| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 188 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To prohibit Federal employees and contractors from directing online platforms |
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| 6 | 6 | | to censor any speech that is protected by the First Amendment to |
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| 7 | 7 | | the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 9 | 9 | | JANUARY22, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. P |
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| 11 | 11 | | AUL(for himself, Mr. LEE, Mr. SCHMITT, and Ms. LUMMIS) introduced |
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| 12 | 12 | | the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee |
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| 13 | 13 | | on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs |
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| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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| 15 | 15 | | To prohibit Federal employees and contractors from directing |
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| 16 | 16 | | online platforms to censor any speech that is protected |
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| 17 | 17 | | by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the |
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| 18 | 18 | | United States, and for other purposes. |
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| 19 | 19 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 20 | 20 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 21 | 21 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 22 | 22 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Free Speech Protection 4 |
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| 23 | 23 | | Act’’. 5 |
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| 24 | 24 | | SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 |
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| 25 | 25 | | In this Act: 7 |
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| 27 | 27 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | •S 188 IS |
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| 29 | 29 | | (1) COVERED INFORMATION .—The term ‘‘cov-1 |
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| 30 | 30 | | ered information’’ means information relating to— 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | (A) a phone call; 3 |
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| 32 | 32 | | (B) any type of digital communication, in-4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | cluding a post on a covered platform, an e-mail, 5 |
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| 34 | 34 | | a text, and a direct message; 6 |
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| 35 | 35 | | (C) a photo; 7 |
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| 36 | 36 | | (D) shopping and commerce history; 8 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (E) location data, including a driving route 9 |
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| 38 | 38 | | and ride hailing information; 10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (F) an IP address; 11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | (G) metadata; 12 |
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| 41 | 41 | | (H) search history; 13 |
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| 42 | 42 | | (I) the name, age, or demographic infor-14 |
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| 43 | 43 | | mation of a user of a covered platform; and 15 |
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| 44 | 44 | | (J) a calendar item. 16 |
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| 45 | 45 | | (2) C |
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| 46 | 46 | | OVERED PLATFORM .—The term ‘‘covered 17 |
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| 47 | 47 | | platform’’ means— 18 |
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| 48 | 48 | | (A) an interactive computer service, as 19 |
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| 49 | 49 | | that term is defined in section 230(f) of the 20 |
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| 50 | 50 | | Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | 230(f)); and 22 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (B) any platform through which a media 23 |
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| 53 | 53 | | organization disseminates information, without 24 |
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| 55 | 55 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 56 | 56 | | •S 188 IS |
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| 57 | 57 | | regard to whether the organization disseminates 1 |
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| 58 | 58 | | that information— 2 |
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| 59 | 59 | | (i) through broadcast or print; 3 |
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| 60 | 60 | | (ii) online; or 4 |
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| 61 | 61 | | (iii) through any other channel. 5 |
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| 62 | 62 | | (3) D |
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| 63 | 63 | | IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 6 |
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| 64 | 64 | | the Director of the Office of Management and Budg-7 |
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| 65 | 65 | | et. 8 |
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| 66 | 66 | | (4) E |
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| 67 | 67 | | MPLOYEE.— 9 |
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| 68 | 68 | | (A) I |
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| 69 | 69 | | N GENERAL.—Except where otherwise 10 |
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| 70 | 70 | | expressly provided, the term ‘‘employee’’— 11 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (i) means an employee of an Execu-12 |
