[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9448 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9448
To prohibit the Federal Government from taking certain action relating
to social media companies, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 7, 2022
Mr. Clyde (for himself, Mr. Comer, Mr. Cawthorn, Mr. Weber of Texas,
Mrs. Miller of Illinois, Mr. Babin, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Biggs, Mr. Massie,
Mr. Gaetz, and Mr. Moore of Alabama) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in
addition to the Committees on Oversight and Reform, and Homeland
Security, 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 prohibit the Federal Government from taking certain action relating
to social media companies, 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 ``Free Speech Defense Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning
religion, expression, assembly, and petition of the government.
The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of expression by
prohibiting the government from restricting the press or the
right of an individual to speak freely. The First Amendment
also guarantees the right of an individual to assemble
peaceably and to petition the government.
(2) The Fourth Amendment states that each individual is
secure from unreasonable searches and seizures of property by
the government. The Fourth Amendment protects against arbitrary
arrests, wiretaps, and other forms of surveillance conducted
without a search warrant.
(3) In July 2021, the White House press secretary, Jen
Psaki, admitted that the White House was working with social
media companies to identify ``misinformation.''
(4) Specifically, Psaki said, ``[W]e're regularly making
sure social media platforms are aware of the latest narratives,
dangerous to public health that we and many other Americans are
seeing across all of social and traditional media.''. Psaki
also said, ``[W]e work to engage with them to better understand
the enforcement of social media platform policies.''.
(5) 286 pages of documents produced in July 2022 by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in response to a
Freedom of Information Act request submitted by the America
First Legal Foundation, revealed shocking information,
including the following:
(A) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
sent to officials of Twitter a chart of tweets that the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined
to be ``misinformation''.
(B) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
held regular BOLO (Be On The Lookout) meetings in which
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would
share with social media companies, including Twitter
and Facebook, what the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention determined to be ``misinformation''. In the
meetings, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention would provide slide decks requesting, among
other things, ``[p]lease do not share outside your
trust and safety teams''.
(C) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
recommended to Twitter that information about the
Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System be added to
tweets.
(D) Officials from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention directly engaged with Facebook,
requesting that Facebook flag certain posts as
disinformation and ensure that ``verifiable information
sources'' were not blocked because posts on Facebook by
State Health Departments were being blocked as vaccine
misinformation.
(E) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
created a COVID-19 Misinformation Reporting Channel for
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the
Census Bureau to make reports to Facebook and held a
``training meeting'' about the Misinformation Reporting
Channel.
(F) $15,000,000 of Facebook advertising credits
were provided to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the Department of Health and Human
Services as a ``non-monetary gift'' to promote
vaccines, social distancing, travel, and priority
communication messages, which may have violated the
limitation on voluntary services described in section
1342 of the Antideficiency Act (31 U.S.C. 1342).
(6) The Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas,
failed to provide clear answers to Congress about the so-called
``Disinformation Governance Board'' and the selection of Nina
Jankowicz to lead the Disinformation Governance Board.
(7) Damning whistleblower documents revealed by Senators
Josh Hawley and Chuck Grassley show the shocking extent to
which the Disinformation Governance Board was willing to spy on
Americans, without a warrant, and flag posts for social media
companies as so-called ``disinformation''.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that:
(1) The records produced by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention in response to the Freedom of Information Act
request described in section 2(5) reveal the extent to which
the Biden Administration is willing to engage in
unconstitutional and otherwise unlawful activities in total
disregard of the rights of the American people.
(2) The ``Disinformation Governance Board'' established by
the Department of Homeland Security is unconstitutional and
should be terminated immediately.
(3) The failure of Secretary Mayorkas to provide clear
answers about the Disinformation Governance Board is
disqualifying, and Secretary Mayorkas should resign
immediately.
(4) The antidote to ``misinformation'' and
``disinformation'' is not censorship but more information, so
the American people can make informed decisions independently.
(5) The Federal Government should not be allowed to
circumvent the Constitution of the United States through
intermediaries and third parties to violate the rights of the
American people to information and freedom from intrusion by
the Federal Government, even if the information is not
consistent with the views of officials in the Federal
Government.
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION AGAINST FEDERAL REGULATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA
COMPANIES.
