119-s69

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 69 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

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.''.
 <all>