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| 72 | 72 | | tive agency; and 13 |
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| 73 | 73 | | (ii) includes— 14 |
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| 74 | 74 | | (I) an individual, other than an 15 |
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| 75 | 75 | | employee of an Executive agency, 16 |
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| 76 | 76 | | working under a contract with an Ex-17 |
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| 77 | 77 | | ecutive agency; and 18 |
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| 78 | 78 | | (II) the President and the Vice 19 |
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| 79 | 79 | | President. 20 |
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| 80 | 80 | | (B) R |
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| 81 | 81 | | ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—With re-21 |
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| 82 | 82 | | spect to an individual described in subpara-22 |
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| 83 | 83 | | graph (A)(ii)(I), solely for the purposes of this 23 |
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| 84 | 84 | | Act, the Executive agency that has entered into 24 |
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| 85 | 85 | | the contract under which the employee is work-25 |
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| 87 | 87 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 88 | 88 | | •S 188 IS |
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| 89 | 89 | | ing shall be construed to be the Executive agen-1 |
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| 90 | 90 | | cy employing the employee. 2 |
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| 91 | 91 | | (5) E |
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| 92 | 92 | | XECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Executive 3 |
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| 93 | 93 | | agency’’— 4 |
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| 94 | 94 | | (A) has the meaning given the term in sec-5 |
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| 95 | 95 | | tion 105 of title 5, United States Code; and 6 |
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| 96 | 96 | | (B) includes the Executive Office of the 7 |
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| 97 | 97 | | President. 8 |
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| 98 | 98 | | (6) P |
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| 99 | 99 | | ROVIDER.—The term ‘‘provider’’ means a 9 |
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| 100 | 100 | | provider of a covered platform. 10 |
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| 101 | 101 | | SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 11 |
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| 102 | 102 | | Congress finds the following: 12 |
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| 103 | 103 | | (1) The First Amendment to the Constitution 13 |
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| 104 | 104 | | of the United States guarantees— 14 |
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| 105 | 105 | | (A) freedoms concerning religion, expres-15 |
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| 106 | 106 | | sion, assembly, and petition of the government; 16 |
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| 107 | 107 | | (B) the freedom of expression by prohib-17 |
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| 108 | 108 | | iting the government from restricting the press 18 |
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| 109 | 109 | | or the right of an individual to speak freely; 19 |
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| 110 | 110 | | and 20 |
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| 111 | 111 | | (C) the right of an individual to assemble 21 |
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| 112 | 112 | | peaceably and to petition the government. 22 |
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| 113 | 113 | | (2) Freedom of speech is an essential element 23 |
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| 114 | 114 | | of liberty that restrains tyranny and empowers indi-24 |
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| 115 | 115 | | viduals. 25 |
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| 117 | 117 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 |
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| 118 | 118 | | •S 188 IS |
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| 119 | 119 | | (3) Writing in support of a Bill of Rights, 1 |
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| 120 | 120 | | Thomas Jefferson stated that ‘‘[t]here are rights 2 |
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| 121 | 121 | | which it is useless to surrender to the government, 3 |
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| 122 | 122 | | and which yet, governments have always been fond 4 |
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| 123 | 123 | | to invade. These are the rights of thinking and pub-5 |
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| 124 | 124 | | lishing our thoughts by speaking or writing.’’ 6 |
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| 125 | 125 | | (4) The Supreme Court of the United States 7 |
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| 126 | 126 | | (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Court’’) has 8 |
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| 127 | 127 | | upheld the right to speak free from governmental in-9 |
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| 128 | 128 | | terference as a fundamental right. 10 |
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| 129 | 129 | | (5) The Court, in Palko v. Connecticut, 302 11 |
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| 130 | 130 | | U.S. 319 (1937), wrote that freedom of thought and 12 |
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| 131 | 131 | | speech ‘‘is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of 13 |
