New Act Mandates Tech Companies Report Fentanyl & Meth Violations, Faces $380K Fine for Failure

The newly proposed Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act aims to crack down on illegal drug trafficking facilitated online, specifically targeting fentanyl, methamphetamine, and counterfeit prescription drugs. This bill places a major new reporting requirement on electronic communication service providers and remote computing services—think social media platforms, email hosts, and cloud storage companies. If these providers gain “actual knowledge” that someone is creating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing these specific controlled substances, they must report it to the Attorney General within 60 days.

The New Compliance Burden: Who’s Watching the Watchers?

This isn't a suggestion; it’s a mandate backed by serious cash penalties. If a provider knowingly fails to submit a required report, they face a criminal fine of up to $190,000 for the first offense, jumping to $380,000 for subsequent failures. This means tech companies now have a massive financial incentive to ensure their internal teams are flagging and reporting these specific drug activities. For the average person, this means that if you use a social media platform or a cloud service to discuss, say, shipping counterfeit Adderall, and that company gains actual knowledge of it—perhaps through a user complaint or an internal review—they are legally required to hand over your identifying information (name, IP address, screen name) to the feds.

Privacy and Encryption: Where the Line Is Drawn

Crucially, the bill includes specific safeguards. It explicitly states that providers are not required to start actively monitoring their users or break end-to-end encryption to comply. They only have to report once they hit that threshold of “actual knowledge.” This is important because it attempts to balance law enforcement needs with core digital privacy infrastructure. However, the term “actual knowledge” is the pressure point here. To avoid massive fines, companies might err on the side of reporting, potentially leading to more aggressive internal review processes than they currently have, even if they aren't technically required to monitor everyone.

Data Preservation and Law Enforcement Limits

When a report is filed, it automatically triggers a mandatory 90-day preservation of the user’s associated data. This means that once a provider reports, they have to lock down the account info and related files for at least three months while the Attorney General decides whether to proceed with an investigation. On the flip side, the bill also tries to prevent government overreach by prohibiting federal, state, or local law enforcement from soliciting these reports from providers. If a report is found to have been improperly solicited, any evidence derived from it cannot be used in court. This is a significant check on potential abuses of this new reporting channel.

The Takeaway for Tech Users and Companies

For tech companies, this is a heavy new compliance lift, particularly for those that handle large amounts of user-generated content. They now have to build systems to manage the reporting process, maintain data preservation, and navigate the tricky definition of “actual knowledge.” For the rest of us, this bill formalizes a new pathway for our digital activities—if they involve specific, serious drug offenses—to be reported directly to federal law enforcement, complete with identifying metadata. It’s a clear signal that the government is aiming to close the gap between online drug trafficking and real-world consequences, relying on the private sector to act as the initial gatekeeper.