[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8838 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8838
To prohibit agencies from taking certain action relating to social
media companies, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 26, 2024
Mr. Clyde introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on
Oversight and Accountability, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit agencies from taking certain action relating to social
media companies, 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 ``Free Speech Defense Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning
religion, expression, assembly, and petition of the government.
The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of expression by
prohibiting the government from restricting the press or the
right of an individual to speak freely. The First Amendment
also guarantees the right of an individual to assemble
peaceably and to petition the government.
(2) The Fourth Amendment states that each individual is
secure from unreasonable searches and seizures of property by
the government. The Fourth Amendment protects against arbitrary
arrests, wiretaps, and other forms of surveillance conducted
without a search warrant.
(3) In July 2021, the White House press secretary, Jen
Psaki, admitted that the White House was working with social
media companies to identify ``misinformation''.
(4) Specifically, Psaki said, ``[W]e're regularly making
sure social media platforms are aware of the latest narratives,
dangerous to public health that we and many other Americans are
seeing across all of social and traditional media.'' Psaki also
said, ``[W]e work to engage with them to better understand the
enforcement of social media platform policies.''
(5) 286 pages of documents produced in July 2022 by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in response to a
Freedom of Information Act request submitted by the America
First Legal Foundation, revealed shocking information,
including the following:
(A) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
sent to officials of Twitter a chart of tweets that the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined
to be ``misinformation''.
(B) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
held regular BOLO (Be On The Lookout) meetings in which
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would
share with social media companies, including Twitter
and Facebook, what the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention determined to be ``misinformation''. In the
meetings, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention would provide slide decks requesting, among
other things, ``[p]lease do not share outside your
trust and safety teams''.
(C) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
recommended to Twitter that information about the
Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System be added to
tweets.
(D) Officials from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention directly engaged with Facebook,
requesting that Facebook flag certain posts as
disinformation and ensure that ``verifiable information
sources'' were not blocked because posts on Facebook by
State Health Departments were being blocked as vaccine
misinformation.
(E) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
created a COVID-19 Misinformation Reporting Channel for
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the
Census Bureau to make reports to Facebook and held a
``training meeting'' about the Misinformation Reporting
Channel.
(F) $15,000,000 of Facebook advertising credits
were provided to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the Department of Health and Human
Services as a ``non-monetary gift'' to promote
vaccines, social distancing, travel, and priority
communication messages, which may have violated the
limitation on voluntary services described in section
1342 of the Antideficiency Act (31 U.S.C. 1342).
(6) The Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas,
failed to provide clear answers to Congress about the purpose
of the Disinformation Governance Board and the selection of
Nina Jankowicz to lead the Disinformation Governance Board.
(7) Revealing whistleblower documents uncovered by Senators
Josh Hawley and Chuck Grassley show the shocking extent to
which the Disinformation Governance Board was willing to spy on
Americans, without a warrant, and flag posts for social media
companies as so-called ``disinformation''.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that:
(1) The records produced by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention in response to the Freedom of Information Act
request described in section 2(5) reveal the extent to which
the Biden Administration is willing to engage in
unconstitutional and otherwise unlawful activities in total
disregard of the rights of the American people.
(2) Secretary Mayorkas, in congressional committee
testimony, failed to provide clear answers to Congress about
the purpose of the Disinformation Governance Board.
(3) The antidote to ``misinformation'' and
``disinformation'' is not censorship but more information, so
the American people can make informed decisions independently.
(4) The Federal Government should not be allowed to
circumvent the Constitution of the United States through
intermediaries and third parties to violate the rights of the
American people to information and freedom from intrusion by
the Federal Government, even if the information is not
consistent with the views of officials in the Federal
Government.
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION AGAINST FEDERAL REGULATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA
COMPANIES.
(a) Prohibition Against Regulation.--
(1) Prohibition.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the
head of an agency may not direct or encourage a social media
company to--
(A) remove or suspend a user from the social media
platform of the social media company;
(B) label content on the social media platform of
the social media company as information,
disinformation, true, false, or any other similar
characterization; or
(C) share with the agency data or information about
a particular topic or group of users on the social
media platform of the social media company, including--
(i) the name, age, or demographic of the
users; and
(ii) the content such users share on the
social media platform of the social media
company.
(2) Exceptions.--The prohibitions described in
subparagraphs (A) and (C) of paragraph (1) do not apply to an
action taken by the head of an agency--
(A) pursuant to a warrant--
(i) issued by a Federal court of competent
jurisdiction in accordance with the procedures
described in rule 41 of the Federal Rules of
Criminal Procedure; or
(ii) issued by a State court of competent
jurisdiction; or
(B) pursuant to a criminal investigation into, or
in response to, an immediate threat to public safety,
including--
(i) child exploitation;
(ii) human trafficking;
(iii) active streaming of a crime in
progress or another immediate threat to public
safety; or
(iv) activity by a foreign terrorist
organization (as designated by the Secretary of
State, in consultation with the Secretary of
the Treasury and the Attorney General, under
section 219(a) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a))).
(b) Prohibition Against Public-Private Partnerships.--
(1) Prohibition.--The head of an agency may not enter into
a public-private partnership with a social media company to
monitor any content disseminated on the social media platform
of the social media company.
(2) Exception.--The prohibition described in paragraph (1)
does not apply to a public-private partnership between an
agency and a social media platform relating to addressing
immediate threats to public safety.
