Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB840 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. 840
5	5	To hold accountable operators of social media platforms that intentionally
6	6	or knowingly host false election administration information.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	MARCH4, 2025
9	9	Mr. W
10	10	ELCH(for himself, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. MERKLEY, and
11	11	Mr. L
12	12	UJA´N) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re-
13	13	ferred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To hold accountable operators of social media platforms that
16	16	intentionally or knowingly host false election administra-
17	17	tion information.
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 ‘‘Digital Integrity in 4
22	22	Democracy Act’’. 5
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26	26	SEC. 2. EXCEPTION TO SECTION 230 IMMUNITY FOR SOCIAL 1
27	27	MEDIA PLATFORM OPERATORS HOSTING 2
28	28	FALSE ELECTION ADMINISTRATION INFOR-3
29	29	MATION. 4
30	30	Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 5
31	31	U.S.C. 230) is amended— 6
32	32	(1) in subsection (c)(1)— 7
33	33	(A) by striking ‘‘No provider’’ and insert-8
34	34	ing the following: 9
35	35	‘‘(A) I
36	36	N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 10
37	37	subparagraph (B), no provider’’; and 11
38	38	(B) by adding at the end the following: 12
39	39	‘‘(B) E
40	40	XCEPTION.—Subparagraph (A) 13
41	41	shall not apply with respect to false election ad-14
42	42	ministration information that the operator of a 15
43	43	social media platform intentionally or knowingly 16
44	44	hosts on the social media platform.’’; and 17
45	45	(2) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the 18
46	46	following: 19
47	47	‘‘(5) C
48	48	OVERED ELECTION.—The term ‘covered 20
49	49	election’ has the meaning given the term ‘election’ 21
50	50	under section 301(1) of the Federal Election Cam-22
51	51	paign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101(1)). 23
52	52	‘‘(6) F
53	53	ALSE ELECTION ADMINISTRATION INFOR -24
54	54	MATION.— 25
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58	58	‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘false elec-1
59	59	tion administration information’, with respect 2
60	60	to a social media platform, means objectively in-3
61	61	correct information that— 4
62	62	‘‘(i) relates to— 5
63	63	‘‘(I) the time, place, or manner 6
64	64	of holding any covered election; or 7
65	65	‘‘(II) the qualifications for or re-8
66	66	strictions on voter eligibility for any 9
67	67	covered election, including— 10
68	68	‘‘(aa) any criminal, civil, or 11
69	69	other legal penalties associated 12
70	70	with voting in any covered elec-13
71	71	tion; or 14
72	72	‘‘(bb) information regarding 15
73	73	the registration status or eligi-16
74	74	bility of a voter; and 17
75	75	‘‘(ii) is publicly accessible on the so-18
76	76	cial media platform. 19
77	77	‘‘(B) P
78	78	OLITICAL SPEECH EXCLUDED .—The 20
79	79	term ‘false election administration information’ 21
80	80	does not include any content that relates to po-22
81	81	litical speech in favor of or against— 23
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84	84	•S 840 IS
85	85	‘‘(i) a candidate (as defined in section 1
86	86	301(2) of the Federal Election Campaign 2
87	87	Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101(2))); 3
88	88	‘‘(ii) an individual who holds a Fed-4
89	89	eral office (as defined in section 301(3) of 5
90	90	the Federal Election Campaign Act of 6
91	91	1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101(3))); or 7
92	92	‘‘(iii) a political party. 8
93	93	‘‘(7) S
94	94	OCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM .—The term ‘so-9
95	95	cial media platform’ means a social media platform, 10
96	96	as defined in section 124(a)(2) of the Trafficking 11
97	97	Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization 12
98	98	Act of 2022 (42 U.S.C. 1862w(a)(2)), that had not 13
99	99	fewer than 25,000,000 unique monthly users in the 14
100	100	United States for a majority of the months during 15
101	101	the most recent 12-month period, except that such 16
102	102	section 124(a)(2) shall be applied by substituting ‘an 17
103	103	interactive computer service’ for ‘a website or inter-18
104	104	net medium’.’’. 19
105	105	SEC. 3. FALSE ELECTION ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION 20
106	106	REMOVAL PROCESS. 21
107	107	(a) D
108	108	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 22
109	109	(1) E
110	110	LECTION DAY.—The term ‘‘election day’’ 23
111	111	means, with respect to any covered election (as de-24
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115	115	fined in section 230 of the Communications Act of 1
116	116	1934 (47 U.S.C. 230), as amended by section 2)— 2
117	117	(A) the date on which the covered election 3
118	118	is held; and 4
119	119	(B) any day during the period— 5
120	120	(i) beginning on the earlier of— 6
121	121	(I) the first day during which 7
122	122	early voting for such election is al-8
123	123	lowed; or 9
124	124	(II) the first day on which the 10
125	125	State distributes absentee ballots for 11
126	126	such election; and 12
127	127	(ii) ending on the date of such elec-13
128	128	tion. 14
129	129	(2) F
130	130	ALSE ELECTION ADMINISTRATION INFOR -15
131	131	MATION.—The term ‘‘false election administration 16
132	132	information’’ has the meaning given the term in sec-17
133	133	tion 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 18
134	134	U.S.C. 230), as amended by section 2. 19
135	135	(3) S
136	136	OCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM .—The term ‘‘so-20
137	137	cial media platform’’ has the meaning given the 21
138	138	term in section 230 of the Communications Act of 22
139	139	1934 (47 U.S.C. 230), as amended by section 2. 23
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143	143	(4) WRITTEN.—The term ‘‘written’’, with re-1
144	144	spect to a communication, includes a written elec-2
145	145	tronic communication. 3
146	146	(b) R
147	147	EMOVALPROCESS.— 4