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| 132 | 132 | | nearly every other form of freedom’’. 14 |
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| 133 | 133 | | (6) In Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. 15 |
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| 134 | 134 | | Federal Communications Commission, 512 U.S. 622 16 |
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| 135 | 135 | | (1994), the Court stated the following: ‘‘At the heart 17 |
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| 136 | 136 | | of the First Amendment lies the principle that each 18 |
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| 137 | 137 | | person should decide for himself or herself the ideas 19 |
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| 138 | 138 | | and beliefs deserving of expression, consideration, 20 |
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| 139 | 139 | | and adherence. Our political system and cultural life 21 |
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| 140 | 140 | | rest upon this ideal. Government action that stifles 22 |
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| 141 | 141 | | speech on account of its message, or that requires 23 |
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| 142 | 142 | | the utterance of a particular message favored by the 24 |
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| 143 | 143 | | Government, contravenes this essential right . . . 25 |
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| 145 | 145 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 |
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| 146 | 146 | | •S 188 IS |
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| 147 | 147 | | [and poses] the inherent risk that Government seeks 1 |
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| 148 | 148 | | not to advance a legitimate regulatory goal, but to 2 |
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| 149 | 149 | | suppress unpopular ideas or manipulate the public 3 |
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| 150 | 150 | | debate through coercion rather than persuasion. 4 |
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| 151 | 151 | | These restrictions ‘rais[e] the specter that the Gov-5 |
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| 152 | 152 | | ernment may effectively drive certain ideas or view-6 |
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| 153 | 153 | | points from the marketplace.’ For these reasons, the 7 |
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| 154 | 154 | | First Amendment, subject only to narrow and well- 8 |
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| 155 | 155 | | understood exceptions, does not countenance govern-9 |
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| 156 | 156 | | ment control over the content of messages expressed 10 |
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| 157 | 157 | | by private individuals.’’ 11 |
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| 158 | 158 | | (7) In R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, 505 U.S. 377 12 |
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| 159 | 159 | | (1992), the Court explained that the First Amend-13 |
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| 160 | 160 | | ment to the Constitution of the United States ‘‘gen-14 |
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| 161 | 161 | | erally prevents government from proscribing speech, 15 |
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| 162 | 162 | | or even expressive conduct, because of disapproval of 16 |
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| 163 | 163 | | the ideas expressed. Content-based restrictions are 17 |
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| 164 | 164 | | presumptively invalid.’’ 18 |
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| 165 | 165 | | (8) The case of Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 19 |
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| 166 | 166 | | 444 (1969), stands for the proposition that speech 20 |
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| 167 | 167 | | can be suppressed only if the speech is intended, and 21 |
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| 168 | 168 | | is likely to produce, imminent lawless action. 22 |
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| 169 | 169 | | (9) Justice William Brennan, in his majority 23 |
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| 170 | 170 | | opinion for the Court in Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 24 |
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| 171 | 171 | | 397 (1989), asserted that ‘‘[i]f there is a bedrock 25 |
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| 173 | 173 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 |
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| 174 | 174 | | •S 188 IS |
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| 175 | 175 | | principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that 1 |
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| 176 | 176 | | the government may not prohibit the expression of 2 |
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| 177 | 177 | | an idea simply because society finds the idea itself 3 |
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| 178 | 178 | | offensive or disagreeable.’’ 4 |
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| 179 | 179 | | (10) Justice Neil Gorsuch, in his majority opin-5 |
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| 180 | 180 | | ion for the Court in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, 6 |
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| 181 | 181 | | 600 U.S. 570 (2023), stated, ‘‘The First Amend-7 |
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| 182 | 182 | | ment envisions the United States as a rich and com-8 |
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| 183 | 183 | | plex place where all persons are free to think and 9 |
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| 184 | 184 | | speak as they wish, not as the government de-10 |
