Schakowsky, Castor Reintroduce Legislation to Hold Online Platforms Accountable
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, and U.S. Representative Kathy Castor (FL-14), Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, reintroduced the Online Consumer Protection Act (OCPA). This legislation addresses the shortcomings of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which, along with overly broad court rulings on it, have failed to hold online platforms accountable to consumers.
"The Online Consumer Protection Act, which I am so proud to reintroduce with Rep. Castor, is an important way forward to balance free speech and safety. Our bill ensures that Big Tech can’t abuse Section 230 when they break their own terms of service,” said Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. “This commonsense piece of legislation will finally help ensure social media companies and online marketplaces enforce their own rules and be held liable when they fail to do so. The time to act is now.”
“Too often, online platforms make it hard for people to understand their rights or hold companies accountable when policies are ignored,” said Rep. Castor. “The Online Consumer Protection Act ensures platforms provide clear, enforceable terms of service so people can make informed choices and trust that the rules will be followed. This initiative gives the FTC stronger tools to protect Americans from deceptive practices and unfair costs.”
Specifically, the Online Consumer Protection Act would:
- Require social media platforms and online marketplaces to establish, disclose, and maintain written terms of service.
- Require social media platforms and online marketplaces to establish a consumer protection program.
- Hold companies accountable when they fail consumers by directing the FTC to issue rules under the APA to implement this Act and allows the FTC to seek civil penalties for violations of this Act.
- Clarify Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to ensure it does not limit liability with respect to violations of this Act.
The bill is endorsed by Public Citizen, Accountable Tech, and Common Sense Media.
“Here’s a common-sense idea: Require Big Tech companies to make specific commitments to consumers about privacy, content moderation and consumer protection. Then require the companies to live up to those commitments – and empower government regulators and affected consumers to hold corporations accountable when they fail to uphold their promises,” said Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen. “Reps. Schakowsky and Cantor’s Online Consumer Protection Act will, at long last, impose those common-sense standards on Big Tech has companies and alleviate the rampant abuses that social media and online marketplace corporations have inflicted on consumers.”
"This legislation is a critical step towards accountability for Big Tech companies, who for too long, have been able to avoid even the most basic of responsibility for the harms they cause,” said Nicole Gill, co-founder and Executive Director of Accountable Tech. “The Online Consumer Protection Act would ensure these companies are providing clear information to their consumers about privacy, transparency, and content moderation – and is particularly important now, as social media giants continue to roll back user protections, eliminate fact-checking, and gut their trust and safety teams. Accountable Tech is proud to support this legislation, and we urge Congress to immediately enact it into law.”
"Common Sense Media strongly supports this legislation to require greater transparency from tech companies with robust enforcement to back these consumer protections," said James P. Steyer, Founder and CEO of Common Sense Media. "With online platforms now integrated into American family life, parents and children need clear information to navigate digital environments effectively. We applaud Reps. Schakowsky and Castor for their leadership in advancing these protections for American families."
###