Limiting Section 230 Immunity to Good Samaritans Act
Bill: H.R.277 | Sponsor: Rep. Budd, Ted (R-NC)
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
Limiting Section 230 Immunity to Good Samaritans Act
This bill requires an edge provider of an interactive computer service (e.g., social media website) to adopt and maintain written terms of service binding itself to a contractual duty of good faith in order to qualify for the statutory protection against being treated as the publisher of information distributed through the service by a third party.
An edge provider is a provider of an interactive computer service through which information published by other content providers is distributed and that has more than (1) $1.5 billion in annual global revenue, and (2) 30 million monthly users in the United States or 300 million monthly users worldwide.

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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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''.

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 
                        inserting the following:
                    ``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), no 
                provider''; and
                            (ii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Condition.--With respect to an edge provider, 
                subparagraph (A) shall only apply if the provider 
                adopts and maintains written 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 
                                provided service in good faith; and
                                    ``(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 subclause 
                                (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 
                                        litigation or arbitration by 
                                        the user to enforce the 
                                        promise--

                                                    ``(AA) a reasonable 
                                                attorney's fee; and

                                                    ``(BB) costs and 
                                                other expenses 
                                                described in sections 
                                                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 
                                                expenses).''; and

                    (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 provider 
                takes an action that includes--
                            ``(i) the intentionally selective 
                        enforcement of the terms of service of the 
                        interactive computer service, including the 
                        intentionally selective enforcement of policies 
                        of the provider relating to restricting access 
                        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 disregard 
                        of the fact, that the algorithm selectively 
                        enforces those terms;
                            ``(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 intent.'';
            (2) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) No effect on legal promises.--Nothing 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 provider'--
                    ``(A) means an entity that--
                            ``(i) provides an interactive computer 
                        service--
                                    ``(I) through a website, online 
                                application, or mobile application 
                                (including a single interactive 
                                computer service that is provided 
                                through more than 1 such website or 
                                application);
                                    ``(II) through which information 
                                provided by another information content 
                                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 completed 
                        taxable year, had more than $1,500,000,000 in 
                        global revenue; and
                    ``(B) does not include an organization described in 
                section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
                that is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of 
                such Code.''.
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