Title: Raising the Bar Act of 2019
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
Raising the Bar Act of 2019
This bill establishes an exercise program to flag online terrorist content. Specifically, the bill directs the Department of Homeland Security to designate a lead institution to administer a voluntary online terrorist content moderation exercise program to test how well participating technology companies (e.g., social media platforms) adhere to their own content moderation policies and procedures.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5209 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5209

    To direct the Under Secretary for Science and Technology of the 
 Department of Homeland Security to design and administer a voluntary 
  online terrorist content moderation exercise program, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 21, 2019

  Mr. Rose of New York (for himself, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. 
 Clarke of New York, Miss Rice of New York, Ms. Underwood, Mr. Payne, 
 and Ms. Slotkin) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                   the Committee on Homeland Security

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To direct the Under Secretary for Science and Technology of the 
 Department of Homeland Security to design and administer a voluntary 
  online terrorist content moderation exercise program, 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 ``Raising the Bar Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. HOMELAND SECURITY VOLUNTARY ONLINE TERRORIST CONTENT MODERATION 
              EXERCISE PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment of Exercise Program.--The Under Secretary for 
Science and Technology of the Department of Homeland Security, in 
consultation with the Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans, 
the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and the Privacy 
Officer of the Department of Homeland Security, shall design and 
administer a voluntary online terrorist content moderation exercise 
program. Under such program, the Under Secretary for Science and 
Technology shall--
            (1) enter into an agreement with the lead institution 
        designated under subsection (b), under which the lead 
        institution shall carry out not fewer than three four-week 
        voluntary online terrorist content moderation exercises during 
        each calendar year; and
            (2) establish objective criteria for how the lead 
        institution should use information submitted by trusted 
        flaggers and participating technology companies during an 
        exercise conducted under the program to rate each participating 
        technology company on--
                    (A) the adherence of the participating technology 
                company to the written online terrorist content 
                moderation policies and procedures of that company;
                    (B) the compliance of the participating technology 
                company with the requirement to conduct assessments and 
                provide notice of such assessments under subsection 
                (d)(2); and
                    (C) such other factors relating to a participating 
                technology company's performance in the exercise as the 
                Under Secretary for Science and Technology determines 
                appropriate.
    (b) Lead Institution.--
            (1) In general.--For purposes of the program established 
        under subsection (a), the Under Secretary for Science and 
        Technology, in consultation with the Under Secretary for 
        Strategy, Policy, and Plans, shall seek to enter into an 
        agreement with a qualified institution that agrees to be 
        designated as the lead institution for purposes of the program.
            (2) Qualified institution.--For purposes of this section, 
        an institution is qualified for designation as the lead 
        institution pursuant to paragraph (1) if such institution is an 
        institution of higher education or nonprofit institution that 
        possesses demonstrated expertise in at least two of the 
        following areas:
                    (A) Domestic terrorism.
                    (B) International terrorism.
                    (C) Cybersecurity.
                    (D) Computer or information technology.
                    (E) Privacy, civil rights, civil liberties, or 
                human rights.
            (3) Responsibilities.--Pursuant to an agreement under this 
        subsection, the lead institution shall agree to carry out the 
        following responsibilities:
                    (A) To identify and conduct outreach to technology 
                companies and potential trusted flaggers to encourage 
                the participation of such companies and potential 
                trusted flaggers in the exercise program under this 
                section.
                    (B) To establish criteria, in consultation with 
                participating technology companies, for qualified 
                trusted flaggers.
                    (C) To schedule and carry out three four-week 
                exercises during each calendar year to evaluate the 
                adherence of each participating technology company to 
                the written online terrorist content moderation 
                policies and procedures of the company during the 
                period for which the exercise is conducted, which shall 
                include notifying participating technology companies 
                and trusted flaggers of the commencement of the 
                exercise 24 hours before the commencement of the 
                exercise and may include providing nominal payments to 
                trusted flaggers for participating in such exercise.
