I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8596 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide accountability for 
bad actors who abuse the Good Samaritan protections provided under 
that Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 16, 2020 
Mr. BUDD (for himself, Mr. CRAWFORD, Mr. FLORES, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. 
GOODEN, Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina, and Mr. WALTZ) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce 
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide ac-
countability for bad actors who abuse the Good Samari-
tan protections provided under that Act, 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 ‘‘Limiting Section 230 
Immunity to Good Samaritans Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. SCOPE OF PROTECTION. 
Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 230) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (c)— 
(A) in paragraph (1)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘No provider’’ and in-
serting the following: 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), no provider’’; and 
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(B) CONDITION.—With respect to an 
edge provider, subparagraph (A) shall only 
apply if the provider adopts and maintains writ-
ten terms of service that— 
‘‘(i) take precedence over other such 
terms in case of any conflict between the 
sets of terms; 
‘‘(ii) describe any policies of the edge 
provider relating to restricting access to or 
availability of material; and 
‘‘(iii) promise that the edge provider 
shall— 
‘‘(I) design and operate the pro-
vided service in good faith; and 
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‘‘(II) if the provider is found, in 
a civil action brought in Federal or 
State court, or by an arbitrator, to 
breach the promise made under sub-
clause (I) with respect to a claimant 
user, pay that user— 
‘‘(aa) the greater of— 
‘‘(AA) damages of not 
less than $5,000; or 
‘‘(BB) actual damages; 
and 
‘‘(bb) with respect to litiga-
tion or arbitration by the user to 
enforce the promise— 
‘‘(AA) a reasonable at-
torney’s fee; and 
‘‘(BB) costs and other 
expenses described in sec-
tions 1821 and 1920 of title 
28, United States Code (or, 
in the case of an action 
brought in State court or 
through 
arbitration, 
any 
similar costs and other ex-
penses).’’; and 
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(B) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(3) GOOD FAITH.—For the purposes of this 
subsection, a provider of an interactive computer 
service— 
‘‘(A) acts in good faith if the provider acts 
with an honest belief and purpose, observes fair 
dealing standards, and acts without fraudulent 
intent; and 
‘‘(B) does not act in good faith if the pro-
vider takes an action that includes— 
‘‘(i) the intentionally selective enforce-
ment of the terms of service of the inter-
active computer service, including the in-
tentionally selective enforcement of policies 
of the provider relating to restricting ac-
cess to or availability of material; 
‘‘(ii) enforcing the terms of service of 
the interactive computer service, including 
enforcing policies of the provider to restrict 
access to or availability of material, 
against a user by employing an algorithm 
that selectively enforces those terms, if the 
provider knows, or acts in reckless dis-
regard of the fact, that the algorithm se-
lectively enforces those terms; 
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‘‘(iii) the intentional failure to honor a 
public or private promise made by, or on 
behalf of, the provider; or 
‘‘(iv) any other intentional action 
taken by the provider without an honest 
belief and purpose, without observing fair 
dealing standards, or with fraudulent in-
tent.’’; 
(2) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(6) NO EFFECT ON LEGAL PROMISES.—Noth-
ing in this section shall be construed to impair or 
limit any claim for breach of contract, promissory 
estoppel, or breach of a duty of good faith.’’; and 
(3) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(5) EDGE
PROVIDER.—The term ‘edge pro-
vider’— 
‘‘(A) means an entity that— 
‘‘(i) provides an interactive computer 
service— 
‘‘(I) through a website, online ap-
plication, or mobile application (in-
cluding a single interactive computer 
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service that is provided through more 
than 1 such website or application); 
‘‘(II) through which information 
provided by another information con-
tent provider is distributed; and 
‘‘(III) that, in any month during 
the most recently completed 12-month 
period— 
‘‘(aa) more than 30,000,000 
users 
in 
the 
United 
States 
accessed, without regard to the 
means 
by 
which 
the 
users 
accessed the service; or 
‘‘(bb) 
more 
than 
300,000,000 
users 
worldwide 
accessed, without regard to the 
means 
by 
which 
the 
users 
accessed the service; and 
‘‘(ii) during the most recently com-
pleted taxable year, had more than 
$1,500,000,000 in global revenue; and 
‘‘(B) does not include an organization de-
scribed in section 501(c) of the Internal Rev-
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enue Code of 1986 that is exempt from taxation 
under section 501(a) of such Code.’’. 
Æ 
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