H.R. 1735 – Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2021

AI-Generated Summary

Updated February 8, 2026 at 12:08 AM UTC

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2021 creates a temporary safe‑harbor that lets news publishers work together when dealing with very large online platforms. For four years, participating news outlets won’t be liable under antitrust laws for collective negotiations about how their content is distributed, as long as the talks meet certain conditions. The bill targets news organizations that produce original reporting and online platforms with at least one billion monthly users.

Key Provisions

Defines a “news content creator” as a print, broadcast, or digital news outlet that regularly produces original news and is marketed via subscriptions, ads, or sponsorship.
Defines an “online content distributor” as any website or service with at least 1 billion monthly active users that displays third‑party news content.
Provides a four‑year antitrust safe harbor for news creators who collectively negotiate with such platforms, provided negotiations are not limited to price, are nondiscriminatory, and focus on quality, accuracy, attribution, branding, or interoperability.
Requires that any coordination among news creators be directly related to the negotiations and involve only news creators and the online distributor.
States that the Act does not alter or override existing antitrust laws beyond the specific safe‑harbor provisions.

Legislative Activity

Stay on top of the latest movement without scrolling through every action

2 earlier actions

HouseCommittee Latest Action

Referred to the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law.

Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust Subcommittee

May 18, 2021

View full timeline

HouseIntro Referral

Introduced in House

March 10, 2021

HouseIntro Referral

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Judiciary Committee

March 10, 2021

HouseCommittee

Referred to the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law.

Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust Subcommittee

May 18, 2021

Floor Debate

1 member

What members said about H.R. 1735 on the floor

1 Republican

Rep. Jim BanksR-IN-3 · Jun 16, 2022

Mr. Speaker, I hereby remove my name as cosponsor of H.R. 1735.

Bill Text

Latest available legislative text

Reading Mode

Raw Text PDF XML

Introduced in HouseIssued March 10, 2021

I

117th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 1735

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 10, 2021

Mr. Cicilline (for himself, Mr. Buck, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Raskin, Mrs. Spartz, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Wild, Mr. Steube, and Mr. Gaetz) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide a temporary safe harbor for publishers of online content to collectively negotiate with dominant online platforms regarding the terms on which content may be distributed.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2021.

2.

Safe harbor for certain collective negotiations

(a)

Definitions

In this section:

(1)

Antitrust laws

The term antitrust laws—

(A)

has the meaning given the term in subsection (a) of the first section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12); and

(B)

includes—

(i)

section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent that section applies to unfair methods of competition; and

(ii)

any State law (including regulations) that prohibits or penalizes the conduct described in, or is otherwise inconsistent with, subsection (b).

(2)

News content creator

The term news content creator means—

(A)

any print, broadcast, or digital news organization that—

(i)

has a dedicated professional editorial staff that creates and distributes original news and related content concerning local, national, or international matters of public interest on at least a weekly basis; and

(ii)

is marketed through subscriptions, advertising, or sponsorship; and

(B)

(i)

provides original news and related content, with the editorial content consisting of not less than 25 percent current news and related content; or

(ii)

broadcasts original news and related content pursuant to a license granted by the Federal Communications Commission under title III of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.).

(3)

Online content distributor

The term online content distributor means any entity that—

(A)

operates a website or other online service that displays, distributes, or directs users to news articles, works of journalism, or other content on the internet that is generated by third-party news content creators; and

(B)

has not fewer than 1,000,000,000 monthly active users, in the aggregate, of all of its websites or online services worldwide.

(b)

Limitation of liability

A news content creator may not be held liable under the antitrust laws for engaging in negotiations with any other news content creator during the 4-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act to collectively withhold content from, or negotiate with, an online content distributor regarding the terms on which the news content of the news content creator may be distributed by the online content distributor, if—

(1)

the negotiations with the online content distributor—

(A)

are not limited to price;

(B)

are nondiscriminatory as to similarly situated news content creators;

(C)

directly relate to the quality, accuracy, attribution or branding, and interoperability of news; and

(D)

pertain to terms that would be available to all news content creators;

(2)

the coordination between the news content creators is directly related to and reasonably necessary for negotiations with an online content distributor that are otherwise consistent with this Act; and

(3)

the negotiations do not involve any person that is not a news content creator or an online content distributor.

(c)

Rule of construction

Except as provided in this Act, this Act shall not be construed to modify, impair, or supersede the operation of the antitrust laws.