                    (D) To develop a letter rating system based on the 
                objective criteria established pursuant to subsection 
                (a)(2), in collaboration with participating technology 
                companies, to be used to assign a letter rating to each 
                participating technology company upon the conclusion of 
                an exercise.
                    (E) To establish a process under which a trusted 
                flagger can anonymously notify a participating 
                technology company of content that the trusted flagger 
                identifies during an exercise because the trusted 
                flagger believes such content is online terrorist 
                content that violates a written online terrorist 
                content moderation policy or procedure of the company.
                    (F) To design a template for trusted flaggers to 
                use to submit to the lead institution each notification 
                communicated pursuant to the process under subparagraph 
                (E) together with the following information:
                            (i) The name of the trusted flagger 
                        communicating the notification and the name of 
                        the participating technology company receiving 
                        such notification.
                            (ii) The grounds for the notification, 
                        including a specific identification of the 
                        written online terrorist content moderation 
                        policy or procedure of the participating 
                        technology company that was violated by the 
                        identified content and the terrorist ideology 
                        or ideologies associated with such content.
                            (iii) The location, including the uniform 
                        resource locator, where the identified content 
                        was found, including a screen shot of the 
                        content that does not include any personally 
                        identifiable information.
                            (iv) The date and time when the 
                        participating technology company was notified 
                        of such content pursuant to the process under 
                        subparagraph (E).
                            (v) Any other information the lead 
                        institution determines is appropriate.
                    (G) To establish requirements for an assessment as 
                required pursuant to subsection (d)(2).
                    (H) To issue a report pursuant to subsection (f) on 
                each exercise after sharing a draft of the report and 
                providing participating technology companies and 
                trusted flaggers who participated in the exercise with 
                the opportunity to comment on the report.
                    (I) Not later than 60 days after issuing a report 
                pursuant to subsection (f) on an exercise, to convene a 
                virtual or in-person meeting with participating 
                technology companies and trusted flaggers who 
                participated in the exercise to discuss the exercise 
                and other related matters, as identified by the lead 
                institution, in consultation with the participating 
                technology companies and trusted flaggers.
            (4) Consortium.--An agreement entered into under subsection 
        (a)(1) may provide that the lead institution may execute 
        agreements with other institutions of higher education or 
        nonprofit institutions to establish a consortium of such 
        institutions to assist in carrying out the responsibilities of 
        the lead institution under the agreement. To the extent that 
        the Under Secretary for Science and Technology identifies 
        institutions of higher education or nonprofit institutions for 
        participation in such a consortium, the Under Secretary shall 
        seek to ensure the participation of historically Black colleges 
        and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and Tribally 
        controlled colleges and universities.
    (c) Trusted Flaggers.--
            (1) In general.--For purposes of the program under this 
        section, a trusted flagger is an individual or entity that--
                    (A) is selected by the lead institution, in 
                coordination with participating technology companies, 
                on the basis of criteria established by the institution 
                for such purpose; and
                    (B) enters into an agreement with the lead 
                institution and the participating technology companies 
                that participate in an exercise carried out under the 
                program to perform the responsibilities specified in 
                paragraph (2) for the duration of the exercise.
            (2) Responsibilities.--The responsibilities specified in 
        this paragraph are the following:
                    (A) To monitor public-facing areas of the 
                participating technology companies for online terrorist 
                content that may violate a written online terrorist 
                content moderation policy or procedure of the 
                participating technology company.
                    (B) To provide timely notification of any online 
                terrorist content identified on the online platform of 
                a participating technology company to such company 
                pursuant to the process under subsection (b)(3)(E).
                    (C) To carry out other activities requested by the 
                lead institution, in consultation with participating 
                technology companies.
    (d) Responsibilities of Participating Technology Companies.--
            (1) Agreements.--To participate in the voluntary online 
        terrorist content moderation exercise program under this 
        section, a technology company shall enter into an agreement 
        with the lead institution to carry out the responsibilities 
        under this subsection.
