https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/e ... age-online

EARN IT would strip websites' protection under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act ("No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider") if they do not follow a list of "best practices" set by a new 19-person government commission, the proposal of which included testimony stating the best practices may include requiring companies to screen the messages on their platform, use screening technology approved by law enforcement, report findings. Not meeting these best practices would make them as responsible for the messages as though they were official statements from the company itself.

This act is injurious to free speech online. Do not allow a government commission to dictate what is and is not the correct way to report illegal activities to law enforcement. This will not protect children from abuse, and allow the camel's nose into the operations of private businesses and its clients. There are lots of parallels that can be drawn to the WA ESSB 6288 (establishment of the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention).

You can imagine a US company handling private communications between its users would not wish to be susceptible to lawsuits from the abuse of its platform. I imagine most, if not all, would comply 100% in order to protect their livelihood. Because this commission would be capable of enacting recommendations without vote of the people, they can simply declare what information they would like to collect (and how they would like it collected).

TL;DR:
EARN IT, if passed, would mean that if a messaging platform doesn't follow a proposed new government commission's recommendations on reporting the content of its messages to law enforcement and government entities, it will be stripped of existing legal protections of user data, effectively making its users' messages the responsibility of the company, as though they had sent them itself.