,,ii #aagth ,,congress #b;d ,session ,s4 #ddji ,,in ,,the ,,senate ,,of ,,the ,,united ,,states ,june #ae1 #bjbb ,mr4 ,thune 7for himself1 ,mr4 ,mc,connell1 ,mr4 ,barrasso1 ,mr4 ,blunt1 ,ms4 ,ernst1 ,mr4 ,scott of ,florida1 ,mr4 ,daines1 ,mr4 ,cotton1 ,mr4 ,marshall1 ,mr4 ,cramer1 ,mr4 ,crapo1 ,ms4 ,lummis1 ,mr4 ,lankford1 ,mr4 ,rubio1 ,mrs4 ,blackburn1 ,mr4 ,boozman1 ,mr4 ,wicker1 ,mr4 ,hawley1 ,mr4 ,risch1 ,mrs4 ,capito1 ,mr4 ,braun1 ,mr4 ,tuberville1 ,mr4 ,moran1 ,mrs4 ,fischer1 ,mr4 ,scott of ,south ,carolina1 ,mr4 ,grassley1 and ,mr4 ,sullivan7 introduced the following bill2 which was read twice and referred to the ,committee on ,commerce1 ,science1 and ,transportation ,a ,,bill ,to prohibit providers of email services from using filtering algorithms to flag emails from political campaigns that consumers have elected to receive as spam4 #a4 ,short title ,this ,act may be cited as the ,political ,bias ,in ,algorithm ,sorting ,emails ,act of #bjbb or the ,political ,,bias ,emails ,act of #bjbb4 #b4 ,unfair and deceptive acts and practices relating to filtering political emails that a consumer has elected to receive 7a7 ,conduct prohibited 7#a7 ,in general ,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 label4 7#b7 ,effective date ,the prohibition under subsection 7#a7 shall take effect on the date that is #c months after the date of enactment of this ,act4 7b7 ,quarterly transparency report 7#a7 ,in general ,beginning with the first year that begins on or after the date that is #abj days after the date of enactment of this ,act1 each operator of an email service shall be required to make publicly available1 on a quarterly basis1 a transparency report that meets the requirements of this subsection4 7#b7 ,content of report ,each quarterly report by an operator of an email service required under this subsection shall include the following3 7,a7 ,the total number of instances during the previous quarter in which emails from political campaigns were flagged as spam4 7,b7 ,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 user4 7,c7 ,the total number of instances during the previous quarter when emails from political campaigns of candidates belonging to the ,republican ,party were flagged as spam4 7,d7 ,the percentage of emails during the previous quarter of the year flagged as spam from political campaigns of candidates belonging to the ,republican ,party4 7,e7 ,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 user4 7,f7 ,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 ,party4 7,g7 ,the total number of instances during the previous quarter when emails from political campaigns of candidates belonging to the ,democratic ,party were flagged as spam4 7,h7 ,the percentage of emails during the previous quarter of the year flagged as spam from political campaigns of candidates belonging to the ,democratic ,party4 7,i7 ,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 user4 7,j7 ,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 ,party4 7,k7 ,a descriptive summary of the kinds of tools1 practices1 actions1 and techniques used by an operator of an email service during the previous quarter in determining which emails from political campaigns to flag as spam4 7#c7 ,publication and format ,the operator of an email service shall publish each quarterly report required under this subsection with an open license1 in a machine-readable and open format1 and in a location that is easily accessible to consumers4 7c7 ,disclosure for political campaigns 7#a7 ,in ,general ,beginning #c months after the date of the enactment of this ,act1 each operator of an email service shall be required to disclose to a political campaign1 upon the request of the campaign and subject to paragraph 7#c71 a report that includes any of the information described in paragraph 7#b7 that is requested by the campaign4 7#b7 ,content of the disclosure ,the information described in this paragraph is the following3 7,a7 ,the number of instances during the previous quarter when emails from the political campaign requesting the information were flagged as spam4 7,b7 ,the percentage of emails sent from the political campaign requesting the information that were flagged as spam during the previous quarter4 7,c7 ,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 algorithm4 7,d7 ,the total number of emails sent from the political campaign requesting the information that reached the intended recipient's primary inbox4 7,e7 ,the percentage of emails sent from the political campaign requesting the information that reached the intended recipient's primary inbox4 7,f7 ,a descriptive summary as to why an email from the political campaign requesting the information did not reach the intended recipient's primary inbox4 7#c7 ,frequency of requests ,a political campaign may not request that an operator of an email service provide a report containing any of the information described in paragraph 7#b7 more than-- 7,a7 once per week during election years2 7,b7 twice per month during non-election years2 and 7,c7 once a week in the #ab months preceding the date of a special election in which a candidate associated with the political campaign is seeking election4 7#d7 ,best practices ,an operator of an email service shall provide to a political campaign1 upon request1 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 inbox4 7#e7 ,deadline for providing disclosure to political campaigns ,an operator of an email service that receives a request from a political campaign for a disclosure report described in paragraph 7#a7 or best practices described in paragraph 7#d7 shall provide such report or best practices to the political campaign not later than #d days after the operator receives the request4 7d7 ,enforcement by the ,federal ,trade ,commission 7#a7 ,unfair or deceptive acts or practices ,a violation of subsection 7a71 7b71 or 7c7 shall be treated as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or a deceptive act or practice under section #ah7;a77#a77;,b7 of the ,federal ,trade ,commission ,act 7#ae ,u4,s4,c4 #eg;a7a77#a77;,b774 7#b7 ,powers of ,commission 7,a7 ,in general ,the ,federal ,trade ,commission shall enforce this section in the same manner1 by the same means1 and with the same jurisdiction1 powers1 and duties as though all applicable terms and provisions of the ,federal ,trade ,commission ,act 7#ae ,u4,s4,c4 #da et seq47 were incorporated into and made a part of this section4 7,b7 ,privileges and immunities ,any person who violates subsection 7a7 shall be subject to the penalties and entitled to the privileges and immunities provided in the ,federal ,trade ,commission ,act 7#ae ,u4,s4,c4 #da et seq474 7,c7 ,authority preserved ,nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the authority of the ,federal ,trade ,commission under any other provision of law4 #c4 ,definitions ,in this ,act3 7#a7 ,filtering algorithm ,the term filtering algorithm means a computational process1 including one derived from algorithmic decision making1 machine learning1 statistical analysis1 or other data processing or artificial intelligence techniques1 used by an email service to identify and filter emails sent to an email account4 7#b7 ,operator 7,a7 ,in general ,the term operator means any person who operates an email service and includes any person that wholly owns a subsidiary entity that operates an email service4 7,b7 ,exclusions ,such term shall not include any person who operates an email service if such service is wholly owned1 controlled1 and operated by a person that-- 7i7 for the most recent #f-month period1 did not employ more than #ejj employees2 and 7ii7 for the most recent #ab-month period1 averaged less than #e1jjj1jjj1jjj in annual gross receipts4 7#c7 ,political campaign ,the term political campaign includes-- 7,a7 an individual who is a candidate 7as such term is defined in section #cja7b7 of the ,federal ,election ,campaign ,act of #aiga 7#eb ,u4,s4,c4 #cjaja7b772 7,b7 an authorized committee 7as such term is defined in section #cja7f7 of such ,act72 7,c7 a connected organization 7as such term is defined in section #cja7g7 of such ,act72 7,d7 a national committee 7as such term is defined in section #cja7ae7 of such ,act72 7,e7 a ,state committee 7as such term is defined in section #cja7ae7 of such ,act72 and 7,f7 a joint fundraising committee that includes any entity described in subparagraphs 7,a7 through 7,e74