            (2) Assessments.--Each participating technology company 
        shall agree--
                    (A) to conduct an assessment of each notification 
                communicated by a trusted flagger pursuant to the 
                process established under subsection (b)(3)(E) within 
                24 hours of receipt; and
                    (B) to provide notice to the lead institution of 
                the completion of each assessment conducted under this 
                paragraph, including--
                            (i) whether such assessment was completed 
                        within 24 hours of receipt of the notification; 
                        and
                            (ii) whether such assessment caused the 
                        participating technology company to decide to 
                        take or not take a certain action and the 
                        grounds for such action or in action.
            (3) Provision of information to lead institution.--Each 
        participating technology company shall agree to provide to the 
        lead institution--
                    (A) the written online terrorist content moderation 
                policies and procedures of the company with respect to 
                responding to identified online terrorist content, 
                including any rule or community standard of the company 
                that prohibits terrorist content and information 
                regarding any system that the company uses to review 
                online terrorist content that is reported that violates 
                any such rule or standard, including--
                            (i) guidance about what online terrorist 
                        content is prohibited, including examples of 
                        permissible and impermissible content and the 
                        guidelines used internally to enforce rules or 
                        community standards that prohibit online 
                        terrorist content; and
                            (ii) information on the use of automated 
                        detection on the platform of the company; and
                    (B) a point of contact for use by trusted flaggers 
                to report online terrorist content pursuant to the 
                process under subsection (b)(3)(E).
            (4) Disclosure and notice requirements.--
                    (A) Disclosure of participation.--Each such 
                participating technology company shall agree to 
                disclose the participation of the company in the 
                voluntary online terrorist content moderation exercise 
                program on the online platform of the company.
                    (B) Notice to users.--Each such participating 
                technology company shall agree to provide notice to 
                each user whose content is removed or account is 
                suspended or terminated as a result of an exercise 
                conducted under this section. Such notice shall 
                include--
                            (i) the specific provision in the written 
                        online terrorist content moderation policies or 
                        procedures of the participating technology 
                        company that such online terrorist content was 
                        found to violate; and
                            (ii) an explanation of the process through 
                        which the user can appeal, pursuant to 
                        paragraph (5), the decision to remove the 
                        content or suspend or terminate the account.
                    (C) Form of notice.--Each such participating 
                technology company shall agree to provide the notice 
                required under subparagraph (B) in both human- and 
                machine-readable formats that are accessible even if a 
                user's account is suspended or terminated.
            (5) Appeals process.--Each participating technology company 
        shall agree to provide for a timely appeal process under which 
        a user may challenge a content removal or account suspension or 
        termination. Such process shall include--
                    (A) the review of the decision to remove content or 
                suspend an account by a person or panel of persons who 
                was not involved in the initial decision;
                    (B) the provision to the user of an opportunity to 
                present additional information that will be considered 
                in the review; and
                    (C) the provision to the user of notice of the 
                decision made in the appeals process, including a 
                statement of the reasoning sufficient to allow the user 
                to understand the decision.
    (e) Transparency.--The Under Secretary for Science and Technology 
shall ensure that agreements under this section shall require that 
before engaging in an exercise under this section, the lead 
institution, an institution participating in a consortium under 
subsection (b)(4), and each trusted flagger agree to disclose to the 
Under Secretary any fiduciary or business relationship between such 
institution or trusted flagger and any participating technology company 
during the two-year period preceding the date of the exercise.
    (f) Reports.--
            (1) Report required.--Not later than 60 days after the last 
        day of any voluntary online terrorist content moderation 
        exercise conducted under this section, the lead institution, in 
        consultation with the participating technology companies and 
        trusted flaggers, shall--
                    (A) produce a report on the voluntary online 
                terrorist content moderation exercise;
                    (B) publish such report on the public website of 
                the lead institution; and
                    (C) transmit a copy of such report to--
                            (i) the Under Secretary for Science and 
                        Technology for publication on the public 
                        website of the Department of Homeland Security; 
                        and
                            (ii) the Comptroller General of the United 
                        States.
