{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.curtis.senate.gov/press-releases/curtis-kelly-introduce-algorithm-accountability-act", "CURTIS, KELLY INTRODUCE ALGORITHM ACCOUNTABILITY ACT", "2025-11-19", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "Senate", "UT", "John R. Curtis", "C001114", "www.curtis.senate.gov", "curtis", "https://www.curtis.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "Critical legislation to hold tech companies accountable for their part in harming and radicalizing Americans\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senators John Curtis (R-UT) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) introduced legislation to modernize online protections and hold social media companies accountable for harms caused by content pushed by their algorithmic feeds. The bill, the Algorithm Accountability Act, amends Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 to impose a duty of care on the companies that utilize recommendation-based algorithms.\n\nThe duty of care requires platforms to responsibly design, train, test, deploy, operate, and maintain their recommendation-based algorithm to prevent foreseeable bodily injury or death. It also gives injured individuals a clear civil right of action to seek relief in federal court.\n\n\u201cSection 230 was written nearly 30 years ago for a very different internet,\u201d said Senator Curtis. \u201cWhat began as a commonsense protection for a fledgling industry has grown into a blanket immunity shield for some of the most powerful companies on the planet\u2014companies that intentionally design algorithms that exploit user behavior, amplify dangerous content, and keep people online at any cost. Our bill will hold them accountable.\u201d\n\n\u201cToo many families have been hurt by social media algorithms designed with one goal: make money by getting people hooked,\u201d said Senator Kelly. \u201cOver and over again, these companies refuse to take responsibility when their platforms contribute to violence, crime, or self-harm. We\u2019re going to change that and finally allow Americans to hold companies accountable.\u201d\n\nResources:\n\nBill summary\n\nBill text\n\nSection-by-section\n\nIn a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Curtis outlined the urgent need for accountability for the social media algorithms that contribute to radicalization and violence:\n\n\u201cThe idea behind the Algorithm Accountability Act is simple: If companies use algorithms to influence the reach of content, they should bear responsibility when those algorithms negligently cause harm. We hold automakers accountable when a design flaw causes an accident. We hold pharmaceutical companies accountable when their products cause injury. There is no reason Big Tech should be treated differently.\u201d\n\nRead the full opinion here.\n\nWhat they are saying:\n\n\u201cUtah has led the nation in passing laws to protect children from the harms of social media, but these challenges don\u2019t stop at state lines. We need a national standard for accountability. I fully support Senator Curtis\u2019 Algorithm Accountability Act. By establishing a duty of care for social media platforms, this bill will help protect families across the country from the deceptive and addictive algorithmic designs that put profit above people. It\u2019s time for Congress to act.\u201d \u2013 Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox.\n\n\u201cBig Tech has made billions off algorithms that hook our children and harm their mental health. This legislation will help us better protect kids while also upholding our sacred right to free speech. I commend Sen. Curtis for sponsoring a bill that puts families first, holds platforms accountable, and preserves states\u2019 sovereign rights.\u201d \u2013 Utah Attorney General Derek Brown.\n\n\u201cSenator Curtis\u2019 Algorithm Accountability Act is crucial for rebuilding public trust in social media platforms by establishing a clear standard of care for social media algorithms, ensuring that these platforms prioritize transparency and accountability. Utah has seen firsthand the harms caused by these companies, having initiated the nation\u2019s first lawsuits against them, and has led the way with pioneering laws to protect minors on social media. We must hold these companies accountable to create a safer online environment for all users.\u201d \u2013 Margaret Woolley Busse, Executive Director of the Utah Department of Commerce.\n\n\u201cSocial media companies are making billions of dollars off of addictive algorithms that are proven to be harmful, especially to young people. At the Arizona\u2019s Attorney General\u2019s Office, we\u2019ve taken to steps to hold these companies accountable, like by suing Meta for knowingly damaging youth mental health with their algorithms and by calling out social media companies when they regularly facilitate crime\u2014 including the trafficking of drugs, sharing of child sexual abuse material, and facilitating of human trafficking. I\u2019m so glad to see Senator Kelly take a proactive step and introduce a stronger law that will hold big tech accountable for the devastating harm their purposefully addictive algorithms are causing.\u201d \u2013 Kris Mayes, Arizona Attorney General.\n\n\u201cParents are doing everything they can, but we can\u2019t compete with systems designed to know and influence our kids. The Algorithm Accountability Act brings long-overdue responsibility to platforms that have operated without it for far too long. Holding tech companies to a reasonable duty of care finally aligns their power with their responsibility. This legislation finally brings the accountability urgently needed for the algorithms that shape young people\u2019s lives and, too often, their deaths.\u201d \u2013 Amy Neville, The Alexander Neville Foundation.\n\n\u201cWhen an algorithm predicts a child\u2019s vulnerabilities and then pushes harmful content anyway, that is not an accident, it is a foreseeable design failure. Parents RISE! supports the Algorithm Accountability Act because companies must be responsible for the tools they create.\u201d \u2013 Julianna Arnold, Parents RISE!\n\n\u201cFor far too long we have known that social media companies are engaging our kids with algorithms that feed them shocking videos on gore, disordered eating, cutting and suicide to name just a few. These teens are NOT looking this information up, it is a design choice by these companies to keep kids online longer solely for profit. The Algorithm Accountability Act will go a long way in holding these companies legally responsible for these dangerous and deadly algorithmic design choices.\u201d \u2013 Kristin Bride, The Carson J. Bride Effect.\n\n\u201cAnnalee, was 18 when we lost her to suicide in 2020. What we discovered afterward was devastating: her social media algorithms repeatedly fed her pro-suicide, depression, and anxiety content, normalizing those ideas and surrounding her in a world we didn\u2019t know she was trapped inside. Parents are up against platforms that study our children more closely than we ever could and use that knowledge to keep them online, even when the content harms them. Annalee was a bright, kind, young woman who deserved protection\u2014not automated systems that exploited her struggles. The Algorithm Accountability Act is exactly the kind of legislation that will stop what happened to my daughter from happening to others, and I am thankful to Senator Kelly for taking this issue seriously.\u201d \u2013 Lori Schott, Annalee\u2019s mother.\n\n\u201cThis bill takes an essential step toward safeguarding children by establishing a duty of care in algorithmic design \u2014 an approach strongly supported by families across the country. In Count on Mothers\u2019 nationwide research, we found striking consensus on one issue: social media\u2019s design practices are harming children. Mothers voiced deep concern about the mental and physical toll of addictive, profit-driven algorithms, with 96% supporting federal action to hold platforms accountable. This bill\u2019s \u2018duty of care\u2019 provision and liability for foreseeable harm reflect what families nationwide have said they need\u2014meaningful accountability, enforceable safeguards, and design standards that protect children\u2019s wellbeing.\u201d \u2013 Jennifer Bransford, Founder of Count on Mothers", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.curtis.senate.gov/press-releases/curtis-kelly-introduce-algorithm-accountability-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.725987996906042, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}