Sponsors (6)
The bill strengthens Americans' protection from foreign censorship and creates enforcement tools and transparency, at the cost of increased litigation risks, privacy/reputational concerns, legal uncertainty for cross-border operations, and potential diplomatic friction.
U.S. persons (including people with disabilities, small-business owners, and tech workers) can resist foreign censorship orders and keep speech protected by the First Amendment from foreign enforcement.
Interactive computer service providers (platforms and their employees) get clearer protection from inconsistent foreign content orders by conditioning enforcement on compatibility with Section 230, reducing risk of conflicting compliance obligations.
U.S. persons and businesses (notably small online businesses and platform operators) gain a private right of action to obtain declaratory and injunctive relief plus statutory damages (up to $25,000) when their speech is censored under foreign orders, creating an enforceable remedy.
U.S. refusal to enforce or aid enforcement of some foreign content rules could create diplomatic friction and complicate international legal cooperation, affecting foreign policy and federal officials.
Courts and litigants (and thus taxpayers and small businesses) may face increased litigation and judicial workload because U.S. courts must adjudicate First Amendment and due-process issues tied to foreign judgments.
The $25,000 statutory-damage remedy could encourage more lawsuits and impose financial burdens on defendants or their insurers, particularly harming small businesses and platform operators.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Prevents U.S. enforcement or extradition based on foreign censorship laws for conduct that would be First Amendment-protected, creates a private right to sue, and requires federal reporting and a public FTC database.
Official title: To amend title 28, United States Code, to limit the recognition and enforcement of foreign censorship laws in the United States, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 8, 2026 by Warren Davidson · Last progress September 8, 2026
Bars U.S. courts and government officials from recognizing or enforcing foreign judgments or orders that are based on foreign “censorship laws” when the same conduct would have been protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. It also forbids extradition for such speech-related conduct, creates a private right to sue for declaratory and injunctive relief (including statutory damages), directs federal agencies to track and report foreign censorship targeting U.S. speech, and tasks the FTC with a public database of instances where foreign governments sought to restrict U.S. speech online. The bill places burdens on parties seeking recognition of foreign orders to show the First Amendment does not apply and that foreign jurisdiction met U.S. due-process standards; conditions enforcement against interactive computer service providers on consistency with Section 230; preserves defendants’ rights even if they appeared in the foreign proceeding; and includes definitions and a severability clause.