            (2) Contents of report.--Each report under paragraph (1) 
        shall include each of the following with respect to the 
        exercise covered by the report:
                    (A) A rating based on the letter rating system 
                developed pursuant to subsection (b)(3)(D), for each 
                participating technology company that participated in 
                the exercise.
                    (B) Information about--
                            (i) the total number of notifications 
                        communicated to each participating technology 
                        company during the exercise;
                            (ii) the number of notifications that were 
                        assessed by each participating technology 
                        company within 24 hours of receipt as violating 
                        or not violating an online terrorist content 
                        moderation policy or procedure of the company 
                        and the basis for each notification, including 
                        the violation of the written online terrorist 
                        content moderation policies or procedures and 
                        ideology or ideologies associated with the 
                        content, for such assessment; and
                            (iii) the number of notifications that were 
                        assessed after 24 hours of receipt as violating 
                        or not violating an online terrorist content 
                        moderation policy or procedure of the company 
                        and the basis for each notification, including 
                        the violation of the written online terrorist 
                        content moderation policies or procedures and 
                        ideology or ideologies associated with the 
                        content, for such assessment.
                    (C) Information about any online terrorist content 
                that a participating technology company removes from a 
                platform of the company for violating an online 
                terrorist content moderation policy or procedure of the 
                company during the exercise, including--
                            (i) the number of posts deleted and 
                        accounts suspended or terminated by a 
                        participating technology company for violating 
                        a written online terrorist content moderation 
                        policy or procedure of the company, 
                        disaggregated by whether flagged by a trusted 
                        flagger, internally within the technology 
                        company by an employee, by a contractor, by a 
                        law enforcement official, by a user, or through 
                        automated detection;
                            (ii) the number of discrete posts and 
                        accounts flagged, and the number of discrete 
                        posts removed and accounts suspended or 
                        terminated, by a participating technology 
                        company for violating the written online 
                        terrorist content moderation policies or 
                        procedures of the company, disaggregated by 
                        information on the specific violation 
                        identified in the written online terrorist 
                        content moderation policies or procedures and 
                        the terrorist ideology or ideologies associated 
                        with the post or account, disaggregated by 
                        whether flagged by a trusted flagger, 
                        internally within the participating technology 
                        company by an employee or contractor, by a law 
                        enforcement official, by a user, or through 
                        automated detection;
                            (iii) the number of discrete posts and 
                        accounts flagged, and number of discrete posts 
                        removed and accounts suspended or terminated by 
                        a participating technology company for 
                        violating the written online terrorist content 
                        moderation policies or procedures of the 
                        company, disaggregated by the format of the 
                        content, such as text, audio, image, video, or 
                        live stream; and
                            (iv) in the case of each exercise after the 
                        initial exercise, an evaluation of changes over 
                        time with respect to each category of 
                        information referred to in clauses (i) through 
                        (iii).
                    (D) Information on the exercise, including the 
                dates of the exercise and names of the trusted flaggers 
                that participated, together with information on how 
                many notifications each such trusted flagger submitted 
                during the exercise.
                    (E) The written online terrorist content moderation 
                policies and procedures of each of the participating 
                technology companies, together with the corresponding 
                definition for online terrorist content adopted by each 
                of the participating technology companies, and a 
                description of the appeals process of each such company 
                as required pursuant to subsection (d)(5).
                    (F) Any identifiable trends and analysis developed 
                from conducting the exercise, as determined appropriate 
                by the lead institution, in consultation with 
                participating technology companies and trusted 
                flaggers.
