SAFE TECH Act

Summary

Safeguarding Against Fraud, Exploitation, Threats, Extremism, and Consumer Harms Act or the SAFE TECH Act This bill limits federal liability protection that applies to a user or provider of an interactive computer service (e.g., a social media company) for claims related to content provided by third parties. Specifically, the bill applies the liability protection to claims arising from third-party speech rather than third-party information. Additionally, the liability protection shall not apply if a user or provider (1) accepts payment to make the speech available, or (2) creates or funds (in whole or in part) the speech. The bill changes legal procedures concerning the liability protection by (1) requiring a defendant in a lawsuit to raise the liability protection as an affirmative defense, and (2) placing the burden of proving that the defense applies on the defendant. Some courts have held that the current liability protection bars claims for civil penalties and injunctive relief. The bill expressly excludes from the liability protection requests for injunctive relief arising from a provider's failure to remove, restrict access to, or prevent dissemination of material likely to cause irreparable harm. However, the bill protects a provider from liability for actions taken to comply with such injunctions. Under current law, the liability protection does not apply to federal criminal law, intellectual property law, and other designated areas of law. The bill further specifies that the liability protection shall not apply to civil rights law; antitrust law; stalking, harassment, or intimidation laws; international human rights law; and civil actions for wrongful death.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

3 official files

• Introduced in Senate (text)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 8 February 2021

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate (PDF)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 8 February 2021

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 8 February 2021

  Open at official source

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.