148	148	(1) R
149	149	EMOVAL REQUIRED .—If an operator of a 5
150	150	social media platform receives a complete notifica-6
151	151	tion, in accordance with paragraph (2), that false 7
152	152	election administration information is being hosted 8
153	153	on the social media platform, the operator shall— 9
154	154	(A) determine whether the alleged false 10
155	155	election administration information is objec-11
156	156	tively incorrect; 12
157	157	(B) if the determination under subpara-13
158	158	graph (A) is that the alleged false election ad-14
159	159	ministration information is objectively incorrect, 15
160	160	remove the false election administration infor-16
161	161	mation— 17
162	162	(i) not later than 48 hours after re-18
163	163	ceiving the complete notification, if re-19
164	164	ceived on a day other than an election day; 20
165	165	or 21
166	166	(ii) not later than 24 hours after re-22
167	167	ceiving the complete notification, if re-23
168	168	ceived on an election day; and 24
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172	172	(C) not later than 12 hours after removing 1
173	173	false election administration information, pro-2
174	174	vide a written response to the complainant stat-3
175	175	ing that the operator removed the false election 4
176	176	administration information. 5
177	177	(2) N
178	178	OTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS .—A notifi-6
179	179	cation described in paragraph (1) shall— 7
180	180	(A) be a written notification submitted to 8
181	181	the operator of the social media platform; 9
182	182	(B) contain a description of the false elec-10
183	183	tion administration information being hosted on 11
184	184	the social media platform that is reasonably 12
185	185	sufficient for the operator to locate the false 13
186	186	election administration information; and 14
187	187	(C) contain the name and contact informa-15
188	188	tion of the complainant, including mailing ad-16
189	189	dress, telephone number, and email address. 17
190	190	(c) E
191	191	NFORCEMENT.— 18
192	192	(1) A
193	193	TTORNEY GENERAL CIVIL ACTION .—The 19
194	194	Attorney General may bring a civil action in an ap-20
195	195	propriate district court of the United States against 21
196	196	an operator of a social media platform that violates 22
197	197	subsection (b)(1) for— 23
198	198	(A) damages of $50,000 for each item of 24
199	199	false election administration information that 25
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203	203	was not removed by the operator in accordance 1
204	204	with that subsection; and 2
205	205	(B) injunctive relief relating to the removal 3
206	206	of false election administration information that 4
207	207	is the subject of the civil action. 5
208	208	(2) S
209	209	TATE CIVIL ACTION.—The attorney gen-6
210	210	eral or secretary of state of a State may bring a civil 7
211	211	action in an appropriate district court of the United 8
212	212	States against an operator of a social media plat-9
213	213	form that violates subsection (b)(1) with respect to 10
214	214	a covered election being held in that State for— 11
215	215	(A) damages of $50,000 for each item of 12
216	216	false election administration information that 13
217	217	was not removed by the operator in accordance 14
218	218	with that subsection; and 15
219	219	(B) injunctive relief relating to the removal 16
220	220	of false election administration information that 17
221	221	is the subject of the civil action. 18
222	222	(3) P
223	223	RIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION .—A candidate, 19
224	224	as defined in section 301 of the Federal Election 20
225	225	Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101), aggrieved 21
226	226	by a violation of subsection (b)(1) may, after noti-22
227	227	fying the chief election official of the State involved, 23
228	228	bring a civil action in an appropriate district court 24
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232	232	of the United States against the operator of a social 1
233	233	media platform that committed the violation for— 2
234	234	(A) damages of $50,000 for each item of 3
235	235	false election administration information that 4
236	236	was not removed by the operator in accordance 5
237	237	with that subsection; and 6
238	238	(B) injunctive relief relating to the removal 7
239	239	of false election administration information that 8
240	240	is the subject of the civil action. 9
241	241	(d) S
242	242	AFEHARBORRELATING TOSECTION230 IM-10
243	243	MUNITYEXCEPTION.—Subparagraph (B) of section 11
244	244	230(c)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 12
245	245	230(c)(1)), as added by section 2, shall not apply with 13
246	246	respect to false election administration information hosted 14
247	247	on a social media platform if the operator of the social 15
248	248	media platform— 16
249	249	(1) becomes aware of the information due to a 17
250	250	notification described in paragraph (2) of subsection 18
251	251	(b) of this section and removes the information in 19
252	252	accordance with paragraph (1) of that subsection; or 20
253	253	(2) becomes aware of the information through 21
254	254	means other than a notification described in sub-22
255	255	section (b)(2) of this section and removes the infor-23
256	256	mation— 24
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260	260	(A) not later than 48 hours after becoming 1
261	261	aware of the information, if it becomes so aware 2
262	262	on a day other than an election day; or 3
263	263	(B) not later than 24 hours after becoming 4
264	264	aware of the information, if it becomes so aware 5
265	265	on an election day. 6
266	266	SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 7
267	267	This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, 8
268	268	shall apply with respect to any false election administra-9
269	269	tion information alleged to be hosted on a social media 10
270	270	platform on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 11
271	271	Æ
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