                    (G) Any information provided by a participating 
                technology company regarding efforts of the company 
                to--
                            (i) counter terrorist narratives and 
                        enhance technological capabilities to identify 
                        and counter online terrorism content;
                            (ii) maintain policies or procedures within 
                        the company that--
                                    (I) prioritize the mental health of 
                                individuals working within the company 
                                who participate in the efforts to 
                                implement the written online terrorist 
                                content moderation policies or 
                                procedures of the company; and
                                    (II) make available voluntary 
                                mental health support, as needed, to 
                                such employees and to contractors and 
                                trusted flaggers; and
                            (iii) any other information determined 
                        appropriate by the lead institution.
            (3) Format.--Each report under this subsection shall be 
        made available in both a human- and a machine-readable format.
            (4) Briefings.--Not later than 30 days after receiving a 
        report under paragraph (1)(C)(i), the Under Secretary for 
        Science and Technology, in consultation with the Under 
        Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans, shall provide to the 
        Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 
        and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 
        of the Senate a briefing on the voluntary online terrorist 
        content moderation exercise program under this section.
    (g) Public-Private Partnership.--
            (1) In general.--The Under Secretary for Science and 
        Technology is authorized to enter into--
                    (A) an agreement using other transactional 
                authority with the lead institution for purposes of 
                carrying out this section; and
                    (B) public-private partnerships with participating 
                technology companies in which participating technology 
                companies agree provide at least 80 percent of the 
                funding to carry out this section.
            (2) Other transactional authority.--In this subsection, the 
        term ``other transactional authority'' means the authority 
        under section 831 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 
        U.S.C. 391).
    (h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this Act--
            (1) $300,000 for fiscal year 2020; and
            (2) $150,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2026.
    (i) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in the Act shall be construed 
as--
            (1) requiring participating technology companies to adopt 
        standards for the moderation of online terrorist content;
            (2) authorizing the Department of Homeland Security to 
        participate in decision making regarding the removal of content 
        by participating technology companies;
            (3) requiring participating technology companies to provide 
        user content to the Department of Homeland Security, any 
        institution participating in the exercise program, or any other 
        Federal, State, local, tribal, or territorial government or 
        international body; or
            (4) authorizing the Department of Homeland Security to 
        allow subjective judgments regarding the treatment of online 
        content by a participating technology company in the objective 
        criteria established pursuant to subsection (a)(2).
    (j) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``Hispanic-serving institution'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 502(a) of the Higher 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)).
            (2) The term ``historically Black colleges and 
        universities'' means a part B institution described in section 
        322(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)).
            (3) The term ``institution of higher education'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 101 of the Higher Education 
        Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001).
            (4) The term ``online terrorist content'' shall be defined 
        by each technology company participating in an exercise under 
        this section with respect to a platform of the company in the 
        community guidelines, terms of service, or relevant policy 
        applicable to such platform.
            (5) The term ``personally identifiable information'' means 
        any information about an individual elicited, collected, 
        stored, or maintained by an agency or owner or operator of a 
        participating technology company, including the following:
                    (A) Any information that can be used to distinguish 
                or trace the identity of an individual, such as a name, 
                social security number, date or place of birth, 
                mother's maiden name, telephone number, or biometric 
                records.
                    (B) Any other information that is linked or 
                linkable to an individual, such as medical, 
                educational, financial, or employment information.
            (6) The term ``participating technology company'' means a 
        business entity that owns or operates any public-facing 
        website, web application, or digital application, including a 
        mobile application, social network, advertising network, search 
        engine, or email service that participates in the voluntary 
        online terrorist content moderation exercise program under this 
        Act.
            (7) The term ``Tribally controlled college or university'' 
        has the meaning given such term in section 2 of the Tribally 
        Controlled Colleges and Universities Assistance Act of 1978 (25 
        U.S.C. 1801).
    (k) Sunset.--The authority to carry out this section shall 
terminate on the date that is seven years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT.

    Not later than 180 days after the Comptroller General of the United 
States receives the sixth report under section 2(f), the Comptroller 
General shall submit to Congress a report on the implementation of 
section 2.
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