Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB69 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 69
5	5	To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to address governmental inter-
6	6	ference in content moderation decisions by providers of interactive com-
7	7	puter services, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	JANUARY9, 2025
10	10	Mr. S
11	11	CHMITTintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
12	12	to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to address gov-
15	15	ernmental interference in content moderation decisions
16	16	by providers of interactive computer services, and for
17	17	other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Curtailing Online Lim-4
22	22	itations that Lead Unconstitutionally to Democracy’s Ero-5
23	23	sion Act’’ or the ‘‘COLLUDE Act’’. 6
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26	26	•S 69 IS
27	27	SEC. 2. CONTENT MODERATION, CREATION AND DEVELOP-1
28	28	MENT, AND DISTRIBUTION. 2
29	29	Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 3
30	30	U.S.C. 230) is amended— 4
31	31	(1) in subsection (c)— 5
32	32	(A) in paragraph (1)— 6
33	33	(i) by striking ‘‘No provider’’ and in-7
34	34	serting the following: 8
35	35	‘‘(A) I
36	36	N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-9
37	37	graph (B), no provider’’; and 10
38	38	(ii) by adding at the end the fol-11
39	39	lowing: 12
40	40	‘‘(B) A
41	41	FFIRMATIVE DEFENSE .—In a crimi-13
42	42	nal or civil action against a provider or user of 14
43	43	an interactive computer service that treats the 15
44	44	provider or user as the publisher or speaker of 16
45	45	any information, the provider or user shall bear 17
46	46	the burden of proving that the provider or user 18
47	47	is not an information content provider with re-19
48	48	spect to that information for purposes of sub-20
49	49	paragraph (A).’’; 21
50	50	(B) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking 22
51	51	‘‘paragraph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraph 23
52	52	(A)’’; and 24
53	53	(C) by adding at the end the following: 25
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56	56	•S 69 IS
57	57	‘‘(3) LOSS OF PROTECTION IN CASES OF GOV -1
58	58	ERNMENTAL CENSORSHIP .— 2
59	59	‘‘(A) I
60	60	N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 3
61	61	subparagraph (B), this subsection shall not 4
62	62	apply to a provider of an interactive computer 5
63	63	service that restricts access to or availability of 6
64	64	material— 7
65	65	‘‘(i) in a manner that reasonably ap-8
66	66	pears to express, promote, limit the visi-9
67	67	bility of, or suppress legitimate political 10
68	68	speech, including a discernible viewpoint; 11
69	69	and 12
70	70	‘‘(ii) as a result of a communication 13
71	71	that— 14
72	72	‘‘(I) is sent to the provider by— 15
73	73	‘‘(aa) a governmental entity; 16
74	74	or 17
75	75	‘‘(bb) a non-governmental 18
76	76	entity that is acting at the re-19
77	77	quest or behest of a govern-20
78	78	mental entity; and 21
79	79	‘‘(II) the applicable entity under 22
80	80	subclause (I) sends only to the pro-23
81	81	vider and not to any other entity. 24
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84	84	•S 69 IS
85	85	‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—A communication that 1
86	86	is for a legitimate law enforcement purpose or 2
87	87	a national security purpose shall not be consid-3
88	88	ered to be a communication that is described in 4
89	89	subparagraph (A)(ii).’’; and 5
90	90	(2) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the 6
91	91	following: 7
92	92	‘‘(5) L
93	93	EGITIMATE LAW ENFORCEMENT PUR -8
94	94	POSE.—The term ‘legitimate law enforcement pur-9
95	95	pose’ means, with respect to a communication, that 10
96	96	the purpose of the communication is so that a law 11
97	97	enforcement agency can, within the lawful authority 12
98	98	of that agency, investigate a criminal offense. 13
99	99	‘‘(6) N
100	100	ATIONAL SECURITY PURPOSE .—The term 14
101	101	‘national security purpose’ means, with respect to a 15
102	102	communication, that the purpose of the communica-16
103	103	tion relates to— 17
104	104	‘‘(A) intelligence activities; 18
105	105	‘‘(B) cryptologic activities that relate to 19
106	106	the national security of the United States; 20
107	107	‘‘(C) command and control of the Armed 21
108	108	Forces; 22
109	109	‘‘(D) equipment that is an integral part of 23
110	110	a weapon or a weapons system; or 24
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113	113	•S 69 IS
114	114	‘‘(E) the direct fulfillment of a military or 1
115	115	intelligence mission.’’. 2
116	116	Æ
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