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| 185 | 185 | | mands.’’ 11 |
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| 186 | 186 | | (11) As evidenced in disclosures from various 12 |
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| 187 | 187 | | social media companies, Federal officials in recent 13 |
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| 188 | 188 | | years have sought to censor legal speech on plat-14 |
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| 189 | 189 | | forms operated by those companies by using the 15 |
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| 190 | 190 | | power of their offices to influence what opinions, 16 |
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| 191 | 191 | | views, and other content that users of those plat-17 |
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| 192 | 192 | | forms may disseminate. 18 |
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| 193 | 193 | | (12) White House officials and officials of Ex-19 |
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| 194 | 194 | | ecutive agencies sought to silence narratives on so-20 |
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| 195 | 195 | | cial media platforms on issues relating to the 21 |
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| 196 | 196 | | COVID–19 pandemic. 22 |
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| 197 | 197 | | (13) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-23 |
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| 198 | 198 | | vention engaged with officials at Facebook and Twit-24 |
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| 199 | 199 | | ter to request that certain posts be flagged as 25 |
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| 201 | 201 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 |
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| 202 | 202 | | •S 188 IS |
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| 203 | 203 | | ‘‘disinformation’’ and held regular meetings with 1 |
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| 204 | 204 | | those companies to share instances of what govern-2 |
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| 205 | 205 | | ment officials determined to be ‘‘misinformation’’ 3 |
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| 206 | 206 | | about the COVID–19 pandemic that had been 4 |
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| 207 | 207 | | spread on the platforms operated by those compa-5 |
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| 208 | 208 | | nies. 6 |
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| 209 | 209 | | (14) In the midst of the 2020 election cycle, the 7 |
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| 210 | 210 | | Federal Bureau of Investigation communicated with 8 |
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| 211 | 211 | | high-level technology company executives and sug-9 |
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| 212 | 212 | | gested that a New York Post story regarding the 10 |
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| 213 | 213 | | contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop were part of a 11 |
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| 214 | 214 | | ‘‘hack and leak’’ operation. 12 |
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| 215 | 215 | | (15) On April 27, 2022, the Department of 13 |
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| 216 | 216 | | Homeland Security announced the creation of a 14 |
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| 217 | 217 | | Disinformation Governance Board (referred to in 15 |
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| 218 | 218 | | this paragraph as the ‘‘Board’’). The Director of the 16 |
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| 219 | 219 | | Board, Nina Jankowicz, sought to establish an 17 |
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| 220 | 220 | | ‘‘analytic exchange’’ with ‘‘industry partners’’. In 18 |
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| 221 | 221 | | congressional testimony, Secretary of Homeland Se-19 |
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| 222 | 222 | | curity Alejandro Mayorkas provided misleading testi-20 |
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| 223 | 223 | | mony about the actions of the Board. 21 |
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| 224 | 224 | | (16) Since 2020, 2 nonprofit organizations af-22 |
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| 225 | 225 | | filiated with the Global Disinformation Index (re-23 |
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| 226 | 226 | | ferred to in this paragraph as ‘‘GDI’’) have received 24 |
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| 227 | 227 | | a total of $330,000 in grants from Federal agencies. 25 |
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| 229 | 229 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 |
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| 230 | 230 | | •S 188 IS |
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| 231 | 231 | | GDI maintains a list of ‘‘global news publications 1 |
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| 232 | 232 | | rated high risk for disinformation’’. Major adver-2 |
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| 233 | 233 | | tising companies seek guidance from this purported 3 |
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| 234 | 234 | | ‘‘nonpartisan’’ group to determine where advertising 4 |
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| 235 | 235 | | money should be spent. Despite the self-proclaimed 5 |
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| 236 | 236 | | ‘‘nonpartisan’’ nature of the list, GDI includes a 6 |
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| 237 | 237 | | host of reputable media outlets, such as Reason, 7 |
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| 238 | 238 | | RealClearPolitics, and the New York Post. 8 |
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| 239 | 239 | | SEC. 4. EMPLOYEE PROHIBITIONS. 9 |
