Congress demands platforms stop neglecting non-English content moderation
S. 3540 — LISTOS Act of 2025 · Filed by Ben Luján (D-NM) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Dec 17, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires large online platforms (those with 10+ million US monthly users) to enforce their content moderation policies consistently across languages, disclose staffing and automated moderation details annually to the FTC and public, and ensure all reporting tools and policies are accessible in all languages they operate. The FTC enforces violations as unfair trade practices, and states can sue on behalf of residents.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a transparency and consistency requirement for large platforms' content moderation across languages, enforced by the FTC. It is not a subsidy, carve-out, or immunity grant—it is a regulatory duty imposed on platforms to disclose and equalize their practices.
What the text implies
- Platforms may respond by reducing service in languages with fewer than 100,000 US users (the bill's explicit carve-out), potentially narrowing access for smaller linguistic communities.
- The 'reasonably consistent' standard in Section 3 is undefined and may invite litigation over what consistency means in practice, creating regulatory uncertainty.
- Disclosure of staffing, location, and language proficiency by region could expose platform security vulnerabilities or competitive intelligence about moderation infrastructure.
- The Advisory Group on Language-Sensitive Technologies (Section 6) is exempt from the Federal Advisory Committee Act, reducing transparency around its composition and recommendations despite its influence on FTC rulemaking.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Non-English speakers gain transparency into how platforms moderate content in their languages, stronger enforcement consistency to reduce fraud and harassment targeting them, and equal access to reporting tools. The bill imposes disclosure and consistency duties on platforms but does not shield them from liability or create new exemptions—it increases accountability.
Named in the bill
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Large online platforms (social media, search engines, messaging services), State attorneys general, Content moderation staff and contractors, Non-English-speaking users
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 3 Democrats.
- Dec 17, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Dec 17, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (16,525 characters) on Aug 13, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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