Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2023

CTSA

Explanatory notes

1. Yesterday, July 11th 2023–a date which will live in infamy–SimDemocracy was suddenly and deliberately attacked by terrorists from the so-called state of the DDR. Our way of life, our very freedom came under attack.
2. Previously confronted with the menace of a terrorist attack five months ago, the Senate bravely passed the POWER Act 2023. It is now time, Honourable Senators, to turn that POWER Act into a PATRIOT Act.
3. (This terrorist attack did not actually happen and I completely made it up. The real reason was because enforcement of ToS was completely broken at the time, but why let facts get in the way of PATRIOTISM 🦅)
4. Honourable Senators, I hereby present to you the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill 2023 to strengthen our response to terrorism and to enhance the security of the state to defend itself against these cowardly terrorist attacks. No terrorist attack shall be allowed to continue with such impunity in the future.
5. (Jokes aside though, this law unironically does two main things with a lot of judicial oversight.)

1. SDBI, Mods, and Supervisors already have the power to summarily ban for ToS violations. The process to get that ban certified within 48 hours though (which is constitutionally mandated or they have to be let free) is not clear. This bill makes the certification bit clear:

1. The Inferior Court provided the order,

2. Recusal requirements can be lifted if no other judge can meet the mandatory 48 hour deadline and,

3. Supreme Court can issue the order on the Inferior Court’s behalf if there is only 24 hours left of the deadline.

2. It gives new powers (which don’t exist yet) to the SDBI, Mods, and Supervisors to request the Inferior Courts for an Emergency Counter-Terrorism Powers Order (ECTPO). If granted, the ECTPO will allow them to ban any new accounts which commit ToS violations without needing to seek additional certification after the fact (imagine having to get 100 alt accounts used in a raid manually certified for instance).

1. New accounts are defined as Discord users with less than 100 posts on the server or joined less than 2 weeks ago, or Reddit users with less than 10 posts on the subreddit/or 1 month old/or 500 karma.

2. Importantly, the right to appeal a ban made under ECTPO (either for yourself or as an attorney on behalf of someone else) is restricted to people who meet the above requirements. This is to stop raiders, who literally have never participated in SD, from being able to clog our courts with appeals while still ensuring that innocent people who don’t meet those requirements have attorneys (who are less likely to be raiders) that can help.

6. The explanatory notes of this bill goes into further depth about the specific provisions if you want more details. These specific details are as follows:
7. Define terrorism as mass spamming/pinging, server raiding, posting of NSFW materials, or Community Guidelines/ToS violations;
8. Empower all people, including but not limited to the SDBI, who have the relevant mute/ban perms to mute/ban terrorists (there are two types of these mute/bans);
9. Mandate by law that all people who have powers to do so to effectively combat terrorism (i.e. mute/ban them);
10. Defines two types of counter-terrorism powers: ordinary and emergency.
11. Ordinary counter-terrorism powers:

1. Are conducted under the due process provisions of Art 16, §2.3 of the Constitution which allows for pre-emptive or summary mutes/bans for exceptional circumstances affecting public safety;

2. Can be used against anyone who commits terrorism and at any time;

3. Requires certification by the Inferior Court (or if they aren’t available, the Supreme Court directly) within 48 hours of the mute/ban for that mute/ban to be extended further.

12. Emergency counter-terrorism powers:

1. Are conducted under the due process provisions of Art 16, §2.1 of the Constitution which allows for the mute/ban of a person on order of a competent court through the authorities as prescribed by law;

2. Can only be used once an Emergency Counter-Terrorism Powers Order (ECTPO) has been issued by the Inferior Court (or if they aren’t available, the Supreme Court) and only for the duration specified for the order;

3. Can, when required, be extended retroactively only up to 48 hours before the ECTPO request was made in order to cover mutes/bans previously made under ordinary counter-terrorism powers;

1. This retroactivity provision stops courts from having to manually certify every single mute/ban of a raider’s hundreds of accounts (for instance) simply because the ECTPO request was made after (and most requests will be made after a terrorist attack, not before);

2. But having that hard time limit also forces people requesting to not delay in making an ECTPO request. It also allows just enough time to convert a ban under the ordinary rules (which require certification) to ECTPO rules (which don’t - but basically act like certification anyways if it was given retroactively) - but strictly no more than that.