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| 240 | 240 | | (a) P |
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| 241 | 241 | | ROHIBITIONS.— 10 |
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| 242 | 242 | | (1) I |
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| 243 | 243 | | N GENERAL.—An employee acting under 11 |
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| 244 | 244 | | official authority or influence may not— 12 |
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| 245 | 245 | | (A) use any form of communication (with-13 |
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| 246 | 246 | | out regard to whether the communication is 14 |
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| 247 | 247 | | visible to members of the public) to direct, co-15 |
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| 248 | 248 | | erce, compel, or encourage a provider to take, 16 |
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| 249 | 249 | | suggest or imply that a provider should take, or 17 |
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| 250 | 250 | | request that a provider take any action to cen-18 |
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| 251 | 251 | | sor speech that is protected by the Constitution 19 |
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| 252 | 252 | | of the United States, including by— 20 |
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| 253 | 253 | | (i) removing that speech from the ap-21 |
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| 254 | 254 | | plicable covered platform; 22 |
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| 255 | 255 | | (ii) suppressing that speech on the ap-23 |
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| 256 | 256 | | plicable covered platform; 24 |
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| 258 | 258 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10 |
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| 259 | 259 | | •S 188 IS |
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| 260 | 260 | | (iii) removing or suspending a par-1 |
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| 261 | 261 | | ticular user (or a class of users) from the 2 |
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| 262 | 262 | | applicable covered platform or otherwise 3 |
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| 263 | 263 | | limiting the access of a particular user (or 4 |
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| 264 | 264 | | a class of users) to the covered platform; 5 |
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| 265 | 265 | | (iv) labeling that speech as 6 |
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| 266 | 266 | | disinformation, misinformation, or false, or 7 |
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| 267 | 267 | | by making any similar characterization 8 |
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| 268 | 268 | | with respect to the speech; or 9 |
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| 269 | 269 | | (v) otherwise blocking, banning, delet-10 |
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| 270 | 270 | | ing, deprioritizing, demonetizing, 11 |
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| 271 | 271 | | deboosting, limiting the reach of, or re-12 |
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| 272 | 272 | | stricting access to the speech; 13 |
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| 273 | 273 | | (B) direct or encourage a provider to share 14 |
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| 274 | 274 | | with an Executive agency covered information 15 |
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| 275 | 275 | | containing data or information regarding a par-16 |
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| 276 | 276 | | ticular topic, or a user or group of users on the 17 |
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| 277 | 277 | | applicable covered platform, including any cov-18 |
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| 278 | 278 | | ered information shared or stored by users on 19 |
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| 279 | 279 | | the covered platform; 20 |
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| 280 | 280 | | (C) work, directly or indirectly, with any 21 |
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| 281 | 281 | | private or public entity or person to take an ac-22 |
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| 282 | 282 | | tion that is prohibited under subparagraph (A) 23 |
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| 283 | 283 | | or (B); or 24 |
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| 285 | 285 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11 |
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| 286 | 286 | | •S 188 IS |
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| 287 | 287 | | (D) on behalf of the Executive agency em-1 |
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| 288 | 288 | | ploying the employee— 2 |
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| 289 | 289 | | (i) enter into a partnership with a 3 |
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| 290 | 290 | | provider to monitor any content dissemi-4 |
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| 291 | 291 | | nated on the applicable covered platform; 5 |
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| 292 | 292 | | or 6 |
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| 293 | 293 | | (ii) solicit, accept, or enter into a con-7 |
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| 294 | 294 | | tract or other agreement (including a no- 8 |
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| 295 | 295 | | cost agreement) for free advertising or an-9 |
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| 296 | 296 | | other promotion on a covered platform. 10 |
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| 297 | 297 | | (2) E |
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| 298 | 298 | | XCEPTION.—Notwithstanding subpara-11 |
