Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act or the ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act
This bill requires the President to impose property-blocking sanctions on TikTok, its parent company ByteDance Ltd., and larger social media companies with ties to certain foreign countries.
Specifically, the sanctions shall apply if the relevant property interests are (1) in the United States; or (2) in the possession or control of a U.S. person, if blocking the transaction is necessary to prevent the company's commercial operation in the United States.
These sanctions shall also apply to larger social media companies involved with countries or persons (entities or individuals) of concern, generally defined as any foreign government or person engaged in activities adverse to U.S. security and safety and includes specific countries such as China, Russia, and North Korea. For the purposes of this bill, a person of concern also includes private companies and individuals domiciled in a country of concern and subject to the substantial influence of the government.
Specifically, in addition to TikTok and ByteDance, the sanctions shall apply to any social media company
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1081 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1081
To protect Americans from the threat posed by certain foreign
adversaries using current or potential future social media companies
that those foreign adversaries control to surveil Americans, gather
sensitive data about Americans, or spread influence campaigns,
propaganda, and censorship.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 17, 2023
Mr. Gallagher (for himself and Mr. Krishnamoorthi) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To protect Americans from the threat posed by certain foreign
adversaries using current or potential future social media companies
that those foreign adversaries control to surveil Americans, gather
sensitive data about Americans, or spread influence campaigns,
propaganda, and censorship.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Averting the National Threat of
Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and
Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act'' or the
``ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act''.
SEC. 2. PROTECTING AMERICANS FROM SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES CONTROLLED BY
COUNTRIES OF CONCERN.
(a) Prohibited Commercial Transactions.--
(1) In general.--On and after the date that is 30 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President
shall exercise all the powers granted to the President under
the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701
et seq.) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit all
transactions in all property and interests in property of a
social media company described in subsection (b) if such
property and interests in property--
(A) are in the United States or come within the
United States; or
(B) to the extent necessary to prevent commercial
operation of the social media company in the United
States, are or come within the possession or control of
a United States person.
(2) Inapplicability of certain provisions.--The
requirements of section 202 and the limitations under section
203(b) of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50
U.S.C. 1701 and 1702(b)) shall not apply for purposes of this
section.
(b) Social Media Company Described.--
(1) In general.--A social media company described in this
subsection is a social media company that meets one or more of
the following conditions:
(A) The company is domiciled in, has its principal
place of business in, has its headquarters in, or is
organized under the laws of a country of concern.
(B) A country of concern, entity of concern, or
some combination thereof, directly or indirectly owns,
controls with the ability to decide important matters,
or holds with power to vote, 20 percent or more of the
outstanding voting stock or shares of the company.
(C) The company employs software or algorithms
controlled or whose export is restricted by a country
of concern or entity of concern.
(D) The company is subject to substantial
influence, directly or indirectly, from a country of
concern or entity of concern owing to which--
(i) the company shares or could be
compelled to share data on United States
citizens with a country of concern or entity of
concern; or
(ii) the content moderation practices of
the company are subject to substantial
influence from a country of concern or entity
of concern.
(2) Deemed companies.--The following companies shall be
deemed to be social media companies described in this
subsection as of the date of the enactment of this Act unless
and until the date on which the President certifies to Congress
that the company no longer meets any of the conditions
described in paragraph (1):
(A) Bytedance, Ltd.
(B) TikTok.
(C) A subsidiary of or a successor company to a
company listed in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C).
(D) A company owned or controlled directly or
indirectly by a company listed in subparagraph (A),
(B), or (C).
(c) Exceptions.--
(1) Intelligence activities.--Sanctions under this section
shall not apply to any activity subject to the reporting
requirements under title V of the National Security Act of 1947
(50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) or any authorized intelligence
activities of the United States.
(2) Importation of goods.--
(A) In general.--The authorities and requirements
to impose sanctions authorized under this section shall
not include the authority or requirement to impose
sanctions on the importation of goods.
(B) Good defined.--In this paragraph, the term
``good'' means any article, natural or manmade
substance, material, supply or manufactured product,
including inspection and test equipment, and excluding
technical data.
(d) Implementation; Penalties.--
(1) Implementation.--The President may exercise the
authorities provided to the President under sections 203 and
205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50
U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to the extent necessary to carry out this
section.
(2) Penalties.--A person that violates, attempts to
violate, or causes a violation of subsection (a) or any
regulation, license, or order issued to carry out that
subsection shall be subject to the penalties set forth in
subsections (b) and (c) of the section 206 of the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same
extent as a person that commits an unlawful act described in
subsection (a) of that section.
(e) Severability.--If any provision of this section or its
application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the
invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this
section that can be given effect without the invalid provision or
application, and to this end the provisions of this section are
severable.
(f) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Country of concern.--The term ``country of concern''--
(A) has the meaning given the term ``foreign
adversary'' in section 8(c)(2) of the Secure and
Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C.
1607(c)(2)); and
(B) includes the People's Republic of China
(including the Special Administrative Regions of China,
including Hong Kong and Macau), Russia, Iran, North
Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela.
(2) Entity of concern.--The term ``entity of concern''
means--
(A) a governmental body at any level in a country
of concern;
(B) the armed forces of a country of concern;
(C) the leading political party of a country of
concern;
(D) a natural person who is a national of a country
of concern, is domiciled and living in such country,
and is subject to substantial influence, directly or
indirectly, from an entity described in subparagraph
(A), (B), or (C); or
(E) a private business or a state-owned enterprise
that is domiciled in a country of concern, or owned or
controlled by a private business or state-owned
enterprise domiciled in a country of concern, and that
is subject to substantial influence, directly or
indirectly, from an entity described in subparagraph
(A), (B), or (C).
(3) Social media company.--The term ``social media
company''--
(A) means any entity that operates, directly or
indirectly, including through its parent company,
subsidiaries, or affiliates, a website, desktop
application, or mobile application that--
(i) permits an individual or entity to
create an account or profile for the purpose of
generating, sharing, and viewing user-generated
content through such account or profile;
(ii) sells digital advertising space;
(iii) has more than 1,000,000 monthly
active users for a majority of months during
the preceding 12 months;
(iv) enables one or more users to generate
content that can be viewed by other users of
the website, desktop application, or mobile
application; and
(v) enables users to view content generated
by other users of the website, desktop
application, or mobile application; and
(B) does not include an entity if the entity does
not operate a website, desktop application, or mobile
application except for a website, desktop application,
or mobile application the primary purpose of which is--
(i) to allow users to post product reviews,
business reviews, or travel information and
reviews; or
(ii) to provide emergency alert services.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
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