[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 69 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 69
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to address governmental
interference in content moderation decisions by providers of
interactive computer services, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 9, 2025
Mr. Schmitt introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to address governmental
interference in content moderation decisions by providers of
interactive computer services, 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 ``Curtailing Online Limitations that
Lead Unconstitutionally to Democracy's Erosion Act'' or the ``COLLUDE
Act''.
SEC. 2. CONTENT MODERATION, CREATION AND DEVELOPMENT, AND DISTRIBUTION.
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) Affirmative defense.--In a criminal or civil
action against a provider or user of an interactive
computer service that treats the provider or user as
the publisher or speaker of any information, the
provider or user shall bear the burden of proving that
the provider or user is not an information content
provider with respect to that information for purposes
of subparagraph (A).'';
(B) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ``paragraph
(1)'' and inserting ``subparagraph (A)''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(3) Loss of protection in cases of governmental
censorship.--
``(A) In general.--Except as provided in
subparagraph (B), this subsection shall not apply to a
provider of an interactive computer service that
restricts access to or availability of material--
``(i) in a manner that reasonably appears
to express, promote, limit the visibility of,
or suppress legitimate political speech,
including a discernible viewpoint; and
``(ii) as a result of a communication
that--
``(I) is sent to the provider by--
``(aa) a governmental
entity; or
``(bb) a non-governmental
entity that is acting at the
request or behest of a
governmental entity; and
``(II) the applicable entity under
subclause (I) sends only to the
provider and not to any other entity.
``(B) Exception.--A communication that is for a
legitimate law enforcement purpose or a national
security purpose shall not be considered to be a
communication that is described in subparagraph
(A)(ii).''; and
(2) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the following:
``(5) Legitimate law enforcement purpose.--The term
`legitimate law enforcement purpose' means, with respect to a
communication, that the purpose of the communication is so that
a law enforcement agency can, within the lawful authority of
that agency, investigate a criminal offense.
``(6) National security purpose.--The term `national
security purpose' means, with respect to a communication, that
the purpose of the communication relates to--
``(A) intelligence activities;
``(B) cryptologic activities that relate to the
national security of the United States;
``(C) command and control of the Armed Forces;
``(D) equipment that is an integral part of a
weapon or a weapons system; or
``(E) the direct fulfillment of a military or
intelligence mission.''.
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