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| 299 | 299 | | graph (B) of paragraph (1), the prohibition under 12 |
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| 300 | 300 | | that subparagraph shall not apply with respect to an 13 |
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| 301 | 301 | | action by an Executive agency or employee pursuant 14 |
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| 302 | 302 | | to a warrant that is issued by— 15 |
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| 303 | 303 | | (A) a court of the United States of com-16 |
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| 304 | 304 | | petent jurisdiction in accordance with the proce-17 |
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| 305 | 305 | | dures described in rule 41 of the Federal Rules 18 |
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| 306 | 306 | | of Criminal Procedure; or 19 |
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| 307 | 307 | | (B) a State court of competent jurisdic-20 |
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| 308 | 308 | | tion. 21 |
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| 309 | 309 | | (3) E |
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| 310 | 310 | | MPLOYEE DISCIPLINE.— 22 |
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| 311 | 311 | | (A) I |
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| 312 | 312 | | N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 23 |
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| 313 | 313 | | provision of title 5, United States Code, and 24 |
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| 314 | 314 | | subject to subparagraph (B), the head of an 25 |
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| 316 | 316 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 12 |
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| 317 | 317 | | •S 188 IS |
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| 318 | 318 | | Executive agency employing an employee who 1 |
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| 319 | 319 | | violates any provision of paragraph (1) (or, in 2 |
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| 320 | 320 | | the case of the head of an Executive agency 3 |
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| 321 | 321 | | who violates any provision of paragraph (1), the 4 |
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| 322 | 322 | | President) shall impose on that employee— 5 |
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| 323 | 323 | | (i) disciplinary action consisting of re-6 |
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| 324 | 324 | | moval, reduction in grade, suspension, or 7 |
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| 325 | 325 | | debarment from employment with the 8 |
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| 326 | 326 | | United States; 9 |
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| 327 | 327 | | (ii) a civil penalty in an amount that 10 |
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| 328 | 328 | | is not less than $10,000; 11 |
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| 329 | 329 | | (iii) ineligibility for any annuity under 12 |
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| 330 | 330 | | chapter 83 or 84 of title 5, United States 13 |
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| 331 | 331 | | Code; and 14 |
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| 332 | 332 | | (iv) permanent revocation of any ap-15 |
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| 333 | 333 | | plicable security clearance held by the em-16 |
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| 334 | 334 | | ployee. 17 |
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| 335 | 335 | | (B) S |
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| 336 | 336 | | PECIFIC CONTRACTOR DISCIPLINE .— 18 |
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| 337 | 337 | | In the case of an employee described in section 19 |
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| 338 | 338 | | 2(4)(A)(ii)(I) who violates any provision of 20 |
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| 339 | 339 | | paragraph (1), in addition to any discipline that 21 |
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| 340 | 340 | | may be applicable under subparagraph (A) of 22 |
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| 341 | 341 | | this paragraph, that employee shall be barred 23 |
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| 342 | 342 | | from working under any contract with the Fed-24 |
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| 343 | 343 | | eral Government. 25 |
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| 346 | 346 | | •S 188 IS |
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| 347 | 347 | | (b) PRIVATERIGHT OFACTION.— 1 |
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| 348 | 348 | | (1) I |
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| 349 | 349 | | N GENERAL.—A person, the account, con-2 |
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| 350 | 350 | | tent, speech, or other information of which has been 3 |
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| 351 | 351 | | affected in violation of this section, may bring a civil 4 |
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| 352 | 352 | | action in the United States District Court for the 5 |
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| 353 | 353 | | District of Columbia for reasonable attorneys’ fees, 6 |
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| 354 | 354 | | injunctive relief, and actual damages against— 7 |
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| 355 | 355 | | (A) the applicable Executive agency; and 8 |
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| 356 | 356 | | (B) the employee of the applicable Execu-9 |
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| 357 | 357 | | tive agency who committed the violation. 10 |
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| 358 | 358 | | (2) P |
