H.R. 3816 · 117th Congress

American Innovation and Choice Online Act

Introduced on Jun 11, 2021 by David N. Cicilline (D-RI-1). 47 cosponsors, 9 of them from another party. Latest action (Dec 21, 2022): Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 475.

Stage
Reported by committee
Introduced
Jun 11, 2021
Cosponsors
47
9 from the other party
Policy area
Commerce
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To provide that certain discriminatory conduct by covered platforms shall be unlawful, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Civil actions and liability
  • Computers and information technology
  • Congressional oversight
  • Digital media
  • Foreign and international corporations
  • Inflation and prices
  • Internet and video services
  • Internet, web applications, social media
  • Judicial review and appeals
  • Retail and wholesale trades

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Reported to House, Dec 21, 2022). Public domain.

American Choice and Innovation Online Act

This bill prohibits certain large online platforms from engaging in specified acts, including giving preference to their own products on the platform, excluding or disadvantaging competing products from another business on the platform, or discriminating among similarly situated users.

Further, a platform may not materially restrict or impede the capacity of a competing business user to access or interoperate with the same platform, operating system, or hardware or software features. The bill also restricts the platform's use of nonpublic data obtained from or generated on the platform and prohibits the platform from restricting access to platform data generated by the activity of a competing business user. The bill also provides additional restrictions related to installing or uninstalling software, search or ranking functionality, and retaliation for contact with law enforcement regarding actual or potential violations of law.

The bill establishes affirmative defenses for the prohibited conduct.

The Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice must designate whether an entity is a platform covered by the bill, and both must carry out enforcement activities.

The bill also provides for civil penalties, injunctions, conflicts of interest, a private right of action, and the forfeit of profits for repeat offenders.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

David N. CicillineD-RI-1Sponsor

Democrats · 38

Republicans · 9

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Jun 11, 2021Introduced in House
  2. Jun 11, 2021Introduced in House
  3. Jun 11, 2021 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
  4. Jun 23, 2021 · HouseCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
  5. Jun 24, 2021 · HouseCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
  6. Jun 24, 2021 · HouseOrdered to be Reported (Amended).
  7. Dec 21, 2022Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Judiciary. H. Rept. 117-655.
  8. Dec 21, 2022 · HouseReported (Amended) by the Committee on Judiciary. H. Rept. 117-655.
  9. Dec 21, 2022 · HousePlaced on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 475.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. National Taxpayers Union10 reports
    $300K reported (all issues)
  2. TNC (US) Holdings, Inc.6 reports
    $760K reported (all issues)
  3. COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION5 reports
    $570K reported (all issues)
  4. P Street Project, Inc.5 reports
    $60K reported (all issues)
  5. American Principles Project1 report
    $10K reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2023, 2024, 2025.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.