I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2054 
To provide a temporary safe harbor for the publishers of online content 
to collectively negotiate with dominant online platforms regarding the 
terms on which their content may be distributed. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 3, 2019 
Mr. CICILLINE (for himself, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, and Mr. DESAULNIER) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary 
A BILL 
To provide a temporary safe harbor for the publishers of 
online content to collectively negotiate with dominant 
online platforms regarding the terms on which their con-
tent may be distributed. 
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 ‘‘Journalism Competi-
tion and Preservation Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. SAFE HARBOR FOR CERTAIN COLLECTIVE NEGO-
TIATIONS. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 
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(1) The term ‘‘news content creator’’ means— 
(A) any print or digital news organization 
that— 
(i) has a dedicated professional edi-
torial staff that creates and distributes 
original news and related content con-
cerning local, national, or international 
matters of public interest on at least a 
weekly basis; and 
(ii) is commercially marketed through 
subscriptions, advertising, or sponsorship; 
and 
(B) provides original news and related con-
tent, with the editorial content consisting of not 
less than 25 percent current news and related 
content. 
(2) The term ‘‘Online Content Distributor’’ 
means any entity that— 
(A) operates a website or other online serv-
ice that displays, distributes, or directs users to 
news articles, works of journalism, or other con-
tent on the internet that is generated by third- 
party news content creators; and 
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(B) has not fewer than 1,000,000,000 
monthly active users, in the aggregate, of all of 
its websites or online services worldwide. 
(3) The term ‘‘antitrust laws’’ has the meaning 
given such term in subsection (a) of the first section 
of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12), and includes— 
(A) section 5 of the Federal Trade Com-
mission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent that 
such section applies to unfair methods of com-
petition; and 
(B) any State law, rule, or regulation that 
prohibits or penalizes the conduct described in, 
or is otherwise inconsistent with, subsection (b) 
of this section. 
(4) The term ‘‘negotiation period’’ means the 
period of time beginning on the date this Act goes 
into effect and ending 48 months later. 
(b) LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.—A news content cre-
ator shall not be held liable under the antitrust laws for 
engaging in negotiations with other news content creators 
during the negotiation period to collectively withhold con-
tent from, or negotiate with, an Online Content Dis-
tributor regarding the terms on which the news content 
creators’ news content may be distributed by the Online 
Content Distributor, if— 
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(1) the negotiations with the Online Content 
Distributor— 
(A) are not limited to price and are non-
discriminatory as to similarly situated news 
content creators, and directly relate to the qual-
ity, accuracy, attribution or branding, and 
interoperability of news; and 
(B) pertain to terms that would be avail-
able to all news content creators; 
(2) the coordination among the news content 
creators is directly related to and reasonably nec-
essary for negotiations with an Online Content Dis-
tributor that are otherwise consistent with this Act; 
and 
(3) the negotiations do not involve any person 
that is not a news content creator or an Online Con-
tent Distributor. 
(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Except as provided in 
this Act, this Act shall not be construed to modify, impair, 
or supersede the operation of the antitrust laws. 
Æ 
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