I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5190 
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 
MARCH 7, 2018 
Mr. CICILLINE 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 2018’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) A free and vibrant press is essential to the 
health of our democracy. 
(2) Fair and competitive markets are integral 
to maintaining a thriving press that can meet the 
demands of consumers and an informed citizenry. 
(3) More and more Americans prefer to read 
news online. While some readers may go directly to 
a publisher’s website, many more find news through 
the use of one or more online platforms, such as 
search engines and social media websites. 
(4) Over the past decade, digital audiences for 
news publications have increased by over 200 per-
cent. Nevertheless, over that same time period, dig-
ital news publishers’ revenues have fallen by nearly 
half. 
(5) In the absence of the robust enforcement of 
the antitrust laws to ensure a free and open market-
place of ideas, some dominant platforms serve as a 
de facto gateway to all online content for many web 
users, wielding an enormous amount of control over 
how readers find and interact with content produced 
by the press. 
(6) Dominant platforms often are able to dic-
tate the terms on which a publisher’s content may 
appear on their platform, and some hold so much 
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sway in the online ecosystem that they can control 
whether their users are able to find a creator’s con-
tent at all. 
(7) An entity with the power to dictate the 
terms of distribution of news has the power to dic-
tate the content of the news. 
(8) America benefits from, and depends upon, 
not only a free marketplace for goods and services, 
but also a free marketplace of ideas. 
(9) The antitrust laws were intended to and do 
provide both economic and civic benefits. 
(10) A central purpose of the antitrust laws is 
to promote and protect open markets, including 
those for the free and diverse press. 
(11) While antitrust exemptions are generally 
disfavored, should the application of the antitrust 
laws ever be applied in a manner that conflicts with 
their stated purpose—such as protecting the free 
and open marketplace of ideas online—it is the duty 
and prerogative of the Congress to resolve the con-
flict. 
SEC. 3. SAFE HARBOR FOR CERTAIN COLLECTIVE NEGO-
TIATIONS. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 
(1) The term ‘‘news content creator’’ means— 
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(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 
(B) has not fewer than 1,000,000,000 
monthly active users, in the aggregate, of all of 
its websites or online services worldwide. 
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(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— 
(1) the negotiations with the Online Content 
Distributor— 
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(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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