HR5495-118

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Political Bias In Algorithm Sorting Emails Act of 2023 or the Political BIAS Emails Act of 2023.

2. Unfair and deceptive acts and practices relating to filtering political emails that a consumer has elected to receive It shall be unlawful for an operator of an email service to use a filtering algorithm to apply a label to an email sent to an email account from a political campaign unless the owner or user of the account took action to apply such a label. The prohibition under paragraph (1) shall take effect on the date that is 3 months after the date of enactment of this Act. Beginning with the first year that begins on or after the date that is 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, each operator of an email service shall be required to make publicly available, on a quarterly basis, a transparency report that meets the requirements of this subsection. Each quarterly report by an operator of an email service required under this subsection shall include the following: The total number of instances during the previous quarter in which emails from political campaigns were flagged as spam. The number of instances during the previous quarter in which emails from political campaigns were flagged as spam by a filtering algorithm without direction from the email account owner or user. The total number of instances during the previous quarter when emails from political campaigns of candidates belonging to the Republican Party were flagged as spam. The percentage of emails during the previous quarter of the year flagged as spam from political campaigns of candidates belonging to the Republican party. The number of instances during the previous quarter in which emails from political campaigns of candidates belonging to the Republican Party were flagged as spam by a filtering algorithm without direction from the email account owner or user. The percentage of emails during the previous quarter of the year flagged as spam by a filtering algorithm without direction from the email account owner or user for emails from political campaigns of candidates belonging to the Republican Party. The total number of instances during the previous quarter when emails from political campaigns of candidates belonging to the Democratic Party were flagged as spam. The percentage of emails during the previous quarter of the year flagged as spam from political campaigns of candidates belonging to the Democratic party. The number of instances during the previous quarter in which emails from political campaigns of candidates belonging to the Democratic Party were flagged as spam by a filtering algorithm without direction from the email account owner or user. The percentage of emails during the previous quarter of the year flagged as spam by a filtering algorithm without direction from the email account owner or user for emails from political campaigns of candidates belonging to the Democratic party. A descriptive summary of the kinds of tools, practices, actions, and techniques used by an operator of an email service during the previous quarter in determining which emails from political campaigns to flag as spam. The operator of an email service shall publish each quarterly report required under this subsection with an open license, in a machine-readable and open format, and in a location that is easily accessible to consumers. Beginning 3 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, each operator of an email service shall be required to disclose to a political campaign, upon the request of the campaign and subject to paragraph (3), a report that includes any of the information described in paragraph (2) that is requested by the campaign. The information described in this paragraph is the following: The number of instances during the previous quarter when emails from the political campaign requesting the information were flagged as spam. The percentage of emails sent from the political campaign requesting the information that were flagged as spam during the previous quarter. The number of instances during the previous calendar quarter when emails from the political campaign requesting the information were flagged as spam by a filtering algorithm. The total number of emails sent from the political campaign requesting the information that reached the intended recipient's primary inbox. The percentage of emails sent from the political campaign requesting the information that reached the intended recipient's primary inbox. A descriptive summary as to why an email from the political campaign requesting the information did not reach the intended recipient's primary inbox. A political campaign may not request that an operator of an email service provide a report containing any of the information described in paragraph (2) more than— once per week during election years; twice per month during non-election years; and once a week in the 12 months preceding the date of a special election in which a candidate associated with the political campaign is seeking election. An operator of an email service shall provide to a political campaign, upon request, best practices on steps the political campaign should take to increase the number of emails from the political campaign that reach the intended recipient’s primary inbox. An operator of an email service that receives a request from a political campaign for a disclosure report described in paragraph (1) or best practices described in paragraph (4) shall provide such report or best practices to the political campaign not later than 4 days after the operator receives the request. A violation of subsection (a), (b), or (c) shall be treated as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or a deceptive act or practice under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). The Federal Trade Commission shall enforce this section in the same manner, by the same means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all applicable terms and provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of this section. Any person who violates subsection (a), (b), or (c) shall be subject to the penalties and entitled to the privileges and immunities provided in the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.). Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the authority of the Federal Trade Commission under any other provision of law.