Accountability for Government Censorship Act
Introduced June 3, 2026 · Last action June 3, 2026
Plain English Summary
This bill requires federal agencies to report to the Office of Management and Budget all instances over the past 5 years where agency employees contacted social media platforms (like Facebook, X, TikTok) to remove, suppress, or add disclaimers to lawful speech, or to restrict user access. The OMB must then compile and submit these reports to Congress, and agency Inspectors General must audit compliance and report back to Congress on whether agencies followed the reporting requirements.
Who benefits
Congressional oversight committees (House Oversight Committee and Senate Homeland Security Committee) gain access to detailed records of federal agency interactions with social media platforms; transparency advocates and civil liberties organizations seeking visibility into potential government pressure on platforms; Republican lawmakers critical of perceived federal censorship or perceived coordination between government and tech companies; social media platforms gain documentation of which federal agencies contacted them about content removal.
Who pays / loses
Federal agencies and their employees face compliance burdens (document collection, report preparation, Inspector General audits); social media platforms may face increased scrutiny and congressional pressure based on the compiled report; federal officials who engaged in challenged communications face potential public exposure and congressional questioning; executive branch officials may experience reduced ability to conduct informal communications with platforms about content without formal documentation and disclosure.
Funding & Lobbying Interests
Sponsor Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) has received $1.45 million in 'Other' category contributions in the 2024 cycle, with no PAC contributions, suggesting funding primarily from individual donors rather than coordinated corporate interests. The bill aligns with industry lobbying interests of technology platforms and free speech advocacy organizations opposing content moderation coordination, though direct financial backing data is limited in the provided disclosure. The bill's provisions appeal to conservative media outlets and organizations advocating for reduced content moderation and transparency regarding government-platform communications.
Political Impact
Affected Groups
Federal employees across all executive agencies (approximately 2.3 million civilian federal workers) who may be identified in reports; social media platform companies (Facebook/Meta, X, TikTok, YouTube, etc.) and their approximately 15,000+ combined U.S. employees who handle government requests; Congress members on the House Oversight Committee and Senate Homeland Security Committee; the American public, as the bill directly addresses claimed instances of government influence on speech distribution and visibility across platforms used by over 300 million Americans.
Political Subtext
Proponents argue this bill increases accountability and transparency regarding potential federal censorship or suppression of lawful speech, claiming executive agencies have improperly pressured social media platforms to remove content critical of government policies. They cite concerns that agencies like the FBI, CDC, and DHS may have coordinated with platforms to suppress election-related speech, public health dissent, or political criticism. Critics counter that the bill conflates legitimate government communications about misinformation, foreign interference, or platform policy violations with unconstitutional censorship, and that it mischaracterizes agency requests (often about removing foreign disinformation or illegal content) as suppression of lawful speech. The bill assumes bad faith in routine government-platform interactions. Non-partisan evidence (from the Stanford Internet Observatory and fact-checks of claimed 'censorship' cases) shows most agency communications involved flagging demonstrably false claims (e.g., election fraud, vaccine efficacy) or foreign propaganda, not lawful political speech. However, the lack of formalized transparency mechanisms around these communications has been noted by civil liberties organizations across the political spectrum.
Real-World Stakes
If this passes, Congress will receive detailed rosters of federal employee names, positions, and specific communications with social media platforms over 5 years—enabling potential harassment of individual employees or selective public targeting. The bill does not define 'lawful speech' or clarify whether a platform's removal of content violates the bill's spirit, meaning agencies may face public and congressional scrutiny for routine interactions about demonstrably false or policy-violating content. Precedent: the House Judiciary Committee's 2024 investigation of alleged government-platform collusion published employee names and created a public list used by right-wing media to target individuals. The bill will likely lead to reduced informal government-platform communication about election interference, foreign disinformation, and public health misinformation, potentially increasing false information flow during emergencies (pandemics, elections, natural disasters). Agencies may become reluctant to communicate with platforms about illegal content or coordinated inauthentic behavior, benefiting state and non-state actors engaged in information warfare. The bill's broad language (any communication about 'removing or suppressing lawful speech') could capture legitimate content moderation coordination about illegal or policy-violating speech, creating legal ambiguity about what constitutes reportable conduct.
Sponsor
Vote Record
No recorded votes.
Campaign Finance — Primary Sponsor
Top contributing industries
Other$1,452,848.93
Finance$28,027.37
Construction$6,600
Transportation$4,175
Agriculture$2,200
501(c)(4) disclosure: Contributions from 501(c)(4) "dark money" organizations are not required to be publicly disclosed and are not reflected in the figures above. Data sourced from FEC public disclosure filings.
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