Bill strips platforms of immunity for offering parental controls
H.R. 908 — Stop the Censorship Act · Filed by Paul Gosar (R-AZ) · 10 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 4, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill amends Section 230 of the Communications Act to narrow the legal immunity that protects internet platforms from liability for user-generated content. Currently, platforms can moderate content they deem 'objectionable' without legal risk; this bill restricts that protection to only 'unlawful material' and adds a new prohibition: platforms lose immunity if they offer users tools to restrict access to other material (whether lawful or not). The practical effect is to expose platforms to lawsuits for content moderation decisions and for offering parental controls or filtering tools.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a direct amendment to Section 230(c) that strips platforms of immunity for content moderation and for offering user-controlled filtering tools. This is a deregulation-framed-as-accountability move: it exposes platforms to liability, but the practical effect is to discourage moderation and safety features.
What the text implies
- Platforms may respond by removing parental controls, content filters, and user-customizable safety tools to avoid liability, leaving users with less control over their own experience.
- The bill's prohibition on immunity for 'any action taken to provide users with the option to restrict access to any other material' is extraordinarily broad—it may capture accessibility features, age-gating, and algorithmic ranking as 'restrictions,' exposing platforms to liability for safety-by-design.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
plaintiff's bar / litigation firms; large incumbent platforms (via consolidation of smaller competitors); content moderation service providers (if platforms outsource to avoid direct liability)