(3) Termination of existing public-private partnerships.--
Any public-private partnership described in paragraph (1), if
in existence on the date of the enactment of this Act, is
terminated.
(c) Prohibition Against Federal Funding.--Federal funds may not be
used to fund any entity that--
(1) classifies or facilitates the classification of any
communication as information, misinformation, malinformation,
disinformation, or any other similar designation; or
(2) instructs, influences, directs, or recommends that
private companies engage in any censorship, prohibition, or
obstruction of lawful and constitutionally protected speech on
a social media platform, including by--
(A) terminating an account of a user;
(B) temporarily or permanently suspending an
account of a user;
(C) imposing a warning or strike against an account
of a user to chill or deter future speech;
(D) shadowbanning, or in any way manipulating the
audience or reach of, a user;
(E) demonetizing a type of user or content;
(F) adjusting algorithms to suppress or de-
emphasize user-generated content;
(G) deboosting a type of content or user;
(H) promoting or demoting content;
(I) placing a warning label or explanatory note on
any content;
(J) suppressing content in the feed of a user;
(K) promoting negative comments about a type of
disfavored content;
(L) requiring an additional click-through to access
content;
(M) deplatforming any content or user; or
(N) any other such method.
(d) Prohibition Against Soliciting or Accepting Free or Reduced-
Cost Social Media Advertising.--
(1) In general.--An agency employee acting in an official
capacity may not solicit or accept, or enter into a contract or
other agreement (including a no-cost agreement) for, free or
reduced-cost advertising or other promotion on the social media
platform of a social media company.
(2) Exception.--
(A) In general.--The prohibition described in
paragraph (1) does not apply to an action taken by an
agency employee to address a natural disaster or
another immediate threat to public safety.
(B) Exclusion.--The exception described in
subparagraph (A) does not include a public health
emergency.
(3) Limitation on funds.--No Federal funds may be obligated
or expended to--
(A) enter into a contract or other agreement
(including a no-cost agreement) for free or reduced-
cost advertising or other promotion on behalf of the
Federal Government on the social media platform of a
social media company; or
(B) pay the salary or expenses of any agency
employee to solicit or accept free or reduced-cost
advertising or other promotion on behalf of the Federal
Government on the social media platform of a social
media company.
(e) Additional Limitations for Senior Federal Officials.--
(1) In general.--No senior Federal official may solicit,
accept, or use, in their personal capacity, any advertising
from a social media company that is provided free of charge or
at a reduced rate or are otherwise gratuitous.
(2) Exception.--Except for a public health emergency, the
prohibition described in paragraph (1) shall not apply in
circumstances where the United States Government is legally
authorized to accept free or subsidized advertising on social
media platforms, including any instance described in subsection
(a)(2)(B)(iii), or for public safety announcements, as
determined by the relevant agency head, in consultation with
the Office of Government Ethics.
(f) Penalties for Agency Employees and Senior Federal Officials.--
An agency employee or senior Federal official who knowingly and
willfully violates subsection (d) or subsection (e), respectively,
shall be fined not more than $5,000, imprisoned for not more than 2
years, or both.
(g) Private Right of Action.--An individual whose account, content,
or information on the social media platform of a social media company
has been affected in violation of this Act may file a civil action
against the United States in the United States District Court for the
District of Columbia for reasonable attorneys' fees, injunctive relief,
and actual damages.
(h) Report.--Not later than 240 days after the date of the
enactment of this section, and annually thereafter through the tenth
subsequent year, the Attorney General, in consultation with the
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and the Office of Special
Counsel, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a
report evaluating the compliance by agencies with this Act, including a
description of any action by the head of an agency to--
(1) consult with a social media company about labeling
content on the social media platform of the social media
company as described in subsection (a)(1)(B);
(2) consult with any third party about censorship by an
agency employee; or
(3) engage in any other prohibited activity under this Act.
(i) Severability.--If any provision of this Act, or the application
of any such provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be
unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, and the application of
such provision to any other person or circumstance, shall not be
affected by the holding.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given such
term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
(2) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on the Judiciary and the
Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of
Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on the Judiciary and the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
of the Senate.
(3) Public-private partnership.--The term ``public-private
partnership'' means a cooperative arrangement between 1 or more
agencies and an external organization, in which the arrangement
is directly involved in monitoring content for public safety
purposes.
(4) Senior federal official.--The term ``senior Federal
official'' means any agency employee, including any member of
the uniformed services (as that term is defined in section 101
of title 37, United States Code), whose basic rate of pay is at
or above the rate of basic pay for level V of the Executive
Schedule under section 5316 of title 5, United States Code.
(5) Social media company.--The term ``social media
company'' means a company that provides, in or affecting
interstate or foreign commerce, a social media platform.
(6) Social media platform.--The term ``social media
platform''--
(A) means a website or internet medium that--
(i) permits a person to become a registered
user, establish an account, or create a profile
for the purpose of allowing users to create,
share, and view user-generated content through
such an account or profile;
(ii) primarily serves as a medium for users
to interact with content generated by other
users of the medium; and
(iii) enables one or more users to generate
content that can be viewed by other users of
the medium; and
(B) does not include--
(i) an email program, email distribution
lists, multi-person text message groups, or a
website that is primarily for the purpose of
internet commerce;
(ii) a private platform or messaging
service used by an entity solely to communicate
with others employed by or affiliated with such
entity; or
(iii) an internet-based platform whose
primary purpose is--
(I