term tabs is a tool for querying definitions of tech-related terms in social media legislation introduced in the United States Congress and in enacted federal laws in the United States related to social media.

About the Tool

The tool is designed to make it easier to search and compare definitions in legislation and enacted law related to social media, to present information in a manner that is interpretable to various audiences, and to serve as a resource that can be further built upon by others. The tool includes definitions of terms from social-media-related legislation proposed in Congress in the last several years and from enacted laws related to social media. The tool was constructed using publicly available information from Congress.gov, the Congress.gov API, the Government Publishing Office's Bulk Data Repository, and the United States Code.

The tool does not cover all definitions or all social-media-related bills that have been introduced in Congress or that have been passed into law, and not all terms defined in a given bill may be included in the tool. Currently, the tool only includes a limited set of terms related to social media or technology from a limited set of bills. The tool is non-partisan, and bills and laws are included if they generally relate to social media and if their text includes definitions of tech-related-terms. Identifying relevant bills and laws for this tool is a somewhat manual and subjective process — so if you know of a term or a bill or law with definitions that you think should be included, let us know!

In addition to the definition of each term and information about the associated bill or law (e.g., for bills, the bill's name, sponsor information, chamber, Committee info, and more), the data also includes some manual annotations used to group together similar terms into collections. See the Resources page for a data dictionary and more information about the data.

Spot an error? Know of a term that you think should be added? Any other thoughts or questions? Email us to let us know!

This tool was created by Marissa Gerchick as part of the 2022-2023 RSM Assembly Fellowship program.