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| 359 | 359 | | RESUMPTION OF LIABILITY .—In a civil ac-11 |
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| 360 | 360 | | tion brought under paragraph (1), there shall be a 12 |
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| 361 | 361 | | rebuttable presumption against the applicable Exec-13 |
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| 362 | 362 | | utive agency or employee if the person bringing the 14 |
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| 363 | 363 | | action demonstrates that the applicable employee 15 |
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| 364 | 364 | | communicated with a provider on a matter relating 16 |
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| 365 | 365 | | to— 17 |
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| 366 | 366 | | (A) covered information with respect to 18 |
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| 367 | 367 | | that person; or 19 |
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| 368 | 368 | | (B) a statement made by that person on 20 |
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| 369 | 369 | | the applicable covered platform. 21 |
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| 370 | 370 | | SEC. 5. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 22 |
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| 371 | 371 | | (a) I |
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| 372 | 372 | | NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 23 |
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| 373 | 373 | | date of enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than 24 |
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| 374 | 374 | | once every 90 days thereafter, the head of each Executive 25 |
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| 377 | 377 | | •S 188 IS |
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| 378 | 378 | | agency shall submit to the Director and the chair and 1 |
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| 379 | 379 | | ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security 2 |
|---|
| 380 | 380 | | and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee 3 |
|---|
| 381 | 381 | | on the Judiciary of the Senate, the Committee on Over-4 |
|---|
| 382 | 382 | | sight and Government Reform of the House of Represent-5 |
|---|
| 383 | 383 | | atives, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House 6 |
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| 384 | 384 | | of Representatives a report that discloses, for the period 7 |
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| 385 | 385 | | covered by the report, each communication between a rep-8 |
|---|
| 386 | 386 | | resentative of a provider and an employee of that Execu-9 |
|---|
| 387 | 387 | | tive agency— 10 |
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| 388 | 388 | | (1) including any such communication that con-11 |
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| 389 | 389 | | stitutes a violation of section 4(a)(1); and 12 |
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| 390 | 390 | | (2) not including any such communication that 13 |
|---|
| 391 | 391 | | relates to combating child pornography or exploi-14 |
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| 392 | 392 | | tation, human trafficking, or the illegal transporting 15 |
|---|
| 393 | 393 | | or transacting in controlled substances. 16 |
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| 394 | 394 | | (b) C |
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| 395 | 395 | | ONTENTS.—Each report submitted under sub-17 |
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| 396 | 396 | | section (a) shall include, with respect to a communication 18 |
|---|
| 397 | 397 | | described in that subsection— 19 |
|---|
| 398 | 398 | | (1) the name and professional title of each em-20 |
|---|
| 399 | 399 | | ployee and each representative of a provider engaged 21 |
|---|
| 400 | 400 | | in the communication; and 22 |
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| 401 | 401 | | (2) if the communication constitutes a violation 23 |
|---|
| 402 | 402 | | of section 4(a)(1)— 24 |
|---|
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| 405 | 405 | | •S 188 IS |
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| 406 | 406 | | (A) a detailed explanation of the nature of 1 |
|---|
| 407 | 407 | | the violation; and 2 |
|---|
| 408 | 408 | | (B) the date of the violation. 3 |
|---|
| 409 | 409 | | (c) P |
|---|
| 410 | 410 | | UBLICATION.— 4 |
|---|
| 411 | 411 | | (1) I |
|---|
| 412 | 412 | | N GENERAL.—Not later than 5 days after 5 |
|---|
| 413 | 413 | | the date on which the Director receives a report 6 |
|---|
| 414 | 414 | | under subsection (a), the Director shall— 7 |
|---|
| 415 | 415 | | (A) collect the report and assign the report 8 |
|---|
| 416 | 416 | | a unique tracking number; and 9 |
|---|
| 417 | 417 | | (B) publish on a publicly accessible and 10 |
|---|
| 418 | 418 | | searchable website the contents of the report 11 |
|---|
| 419 | 419 | | and the tracking number for the report. 12 |
|---|
| 420 | 420 | | (2) S |
|---|
| 421 | 421 | | UBJECT OF REPORT .—With respect to a 13 |
|---|
| 422 | 422 | | report submitted pursuant to subsection (a) of which 14 |
|---|
| 423 | 423 | | an individual is a subject, not later than the end of 15 |
|---|
| 424 | 424 | | the business day following the business day on which 16 |
|---|
| 425 | 425 | | the report is submitted, the Director shall make a 17 |
|---|
| 426 | 426 | | reasonable effort to contact any person or entity di-18 |
|---|
| 427 | 427 | | rectly affected by a violation of this Act described in 19 |
|---|
| 428 | 428 | | the report to inform that person of the report. 20 |
|---|
| 429 | 429 | | SEC. 6. CYBERSECURITY INFRASTRUCTURE AND SECURITY 21 |
|---|
| 430 | 430 | | AGENCY REPORT. 22 |
|---|
| 431 | 431 | | Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 23 |
|---|
| 432 | 432 | | of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall sub-24 |
|---|
| 433 | 433 | | mit to the Director and the chair and ranking member 25 |
|---|
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| 436 | 436 | | •S 188 IS |
