Accountability for Government Censorship Act

Key Points

• This bill requires every federal agency to report any time an employee asked a social media site or tech company to hide or remove lawful posts over the last five years. This includes requests to add warning labels or fact-check notes to what people say online.
• Agencies must provide Congress with specific details about these interactions. This includes the names and job titles of the government workers involved, the names of the tech company employees they contacted, and a written explanation of why they made the request.
• The Office of Management and Budget would gather all these agency reports into one big document for Congress. Most of this information would be made available to the public so people can see how the government tries to influence what is said on private websites.
• Independent government watchdogs would review the reports to make sure agencies are telling the truth. If an agency is found to be hiding information or failing to follow the rules, their leaders would have to testify before a committee in Congress to explain why.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.