I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5803 
To require covered entities to implement and disclose information moderation 
policies, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 1, 2021 
Mr. RICE of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, and Mr. NOR-
MAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To require covered entities to implement and disclose 
information moderation policies, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Promoting Responsi-
bility Over Moderation In the Social-media Environment 
Act’’ or the ‘‘PROMISE Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to ensure that users of 
a covered entity have the necessary information regarding 
such entity’s policy on moderating information provided 
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by a user or other information content provider. Access 
to such a policy enables users to make informed choices 
regarding the use or purchase of services provided by the 
covered entity and promotes a competitive marketplace for 
such services. 
SEC. 3. INFORMATION MODERATION POLICIES. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—A covered entity— 
(A) shall implement and operate in accord-
ance with an information moderation policy (as 
described in paragraph (2)); 
(B) shall disclose such information mod-
eration policy in a publicly available and easily 
accessible manner; and 
(C) shall not make a deceptive policy state-
ment with respect to such information modera-
tion policy. 
(2) INFORMATION MODERATION POLICY.—The 
information moderation policy described in this 
paragraph is a policy that accurately describes, in 
plain, easy to understand language, information re-
garding the business practices of a covered entity 
with respect to the standards, processes, and policies 
of the covered entity on moderating information pro-
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vided by a user or other information content pro-
vider, including— 
(A) any category of information that— 
(i) the covered entity does not permit 
on its service; or 
(ii) is subject to moderation by users 
or providers of such covered entity; 
(B) the process which a user or provider of 
the covered entity utilizes to moderate informa-
tion posted, published, or otherwise displayed 
on the service; and 
(C) the notification process, if any, which 
the covered entity uses to inform a user— 
(i) that such user’s information has 
been moderated; 
(ii) of the rationale justifying the 
moderation decision; and 
(iii) of the user’s options for redress, 
if any. 
(b) ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COM-
MISSION.— 
(1) UNFAIR
OR
DECEPTIVE
ACTS
OR
PRAC-
TICES.—A violation of subsection (a) shall constitute 
an unfair or deceptive act or practice in commerce 
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in violation of section 5(a) of the Federal Trade 
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45(a)). 
(2) POWERS OF COMMISSION.—Subject to para-
graphs (4) and (5), the Commission shall enforce 
subsection (a) 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 made a part of 
this section. Any person who violates subsection (a) 
shall be subject to the penalties and entitled to the 
privileges and immunities provided in such Act. 
(3) REGULATIONS.—The Commission shall pre-
scribe, in accordance with section 553 of title 5, 
United States Code, such regulations as are nec-
essary to carry out the purposes of this section, in-
cluding regulations as may be necessary or appro-
priate to administer and carry out the purposes and 
objectives of this section. 
(4) PRESUMPTION OF MATERIALITY.—With re-
spect to a violation of subsection (a), there shall be 
a rebuttable presumption that a deceptive policy 
statement is material and likely to cause injury. 
(5) APPLICATION TO COMMON CARRIERS.—Not-
withstanding the definition of the term ‘‘Acts to reg-
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ulate commerce’’ in section 4 of the Federal Trade 
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 44) and the exception 
provided by section 5(a)(2) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 
45(a)(2)) for common carriers, the Commission shall 
enforce subsection (a), in the same manner provided 
in paragraphs (1) through (4), with respect to cov-
ered entities that are common carriers for purposes 
of such section 5(a)(2). 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 
means the Federal Trade Commission. 
(2) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en-
tity’’ means an entity that— 
(A) is an interactive computer service; 
(B) is engaged in interstate or foreign 
commerce; and 
(C) moderates information provided by a 
user or other information content provider. 
(3) 
DECEPTIVE
POLICY
STATEMENT.—The 
term ‘‘deceptive policy statement’’ means an oral or 
written representation, omission, or practice made 
by an officer, director, or other authorized agent of 
a covered entity regarding such covered entity’s in-
formation moderation policy that— 
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(A) misleads or is likely to mislead a rea-
sonable individual regarding the covered entity’s 
service; and 
(B) affects or is likely to affect a reason-
able individual’s choice to use or use of the cov-
ered entity’s service. 
(4) INFORMATION
CONTENT
PROVIDER.—The 
term ‘‘information content provider’’ has the mean-
ing given such term in section 230(f) of the Commu-
nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)). 
(5) INTERACTIVE
COMPUTER
SERVICE.—The 
term ‘‘interactive computer service’’ has the meaning 
given such term in section 230(f) of the Communica-
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)). 
(6) MODERATE.—With respect to information 
provided by a user or other information content pro-
vider, the term ‘‘moderate’’ means— 
(A) to remove or otherwise restrict access 
to or the availability of such information; 
(B) to edit or otherwise alter such infor-
mation; or 
(C) to post, publish, or otherwise display a 
warning, fact-check notice, or other label in 
conjunction with such information. 
Æ 
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