
tent, including media. 
(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-
ty’’ means— 
(A) a State educational agency; 
(B) a local educational agency; 
(C) a public library; or 
(D) a qualified nonprofit organization. 
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(4) ESEA DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘‘child 
with a disability’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘State 
educational agency’’, ‘‘specialized instructional sup-
port personnel’’, and ‘‘universal design for learning’’ 
have the meanings given those terms in section 8101 
of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 
(5) MEDIA LITERACY.—The term ‘‘media lit-
eracy’’ means the ability to— 
(A) access relevant and accurate informa-
tion through media in a variety of forms; 
(B) critically analyze media content and 
the influences of different forms of media; 
(C) evaluate the comprehensiveness, rel-
evance, credibility, authority, and accuracy of 
information; 
(D) make educated decisions based on in-
formation obtained from media and digital 
sources; 
(E) operate various forms of technology 
and digital tools; and 
(F) reflect on how the use of media and 
technology may affect private and public life. 
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