Sponsors (4)
This bill increases transparency and legal protections against government pressure on online speech and platforms while imposing heavy penalties, tighter disclosure rules, and funding restrictions that limit agencies' flexibility and could hinder coordinated public‑health or national‑security responses.
Federal employees' communications with social-media and platform providers will be logged and (in many cases) publicly disclosed, increasing transparency about government–platform interactions and creating an auditable record for oversight.
Individuals and users are better protected from government pressure to remove or suppress lawful speech: the bill affirms no government suppression of lawful expression and limits officials' ability to press platforms to remove or label constitutionally protected speech.
People whose accounts or posts are targeted by government influence can sue responsible agencies and employees and recover damages and fees; the bill also establishes disciplinary and civil penalties to deter improper agency influence.
Counties of Americans could face slower or weakened government responses in wartime, national‑security incidents, and public‑health emergencies because the bill limits executive and agency tools to coordinate with or direct platform actions.
Federal employees face draconian penalties (fines, removal, loss of annuity, clearance revocation) and a broad private right of action threatens increased litigation against agencies, raising costs for taxpayers and chilling routine government–platform engagement.
Public reporting and disclosure requirements (names, titles, communications) risk chilling ordinary communications, exposing personally or operationally sensitive information, and damaging employee privacy or ongoing investigations.
Based on analysis of 11 sections of legislative text.
Restricts executive-branch contacts with platforms to stop pressure to censor or collect covered user data, creates penalties and private suits, terminates a DHS board, and restricts some federal misinformation grants.
Introduced January 22, 2025 by Rand Paul · Last progress January 22, 2025
Prohibits executive-branch employees from using official authority to pressure, coerce, or encourage platforms to remove or restrict constitutionally protected speech or to disclose broad categories of user or device data. The bill creates criminal/administrative penalties and a private right of action for affected users, requires regular public reporting of communications between agencies and platform representatives, terminates the DHS Disinformation Governance Board, and bars certain federal grants and grant conditions related to misinformation or disinformation. It defines covered platforms and covered information (including posts, messages, photos, location data, IP addresses, metadata, and other device or account details), narrows FOIA exemptions for records of agency-provider communications, and sets timelines and certification requirements for agency reporting and grant recipients.