I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8216 
To promote digital citizenship and media literacy. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 23, 2022 
Ms. SLOTKIN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined 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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(6) QUALIFIED
NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION.— 
The term ‘‘qualified nonprofit organization’’ means 
an organization that— 
(A) is described in paragraph (3) or (4) of 
section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 and is exempt from taxation under section 
501(a) of that Code; and 
(B) has a mission to improve childhood 
education, childhood development, or media lit-
eracy. 
SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAM ESTABLISHED. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary shall es-
tablish a program to promote media literacy, through 
which the Assistant Secretary shall award grants to eligi-
ble entities to enable those eligible entities to carry out 
the activities described in subsection (c). 
(b) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires a 
grant under this section shall submit an application to the 
Assistant Secretary at such time and in such manner as 
the Assistant Secretary may require, including, at a min-
imum— 
(1) a description of the activities the eligible en-
tity intends to carry out with the grant funds; 
(2) an estimate of the costs associated with 
such activities; and 
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(3) such other information and assurances as 
the Assistant Secretary may require. 
(c) USE OF FUNDS.— 
(1) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that 
is a State educational agency receiving a grant 
under this section shall use grant funds to 
carry out one or more of the following activities: 
(i) Creating and supporting a media 
literacy advisory council to— 
(I) 
provide 
recommendations 
about digital citizenship and media lit-
eracy guidelines; 
(II) identify barriers and oppor-
tunities for implementing media lit-
eracy in kindergarten through grade 
12 in public schools in the State for 
all students, including students who 
are children with disabilities; 
(III) identify best practices and 
effective models for media literacy 
education, 
including 
incorporating 
universal design for learning and pro-
viding additional accommodations for 
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students who are children with dis-
abilities when needed; 
(IV) identify existing models of 
curriculum and existing policies in dif-
ferent States that are aimed at over-
coming the barriers identified in sub-
clause (II); 
(V) gather data or conduct re-
search to assess the media literacy 
and digital citizenship competencies of 
students, teachers, or specialized in-
structional support personnel; 
(VI) submit a report to the State 
educational agency containing findings 
and recommendations regarding the 
items identified under this clause; and 
(VII) annually update those find-
ings and recommendations. 
(ii) Assisting local educational agen-
cies in the development of units of instruc-
tion on media literacy, either as a new sub-
ject or as a part of the existing curriculum. 
(iii) Assisting local educational agen-
cies in developing means of evaluating stu-
dent learning in media literacy. 
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(iv) Assisting local educational agen-
cies in developing or providing professional 
development for teachers that relates to 
media literacy. 
(B) MEDIA
LITERACY
ADVISORY
COUN-
CIL.— 
(i) MEMBERS.—The media literacy 
advisory council described in subparagraph 
(A)(i) shall include experts in media lit-
eracy, including academic experts, individ-
uals from nonprofit organizations, individ-
uals with expertise in education for stu-
dents who are children with disabilities, 
teachers, librarians, representatives from 
parent organizations, educators, adminis-
trators, students, and other stakeholders. 
(ii) 
DIVERSITY
OF
REPRESENTA-
TION.—Such membership shall include rep-
resentation from rural and urban local 
educational agencies, small and large 
schools, high- and low-resource schools, 
teachers of students with disabilities, and 
schools in communities from diverse lin-
guistic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. 
(C) GUIDELINES.— 
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(i) IN GENERAL.—A State educational 
agency that creates a media literacy advi-
sory council under subparagraph (A)(i) 
shall, only after consideration of the find-
ings and recommendations described in 
subclauses (I) and (VI) of that subpara-
graph, develop and publish on the State 
educational agency website inclusive digital 
citizenship and media literacy guidelines 
for students in kindergarten through grade 
12 in public schools in the State. 
(ii) REQUIREMENTS.—The guidelines 
described in clause (i) shall be designed to 
develop media literacy and digital citizen-
ship 
competencies 
by 
promoting 
stu-
dents’— 
(I) research and information flu-
ency; 
(II) critical thinking and prob-
lem-solving skills; 
(III) technology operations and 
concepts; 
(IV) information and techno-
logical literacy; 
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(V) concepts of media representa-
tion and stereotyping; 
(VI) understanding of explicit 
and implicit media messages; 
(VII) understanding of values 
and points of view that are included 
and excluded in media content; 
(VIII) 
understanding 
of 
how 
media may influence ideas and behav-
iors; 
(IX) understanding of the impor-
tance of obtaining information from 
multiple media sources and evaluating 
sources for quality; 
(X) understanding how informa-
tion on digital platforms can be al-
tered through algorithms, editing, and 
augmented reality; and 
(XI) ability to create media in 
civically and socially responsible ways. 
(2) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.—An eligi-
ble entity that is a local educational agency receiving 
a grant under this section shall use grant funds to 
carry out one or more of the following activities: 
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(A) Incorporating digital citizenship and 
media literacy into the existing curriculum 
(across content and disciplinary areas) or estab-
lishing new educational opportunities to learn 
about media literacy. 
(B) Employing specialized instructional 
support personnel, such as a librarian or other 
personnel who can provide instructional services 
in media literacy. 
(C) Providing funding to educators who 
are carrying out activities described in subpara-
graph (A) to further their professional develop-
ment in relation to media literacy, including 
funding for traveling to media literacy con-
ferences to share knowledge with regional and 
national stakeholders. 
(D) Other activities, including student led 
efforts, to support, develop, or promote the im-
plementation of media literacy education pro-
grams, 
policies, 
teacher 
preparation, 
cur-
riculum, or standards. 
(3) PUBLIC LIBRARIES.—An eligible entity that 
is a public library receiving a grant under this sec-
tion shall use grant funds to carry out activities that 
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enhance digital citizenship and media literacy skills 
in children. 
(4) QUALIFIED NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that 
is a qualified nonprofit organization receiving a 
grant under this section shall use grant funds 
to carry out activities in schools or public set-
tings for children in kindergarten through 
grade 12 that enhance digital citizenship and 
media literacy skills. 
(B) RESTRICTION.—If a qualified non-
profit organization charges a school or other en-
tity for carrying out activities described in sub-
paragraph (A), the organization may not charge 
more than the cost to the organization of car-
rying out the activities. 
(d) REPORTING.— 
(1) REPORTS
BY
ELIGIBLE
ENTITIES.—Not 
later than 1 year after the date on which an eligible 
entity receives grant funds under this section, the el-
igible entity shall prepare and submit to the Assist-
ant Secretary a report describing the activities the 
eligible entity carried out using grant funds and the 
effectiveness of those activities. 
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(2) REPORT BY THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY.— 
Not later than 90 days after the Assistant Secretary 
receives the report described in paragraph (1) from 
the last eligible entity to submit such a report, the 
Assistant Secretary shall prepare and submit a re-
port to Congress describing the activities carried out 
under this section and the effectiveness of those ac-
tivities. 
SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that the Assistant Sec-
retary should— 
(1) establish and maintain a list of— 
(A) eligible entities that receive a grant 
under section 4; and 
(B) individuals designated by those eligible 
entities as participating individuals, such as in-
dividuals serving on a media literacy advisory 
council described in section 4(c)(1)(A)(i) or in-
dividuals carrying out activities authorized 
under section 4(c) on behalf of those eligible en-
tities; and 
(2) make the list described in paragraph (1) 
available to those eligible entities and participating 
individuals in order to promote communication and 
further exchange of information regarding sound 
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digital citizenship and media literacy practices 
among recipients of a grant under section 4. 
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this Act $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023, 2025, 
2027, and 2029. 
Æ 
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