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Congress·In Committee·3 months ago

Congress targets big platforms’ non-English moderation, requiring tools and yearly transparency reports

Also known as: LISTOS Act of 2025

Legislative Progress

✓ Filed
Review
Senate
House
President

Impacts

Mixed Impacts(8)
Immigrant
Neutral
Green Card
Neutral
Visa Holder
Neutral
Undocumented
Neutral
Small Business Owner
Neutral
Gig Worker
Neutral
Mental Health
Neutral
Disability Benefits
Neutral

Key Points

  • Large online platforms would have to enforce their own rules more evenly across languages they make money from, not just English.
  • Platforms would have to publish yearly public reports showing their human moderators and automated systems, including what languages they cover and how well they work across languages.
  • Users would have to get the same reporting tools and clear platform rules in every language the platform offers, so non‑English users can report scams or abuse more easily.
  • The Federal Trade Commission could enforce these duties, and state attorneys general could also sue in court to stop violations and seek refunds or damages.
  • The bill carves out end-to-end encrypted messaging, and it generally would not apply to languages used by fewer than 100,000 U.S. users for most of the year.
Consumer ProtectionCivil RightsTechnologyArtificial IntelligenceData Privacy

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions
Dec 17, 2025Senate

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Dec 17, 2025

Introduced in Senate

What Happens Next

Projected impacts based on AI analysis

120 days after the bill becomes law

Covered platforms must make reporting tools and platform policies accessible across all offered languages.

If you use the app in another language, you should be able to find the same “report” buttons and read the rules/policies in your language, instead of being forced into English-only pages.

Within 120 days after the bill becomes law

The Federal Trade Commission begins the rulemaking process for the consistency and reporting requirements.

This starts the process that will define exactly what platforms must report each year and how the FTC will judge whether enforcement is ‘reasonably consistent’ across monetized languages.

120 days after the FTC issues final rules

The consistency and annual reporting duties start for covered platforms.

Platforms must start meeting the ‘consistent enforcement across monetized languages’ duty and begin preparing the annual public report about staffing, automation metrics, takedowns, and response times by language.

No later than 360 days after the bill becomes law

FTC creates the Advisory Group on Language-Sensitive Technologies.

A new group will recommend best practices for language-related tech (like speech-to-text, translation, and automated decisions) to reduce uneven outcomes across languages.

Related News

3 articles
Tech Policy Press·about 2 months ago

December 2025 US Tech Policy Roundup

Monthly roundup of US tech policy developments; useful context on late-2025 platform/accountability debates (may mention multilingual enforcement efforts alongside other bills).

CL=
Benton Institute for Broadband & Society·2 months ago

Sen Luján Reintroduces Legislation to Increase Multilingual Content Moderation Enforcement and Transparency

Short item noting introduction of the Language-Inclusive Support and Transparency for Online Services (LISTOS) Act and its focus on multilingual enforcement and transparency on large platforms.

C=
Los Alamos Daily Post·2 months ago

Luján Reintroduces Legislation To Increase Multilingual Content Moderation Enforcement And Transparency

Republishes a Senate announcement describing the LISTOS Act’s aim to require consistent policy enforcement across languages and transparency about multilingual moderation resources.

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Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

LISTOS Act of 2025

Bill NumberS 3540
Congress119th Congress
ChamberSenate
Latest ActionRead twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Sponsor

Cosponsors

(3)
D: 3

Analysis generated by AI. While we strive for accuracy, this should not be considered legal or professional advice. Always verify information with official government sources.