(a) Prohibition Against Regulation.--
(1) Prohibition.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the
Federal Government may not direct or encourage a social media
company to--
(A) remove or suspend a user from the social media
platform of the social media company;
(B) label content on the social media platform of
the social media company as information,
disinformation, true, false, or any other similar
characterization; or
(C) share with the Federal Government data or
information about a particular topic or group of users
on the social media platform of the social media
company, including--
(i) the name, age, or demographic of the
users; and
(ii) the content such users share on the
social media platform of the social media
company.
(2) Exception.--The prohibitions described in subparagraphs
(A) and (C) of paragraph (1) do not apply to an action taken by
the Federal Government pursuant to a warrant--
(A) issued by a Federal court of competent
jurisdiction in accordance with the procedures
described in rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal
Procedure; or
(B) issued by a State court of competent
jurisdiction.
(b) Prohibition Against Public-Private Partnerships.--
(1) Prohibition.--The Federal Government may not enter into
a public-private partnership with a social media company to
monitor any content disseminated on the social media platform
of the social media company.
(2) Termination of existing public-private partnerships.--
Any public-private partnership described in paragraph (1), if
in existence on the date of the enactment of this Act, is
terminated.
(c) Termination of Disinformation Governance Board.--
(1) Termination.--The Disinformation Governance Board
established by the Department of Homeland Security, if in
existence on the date of the enactment of this Act, is
terminated.
(2) Prohibition against federal funding.--Federal funds may
not be used to fund any other entity that is substantially
similar to the Disinformation Governance Board terminated
pursuant to paragraph (1).
(d) Prohibition Against Soliciting or Accepting Free Social Media
Advertising.--
(1) In general.--An agency employee may not solicit or
accept, or enter into a contract or other agreement (including
a no-cost agreement) for, free advertising or other promotion
on the social media platform of a social media company.
(2) Limitation on funds.--No Federal funds may be obligated
or expended to--
(A) enter into a contract or other agreement
(including a no-cost agreement) for free advertising or
other promotion on the social media platform of a
social media company; or
(B) pay the salary or expenses of any agency
employee to solicit or accept free advertising or other
promotion on the social media platform of a social
media company.
(e) Private Right of Action.--An individual whose account, content,
or information on the social media platform of a social media company
has been affected in violation of this Act may file a civil action
against the United States in the United States District Court for the
District of Columbia for reasonable attorneys' fees, injunctive relief,
and actual damages.
(f) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the Attorney
General, in consultation with the Assistant Attorney General for Civil
Rights, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a
report evaluating the compliance by the Federal Government with this
Act, including a description of any action by the head of an agency
to--
(1) consult with a social media company about labeling
content on the social media platform of the social media
company as described in subsection (a)(1)(B); or
(2) engage in any other prohibited activity under this Act.
(g) Severability.--If any provision of this Act, or the application
of any such provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be
unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, and the application of
such provision to any other person or circumstance, shall not be
affected by the holding.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given such
term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
(2) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security, the
Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on
Oversight and Reform of the House of Representatives;
and
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs and the Committee on the Judiciary
of the Senate.
(3) Social media company.--The term ``social media
company'' means a company that provides, in or affecting
interstate or foreign commerce, a social media platform.
(4) Social media platform.--The term ``social media
platform''--
(A) means a website or internet medium that--
(i) permits a person to become a registered
user, establish an account, or create a profile
for the purpose of allowing users to create,
share, and view user-generated content through
such an account or profile;
(ii) primarily serves as a medium for users
to interact with content generated by other
users of the medium; and
(iii) enables one or more users to generate
content that can be viewed by other users of
the medium; and
(B) does not include--
(i) any such platform that serves fewer
than 100,000 users;
(ii) an email program, email distribution
lists, multi-person text message groups, or a
website that is primarily for the purpose of
internet commerce;
(iii) a private platform or messaging
service used by an entity solely to communicate
with others employed by or affiliated with such
entity; or
(iv) an internet-based platform whose
primary purpose is--
(I) to allow users to post product
reviews, business reviews, travel
information and reviews; or
(II) to provide news or
entertainment content, but that may
also include a comment section for
users to discuss such news or
entertainment content.
(5) State.--The term ``State'' means each State of the
United States, the District of Columbia, each commonwealth,
territory, or possession of the United States, and each
federally recognized Indian Tribe.
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