3. An ECTPO request that cites a terrorist attack as a reason for it shall be construed as asking for retroactive effect to cover the terrorist attack, and a grant by a court for the ECTPO (in full or in part) shall be construed as authorising that implied retroactive effect, unless stated otherwise.

4. Does not require additional certification (because the ban is already done under a court order);

5. Can only be used against Discord users with less than 100 posts on the server or joined less than 2 weeks ago, or Reddit users with less than 10 posts on the subreddit/or 1 month old/or 500 karma;

6. Can only be appealed by users who meet the above specifications or by attorneys representing users who didn’t (but the attorney themselves must meet those specifications);

7. Can allow the use or modification of automated mod tools.

Part 1: Introductory

Article 1: Terrorism

§1. In this Act, "terrorism" means any act which involves:

§1.1. Mass spamming (including mass pinging and mass mentions),

§1.2. Server raiding,

§1.3. The posting of sexually explicit or obscene materials, or

:§1.4. Any other violation of the Discord Community Guidelines or Reddit Terms of Service (depending on the relevant jurisdiction).

Article 2: Competent authority

§1. In this Act, a competent authority shall refer to any person or public body with the requisite permissions in the relevant jurisdictions involved.

Article 3: Duty to combat terrorism

§1. Competent authorities in all jurisdictions covered under this Act shall have a statutory duty to effectively combat terrorism.

§2. The jurisdictions covered under this Act include the SimDemocracy subreddit and its associated Discord server.

Part 2: Counter-Terrorism Powers

Article 4: Counter-terrorism powers

§1. Competent authorities shall have the power to preliminarily mute or ban any person who commits terrorism.

§2. A competent authority that has exercised a power under this Article must seek mandatory certification under Article 6 of this Act.

Article 5: Emergency counter-terrorism powers

§1. Where an Emergency Counter-Terrorism Powers Order (ECTPO) allows for it, competent authorities shall have the power to mute or ban any person who commits terrorism within the specifications of that order.

§2. Where an ECTPO allows for it, competent authorities shall have the power to utilise or modify automated moderation tools within the specifications of that order.

§3. A person muted or banned under the powers of this Article shall only have a right of appeal under the requirements and procedures of Article 8 of this Act.

Part 3: Judicial Oversight

Article 6: Mandatory certification

§1. The Inferior Court, upon receiving a request for mandatory certification, must certify within forty-eight (48) hours of the mute or ban, whether the person involved has committed terrorism.

§2. The requirement of an Inferior Court judge to recuse shall be suspended where:

§2.1. At least one Inferior Court judge has recused from providing mandatory certification, and

§2.2. No other eligible Inferior Court judge is available to provide mandatory certification before the forty-eight (48) hour deadline.

§3. Where no mandatory certification has been made by the Inferior Court after twenty-four (24) hours of the mute or ban, the Supreme Court shall have the power to provide mandatory certification on the Inferior Court’s behalf.

§4. If a mandatory certification certifies that the person involved did not commit terrorism, or where no mandatory certification was provided within the forty-eight (48) hour deadline, the person involved must be unmuted or unbanned.

§5. Where an event or decision under §5 occurs, a competent authority shall have the right of appeal.

§5.1. The right of appeal shall not be considered extinguished merely because the Supreme Court made the decision under §3 of this Article.

Article 7: Emergency Counter-Terrorism Powers Order

§1. A competent authority shall have the power to request an Emergency Counter-Terrorism Powers Order (ECTPO) from the Inferior Court.

§2. A competent authority can, if it so requires, request that the ECTPO have retroactive effect.

§2.1. No ECTPO can have a retroactive effect beyond forty-eight (48) hours of the time when the ECTPO request was made.

§2.2. Unless otherwise stated by the competent authority, an ECTPO request that cites a terrorist attack as a reason shall be construed as a request for it to have retroactive effect from the time of when the terrorist attack began or forty-eight (48) hours before the time when the request was made (whichever is later).

