II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 69
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to address governmental inter-
ference in content moderation decisions by providers of interactive com-
puter services, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY9, 2025
Mr. S
CHMITTintroduced 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 gov-
ernmental interference in content moderation decisions
by providers of interactive computer services, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Curtailing Online Lim-4
itations that Lead Unconstitutionally to Democracy’s Ero-5
sion Act’’ or the ‘‘COLLUDE Act’’. 6
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•S 69 IS
SEC. 2. CONTENT MODERATION, CREATION AND DEVELOP-1
MENT, AND DISTRIBUTION. 2
Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 3
U.S.C. 230) is amended— 4
(1) in subsection (c)— 5
(A) in paragraph (1)— 6
(i) by striking ‘‘No provider’’ and in-7
serting the following: 8
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-9
graph (B), no provider’’; and 10
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-11
lowing: 12
‘‘(B) A
FFIRMATIVE DEFENSE .—In a crimi-13
nal or civil action against a provider or user of 14
an interactive computer service that treats the 15
provider or user as the publisher or speaker of 16
any information, the provider or user shall bear 17
the burden of proving that the provider or user 18
is not an information content provider with re-19
spect to that information for purposes of sub-20
paragraph (A).’’; 21
(B) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking 22
‘‘paragraph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraph 23
(A)’’; and 24
(C) by adding at the end the following: 25
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•S 69 IS
‘‘(3) LOSS OF PROTECTION IN CASES OF GOV -1
ERNMENTAL CENSORSHIP .— 2
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 3
subparagraph (B), this subsection shall not 4
apply to a provider of an interactive computer 5
service that restricts access to or availability of 6
material— 7
‘‘(i) in a manner that reasonably ap-8
pears to express, promote, limit the visi-9
bility of, or suppress legitimate political 10
speech, including a discernible viewpoint; 11
and 12
‘‘(ii) as a result of a communication 13
that— 14
‘‘(I) is sent to the provider by— 15
‘‘(aa) a governmental entity; 16
or 17
‘‘(bb) a non-governmental 18
entity that is acting at the re-19
quest or behest of a govern-20
mental entity; and 21
‘‘(II) the applicable entity under 22
subclause (I) sends only to the pro-23
vider and not to any other entity. 24
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•S 69 IS
‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—A communication that 1
is for a legitimate law enforcement purpose or 2
a national security purpose shall not be consid-3
ered to be a communication that is described in 4
subparagraph (A)(ii).’’; and 5
(2) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the 6
following: 7
‘‘(5) L
EGITIMATE LAW ENFORCEMENT PUR -8
POSE.—The term ‘legitimate law enforcement pur-9
pose’ means, with respect to a communication, that 10
the purpose of the communication is so that a law 11
enforcement agency can, within the lawful authority 12
of that agency, investigate a criminal offense. 13
‘‘(6) N
ATIONAL SECURITY PURPOSE .—The term 14
‘national security purpose’ means, with respect to a 15
communication, that the purpose of the communica-16
tion relates to— 17
‘‘(A) intelligence activities; 18
‘‘(B) cryptologic activities that relate to 19
the national security of the United States; 20
‘‘(C) command and control of the Armed 21
Forces; 22
‘‘(D) equipment that is an integral part of 23
a weapon or a weapons system; or 24
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•S 69 IS
‘‘(E) the direct fulfillment of a military or 1
intelligence mission.’’. 2
Æ
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