Digital Consumer Protection Commission Act of 2023

This bill amends the Clayton Act to establish a new federal commission, the Digital Consumer Protection Commission, to regulate digital platforms regarding competition, transparency, privacy, and national security. It also amends other laws to increase criminal fines for antitrust violations, create criminal liability for executive officers of dominant platform operators, and update terminology in various statutes.

Title I, Amendments to Clayton Act: This title adds a new Division B to the Clayton Act, establishing the Digital Consumer Protection Commission. It defines key terms such as 'algorithm', 'business user', 'child', 'clear and conspicuous', 'Commission', 'control', and 'covered breach'. It outlines the commission's structure, jurisdiction, powers, and rulemaking authority, and addresses dominant platforms, transparency, competition reform (including abuses of dominance, conflicts of interest, acquisitions, data portability), privacy reform (duties of loyalty, care, mitigation, confidentiality, limits on targeted advertising, data subject rights), national security reform (corporate citizenship, data processing limits, bot identification), licensing for dominant platform operators, enforcement by states and private parties, and funding.

Sec. 201, Executive Accountability for Operators of Dominant Platforms: This section creates a new chapter in Title 18 of the U.S. Code making it unlawful for an executive officer of a corporation that operates a dominant platform to negligently permit or fail to prevent certain violations of law. Penalties include fines and imprisonment for up to 1 year for a first offense and up to 3 years for subsequent offenses.

Sec. 202, Criminal Fines Under the Sherman Act: This section increases the maximum criminal fines under the Sherman Act from $100,000,000 to $500,000,000 for corporations and from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 for individuals.

Sec. 203, Criminal Fines Under the Robinson-Patman Act: This section increases the maximum criminal fine under the Robinson-Patman Act from $5,000 to $10,000.

Sec. 204, Directing the Attorney General to Develop Victim-Centered Guidance: This section requires the Attorney General to develop and publish victim-centered guidance to strengthen protections for child sex trafficking victims testifying against traffickers, and to provide training on this guidance to U.S. Attorney offices. It also amends the Combat Human Trafficking Act of 2015 and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 to incorporate this guidance.

Sec. 205, Use of Term 'Child Sexual Abuse Material': This section expresses the sense of Congress that 'child sexual abuse material' has the same legal meaning as 'child pornography'. It amends numerous federal statutes to replace the term 'child pornography' with 'child sexual abuse material'.

Sec. 206, Ineligibility Due to Disqualifying Mental Status: This section amends various federal statutes to replace the term 'adjudicated as a mental defective' with 'adjudicated as ineligible due to disqualifying mental status'.