|---|
| 437 | 437 | | of the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern-1 |
|---|
| 438 | 438 | | mental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Over-2 |
|---|
| 439 | 439 | | sight and Government Reform of the House of Represent-3 |
|---|
| 440 | 440 | | atives a report that discloses any action of an employee 4 |
|---|
| 441 | 441 | | of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency 5 |
|---|
| 442 | 442 | | that— 6 |
|---|
| 443 | 443 | | (1) occurred between November 16, 2018, and 7 |
|---|
| 444 | 444 | | the date of enactment of this Act; and 8 |
|---|
| 445 | 445 | | (2) would have been in violation of section 9 |
|---|
| 446 | 446 | | 4(a)(1). 10 |
|---|
| 447 | 447 | | SEC. 7. TERMINATION OF DISINFORMATION GOVERNANCE 11 |
|---|
| 448 | 448 | | BOARD. 12 |
|---|
| 449 | 449 | | (a) T |
|---|
| 450 | 450 | | ERMINATION.—The Disinformation Governance 13 |
|---|
| 451 | 451 | | Board established by the Department of Homeland Secu-14 |
|---|
| 452 | 452 | | rity, if in existence on the date of enactment of this Act, 15 |
|---|
| 453 | 453 | | is terminated. 16 |
|---|
| 454 | 454 | | (b) P |
|---|
| 455 | 455 | | ROHIBITIONAGAINSTFEDERALFUNDING.—No 17 |
|---|
| 456 | 456 | | Federal funds may be used to establish or support the ac-18 |
|---|
| 457 | 457 | | tivities of any other entity that is substantially similar to 19 |
|---|
| 458 | 458 | | the Disinformation Governance Board terminated pursu-20 |
|---|
| 459 | 459 | | ant to subsection (a). 21 |
|---|
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| 462 | 462 | | •S 188 IS |
|---|
| 463 | 463 | | SEC. 8. PROHIBITION ON MISINFORMATION AND 1 |
|---|
| 464 | 464 | | DISINFORMATION GRANTS. 2 |
|---|
| 465 | 465 | | The head of an Executive agency may not award a 3 |
|---|
| 466 | 466 | | grant relating to programming on misinformation or 4 |
|---|
| 467 | 467 | | disinformation. 5 |
|---|
| 468 | 468 | | SEC. 9. GRANT TERMS. 6 |
|---|
| 469 | 469 | | (a) C |
|---|
| 470 | 470 | | ERTIFICATION.—The recipient of a grant award-7 |
|---|
| 471 | 471 | | ed by an Executive agency on or after the date of enact-8 |
|---|
| 472 | 472 | | ment of this Act shall certify to the head of the Executive 9 |
|---|
| 473 | 473 | | agency that the recipient or a subgrantee of the recipient, 10 |
|---|
| 474 | 474 | | during the term of the grant, will not designate any cre-11 |
|---|
| 475 | 475 | | ator of news content, regardless of medium, as a source 12 |
|---|
| 476 | 476 | | of misinformation or disinformation. 13 |
|---|
| 477 | 477 | | (b) P |
|---|
| 478 | 478 | | UBLICATION.—Not later than 10 days after the 14 |
|---|
| 479 | 479 | | date on which an Executive agency awards a grant, the 15 |
|---|
| 480 | 480 | | head of the Executive agency shall publish the certification 16 |
|---|
| 481 | 481 | | received under subsection (a) with respect to the grant on 17 |
|---|
| 482 | 482 | | Grants.gov, or any successor website. 18 |
|---|
| 483 | 483 | | (c) P |
|---|
| 484 | 484 | | ENALTY.—Upon a determination by the head of 19 |
|---|
| 485 | 485 | | an Executive agency that a recipient or subgrantee of a 20 |
|---|
| 486 | 486 | | recipient has violated the certification of the recipient 21 |
|---|
| 487 | 487 | | under subsection (a), the recipient or subgrantee, respec-22 |
|---|
| 488 | 488 | | tively, shall— 23 |
|---|
| 489 | 489 | | (1) repay the grant associated with the certifi-24 |
|---|
| 490 | 490 | | cation; and 25 |
|---|
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| 493 | 493 | | •S 188 IS |
|---|
| 494 | 494 | | (2) be ineligible to receive a grant from the Ex-1 |
|---|
| 495 | 495 | | ecutive agency. 2 |
|---|
| 496 | 496 | | SEC. 10. PRESIDENTIAL WAR POWERS UNDER THE COMMU-3 |
|---|
| 497 | 497 | | NICATIONS ACT OF 1934. 4 |
|---|
| 498 | 498 | | (a) I |
|---|
| 499 | 499 | | NGENERAL.—Section 706 of the Communica-5 |
|---|
| 500 | 500 | | tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 606) is amended— 6 |
|---|
| 501 | 501 | | (1) by striking subsections (c) through (g); and 7 |
|---|
| 502 | 502 | | (2) by redesignating subsection (h) as sub-8 |
|---|
| 503 | 503 | | section (c). 9 |
|---|
| 504 | 504 | | (b) T |
|---|
| 505 | 505 | | ECHNICAL ANDCONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 10 |
|---|
| 506 | 506 | | Section 309(h) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 11 |
|---|
| 507 | 507 | | U.S.C. 309(h)) is amended— 12 |
|---|
| 508 | 508 | | (1) by inserting ‘‘and’’ before ‘‘(2)’’; and 13 |
|---|
| 509 | 509 | | (2) by striking ‘‘Act;’’ and all that follows 14 |
|---|
| 510 | 510 | | through the period at the end and inserting the fol-15 |
|---|
| 511 | 511 | | lowing: ‘‘Act.’’. 16 |
|---|
| 512 | 512 | | SEC. 11. APPLICABILITY OF FOIA. 17 |
|---|
| 513 | 513 | | (a) D |
|---|
| 514 | 514 | | EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘agency’’ 18 |
|---|
| 515 | 515 | | has the meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, 19 |
|---|
| 516 | 516 | | United States Code. 20 |
|---|
| 517 | 517 | | (b) A |
|---|
| 518 | 518 | | PPLICABILITY.—Notwithstanding any provision 21 |
|---|
| 519 | 519 | | of section 552 of title 5, United States Code, any request 22 |
|---|
| 520 | 520 | | made to an agency pursuant to that section for records 23 |
|---|
| 521 | 521 | | relating to communication between an employee and a rep-24 |
|---|
| 522 | 522 | | resentative of a provider— 25 |
|---|
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| 525 | 525 | | •S 188 IS |
|---|
| 526 | 526 | | (1) shall be granted by the agency without re-1 |
|---|
| 527 | 527 | | gard to any exemption under subsection (b) of that 2 |
|---|
| 528 | 528 | | section, except the agency may not release any iden-3 |
|---|
| 529 | 529 | | tifying information of a user of a covered platform 4 |
|---|
| 530 | 530 | | without express written consent granted by the user 5 |
|---|
| 531 | 531 | | to the agency; and 6 |
|---|
| 532 | 532 | | (2) may not be granted by the agency if the 7 |
|---|
| 533 | 533 | | communication occurred pursuant to a warrant de-8 |
|---|
| 534 | 534 | | scribed in section 4(a)(2). 9 |
|---|
| 535 | 535 | | Æ |
|---|
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