Sponsors (4)
The bill increases transparency and strengthens protections against perceived government influence over online speech, but at the cost of restricting federal tools, funding, and routine agency‑platform coordination needed to counter misinformation, rapidly respond to public‑health and national‑security threats, and preserve operational flexibility.
All Americans who use online platforms keep stronger protection from federal censorship or agency pressure because the bill bars agencies from coercing platforms to remove or label lawful speech and restricts certain government-funded programs that target 'misinformation'.
Taxpayers and the public gain much greater transparency about agency interactions with online platforms because agencies must disclose many communications regularly and publish reports identifying participants and any alleged violations.
Platform users keep control over release of their identifying information because agencies cannot publish user identities without express written consent, and communications obtained only under judicial warrants are shielded from FOIA disclosure.
The public, state/local governments, schools, and public-health actors may face greater harms because the bill constrains government coordination with platforms and eliminates grant and board resources used to detect and counter coordinated disinformation, slowing responses to national-security, public-health, and consumer-protection threats.
Federal employees, contractors, and ultimately taxpayers face higher legal and operational risk because severe mandatory punishments and a private right of action create strong incentives to avoid routine communications with platforms, chilling beneficial information-sharing and increasing litigation costs.
Named agency staff, provider representatives, and grantees risk privacy invasion, reputational harm, and possible exposure of sensitive or classified material because frequent public disclosure and rapid reporting requirements may release identifying details or rush processes.
Based on analysis of 11 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits federal officials from pressuring platforms to moderate protected speech, expands FOIA access to agency-platform communications, mandates public reporting, ends DHS's disinformation board, and restricts related grants.
Introduced January 22, 2025 by Rand Paul · Last progress January 22, 2025
Restricts federal employees and contractors from directing, coercing, or working with online platforms to remove or limit constitutionally protected speech, and requires agencies to disclose most communications with platform representatives. It expands FOIA access to agency-platform communications (with a limited privacy exception), defines broad categories of covered information and platforms, imposes steep disciplinary penalties and a private right of action for affected individuals, terminates the DHS Disinformation Governance Board, and bans agency grants and grant-funded labeling of creators as "misinformation" or "disinformation" sources. The law also requires frequent public reporting of agency-platform contacts and a retrospective review of certain CISA actions dating back to November 16, 2018.