S. 69 — COLLUDE Act

This section revises immunity protections for providers and users of interactive computer services under Section 230(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(c))—which generally shields such entities from civil liability for third-party content and good-faith moderation of offensive material—by (1) restructuring paragraph (1) to make the non-publisher/non-speaker protection subject to a new subparagraph (B), under which the provider or user bears the burden of proving in a criminal or civil action that it is not an information content provider for the information at issue; (2) making a conforming change in paragraph (2)(B) to reference the new subparagraph (A); and (3) adding paragraph (3) to deny such protections to a provider that restricts access to or availability of material in a manner that reasonably appears to express, promote, limit the visibility of, or suppress legitimate political speech (including a discernible viewpoint) as a result of a communication sent only to that provider by a governmental entity or a non-governmental entity acting at the request or behest of a governmental entity, except for communications for a legitimate law enforcement purpose (i.e., to investigate a criminal offense within the agency's lawful authority) or national security purpose (i.e., relating to intelligence or cryptologic activities, Armed Forces command and control, integral weapons equipment, or direct military/intelligence missions). This section also adds definitions of those terms to subsection (f).