HB2880ham001 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Deanne M. Mazzochi

Filed: 3/19/2021

10200HB2880ham001 LRB102 13250 JLS 23185 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 2880

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 2880 on page 1, line 5, by changing "Section 22" to "Sections 22, 23, and 24"; and

on page 8, by inserting immediately below line 15 the following:

"(815 ILCS 530/23 new)

Sec. 23. Deplatforming of individuals and entities. It is a separate act of unfair competition for a third-party platform that has accessed digital assets of an individual or entity to deplatform or threaten to deplatform an individual or entity, absent notice and a one-year period within which to transit to another third-party platform site. If no other comparable third-party platform sites are available, the third-party platform shall continue to host the individual or entity on the same terms offered to comparable individuals or entities.

(815 ILCS 530/24 new)

Sec. 24. Denial of access to in-application payment systems.

(a) As used in this Section:

"Developer" means a creator of a software application made available for download by a user through a digital application distribution platform or other digital distribution platform.

"Digital application distribution platform" means a digital distribution platform for applications and services provided to a user on general-purpose hardware, including a mobile phone, smartphone, tablet, personal computer, and other general-purpose devices connected to the Internet.

"In-application payment system" means an application, service, or user interface used to process a payment from a user to a developer for a software application and digital and physical product distributed through a software application.

"Special-purpose digital application distribution platform" means a digital distribution platform for single or specialized categories of applications, software, and services provided to a user on special-purpose hardware, including a gaming console, music player, and other special-purpose devices connected to the Internet.

(b) A proprietor of a digital application distribution platform for which cumulative gross receipts from sales on the digital application distribution platform to residents of this State exceed $10,000,000 in the previous or current calendar year or for which cumulative downloads of software applications from the digital application distribution platform to Illinois users exceed 1,000,000 downloads in the previous or current calendar year may not:

(1) Require a developer that is domiciled in this State or which has a regular place of business in this State to use a digital application distribution platform or digital transaction platform as the exclusive mode of distributing a digital product.

(2) Require a developer to use an in-application payment system as the exclusive mode of accepting payment from an Illinois user to download a software application or purchase a digital or physical product through a software application.

(3) Require a developer to share any digital assets as defined in this Act as a condition of securing access to the in-application payment system.

(4) Retaliate against a developer in Illinois for choosing to use an alternative application store or in-application payment system, or for refusing to share any digital assets of an Illinois resident as a condition of securing access to the in-application payment system, provided that access with access or seeking access has misused digital assets in a manner prohibited by this Act within a period of 2 years prior to the date upon which access is sought or the date on which a payment was processed within the in-application system.

(c) An agreement that violates this Section is unenforceable.

(d) This Section does not apply to a proprietor of a special-purpose digital application distribution platform.

(e) A developer aggrieved by a violation of this Section may bring an action to obtain legal or equitable relief in any court having jurisdiction. If neither party is a resident in the State of Illinois, Sangamon County shall be designated as an appropriate venue in which to bring the action. If the dispute in question exceeds $1,000,000, a court may secure the services of a special master to assist with technological disputes associated with the case and expend not more than $100,000 for that purpose, provided that the parties agree to equally share the costs of the special master and each party is permitted to provide input into the selection of the special master.".