§2.3. Unless otherwise stated by the competent court, a decision to grant in full, in part, or with modifications an ECTPO with a construed retroactive request under §2.2, or with an explicitly stated retroactive request, shall be deemed to have granted the request for retroactive effect in full.

§2.4. All mutes and bans made under Article 4 of this Act that would have otherwise been covered by the authority of the retroactive ECTPO shall instead be considered as mutes and bans made under the ECTPO’s authority.

§3. A competent authority making an ECTPO request under this Article shall specify:

§3.1. What emergency powers it is requesting,

§3.2. The duration of the emergency powers in question (including whether it has retroactive effect), and

§3.3. The reasons for requesting the emergency powers.

§4. The emergency powers requested under an ECTPO may include:

§4.1. The power to mute and ban, and

§4.2. The power to utilise or modify automated moderation tools.

§5. Where a competent authority requests the power to mute and ban under an ECTPO, that power shall only extend to:

§5.1. Discord users who have made less than one hundred (100) total posts in SimDemocracy’s associated Discord server prior to the acts of terrorism in question, or who otherwise has joined the SimDemocracy server less than two (2) weeks ago, or

§5.2. Reddit users who have less than ten (10) total posts in the SimDemocracy subreddit prior to the acts of terrorism, or who otherwise are less than one (1) month old, or has less than five hundred (500) karma.

§6. When a request for an ECTPO has been made, the Inferior Court must, as soon as reasonably practicable, make one the following decisions:

§6.1. Grant the requested ECTPO in full,

§6.2. Grant the requested ECTPO in part or with some other modification, or

§6.3. Deny issuing an ECTPO.

§7. Where no decision over an ECTPO request has been made within a reasonably practicable time, the Supreme Court shall have the power to make a decision under §6 of this Article on the Inferior Court’s behalf.

§8. Where a competent court makes a decision under §§6.2-6.3, a competent authority shall have the right of appeal.

§8.1. The right of appeal shall not be considered extinguished merely because the Supreme Court made the decision under §5 of this Article.

===Article 8: Appeals under ECTPO === §1. A person shall only have a right of appeal under this Article if the relevant muted or banned account meets the specifications under Article 7, §§5.1-5.2 of this Act.

§2. A person shall only have a right to appeal on behalf of another person if they:

§2.1. Possess a relevant Reddit or Discord account which meets the specifications under Article 7, §§5.1-5.2 of this Act and,

§2.2. Present evidence that shows they received express authority from the muted or banned person in question to represent them on their behalf.

§3. Appeals under this Article can be made to the Supreme Court if:

§3.1. An account muted or banned under the authority of an ECTPO met the specifications under Article 7, §§5.1-5.2 of this Act,

§3.2. An account muted or banned under the authority of an ECTPO did not commit an act of terrorism,

§3.3. The ECTPO itself is invalid or unconstitutional.

Part 4: Miscellaneous Provisions

Article 9: Amendments to the Executive Act 2023

§1. Insert Article 6, §6.3 to the Executive Act 2023 with:

"The power under this section shall only be considered exercised if it does not fall under a power granted by the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2023."

Article 10: Interpretation and severability

§1. So far as it is possible to do so, the courts shall have a duty to interpret and give effect to this Act in a way which is compatible with the Constitution.

§1.1. If it is absolutely necessary to do so, this duty shall empower the Supreme Court to go beyond ordinary statutory interpretation and to read in and read out words (i.e. add, remove, or substitute words) into the statute while respecting general legislative intent.

§1.2. If, nevertheless, it is still not possible to interpret and give effect to a section or subsection of this Act even with the powers under §1.1, the courts shall have the power to strike out specific sections and subsections of this Act.

§2. The term "right of appeal" used in this Act shall not be interpreted as denying the Supreme Court its constitutional discretionary powers to hear an appeal.

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In re Appeal of Summary Ban - "mc_uighilin" (u/Panzzrr) [2025] SDSC 2 voided Article 1§1.4, Article 5§3, and Article 8.