What This Bill Does
This bill directs the President to block and prohibit business transactions involving social media companies controlled by certain foreign countries. The bill aims to protect Americans from surveillance, data gathering, and propaganda campaigns by these foreign-controlled companies.
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Who It Affects
Social media companies controlled by countries of concern (including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela), the President, any person or business conducting transactions with these companies, and Americans who use these platforms.
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Key Provisions
- The President must block all transactions in property and interests in property of covered social media companies within 30 days of the bill becoming law, whether the property is in the United States or under control of a U.S. person. (Sec. 2(a)(1))
- Social media companies meet the bill's definition if they are domiciled in or organized under the laws of a country of concern, or if a country of concern owns or controls 20 percent or more of the company's voting stock. (Sec. 2(b)(1)(A) and (B))
- ByteDance, Ltd. and TikTok are automatically considered covered companies unless the President certifies to Congress that they no longer meet any conditions in the bill. (Sec. 2(b)(2))
- People who violate the transaction prohibition face penalties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. (Sec. 2(d)(2))
- The bill does not apply to importation of goods or authorized intelligence activities of the United States. (Sec. 2(c))
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What Changes
If this bill becomes law, social media companies controlled by certain foreign adversaries will be prohibited from conducting business in the United States or with U.S. persons. Anyone attempting to conduct transactions with these companies may face legal penalties. Specifically, ByteDance and TikTok will be immediately prohibited from operating in the United States unless the President certifies they no longer meet the bill's conditions.
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Important Definitions
- **Country of Concern**: The People's Republic of China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela, plus any other country defined as a "foreign adversary" in another law.
- **Entity of Concern**: Government bodies, armed forces, leading political parties, or certain individuals or businesses in countries of concern that are subject to substantial influence from those countries.
- **Social Media Company**: Any website, desktop application, or mobile application where people create accounts to generate and share user-generated content, sells digital advertising space, has more than 1 million monthly active users, and lets users view content from other users. Does not include sites whose main purpose is product reviews, business reviews, travel reviews, or emergency alerts.
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Effective Date
30 days after the bill becomes law (Sec. 2(a)(1))
I
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 cen-
sorship.
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 for-
eign adversaries using current or potential future social
media companies that those foreign adversaries control
to surveil Americans, gather sensitive data about Ameri-
cans, or spread influence campaigns, propaganda, and
censorship.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Averting the National
4
Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship
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•HR 1081 IH
and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese
1
Communist Party Act’’ or the ‘‘ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act’’.
2
SEC. 2. PROTECTING AMERICANS FROM SOCIAL MEDIA
3
COMPANIES CONTROLLED BY COUNTRIES OF
4
CONCERN.
5
(a) PROHIBITED COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS.—
6
(1) IN GENERAL.—On and after the date that
7
is 30 days after the date of the enactment of this
8
Act, the President shall exercise all the powers
9
granted to the President under the International
10
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701
11
et seq.) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit
12
all transactions in all property and interests in prop-
13
erty of a social media company described in sub-
14
section (b) if such property and interests in prop-
15
erty—
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(A) are in the United States or come with-
17
in the United States; or
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(B) to the extent necessary to prevent
19
commercial operation of the social media com-
20
pany in the United States, are or come within
21
the possession or control of a United States
22
person.
23
(2) INAPPLICABILITY
OF
CERTAIN
PROVI-
24
SIONS.—The requirements of section 202 and the
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•HR 1081 IH
limitations under section 203(b) of the International
1
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701
2
and 1702(b)) shall not apply for purposes of this
3
section.
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(b) SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANY DESCRIBED.—
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(1) IN GENERAL.—A social media company de-
6
scribed in this subsection is a social media company
7
that meets one or more of the following conditions:
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(A) The company is domiciled in, has its
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principal place of business in, has its head-
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quarters in, or is organized under the laws of
11
a country of concern.
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(B) A country of concern, entity of con-
13
cern, or some combination thereof, directly or
14
indirectly owns, controls with the ability to de-
15
cide important matters, or holds with power to
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vote, 20 percent or more of the outstanding vot-
17
ing stock or shares of the company.
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(C) The company employs software or al-
19
gorithms controlled or whose export is re-
20
stricted by a country of concern or entity of
21
concern.
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(D) The company is subject to substantial
23
influence, directly or indirectly, from a country
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•HR 1081 IH
of concern or entity of concern owing to
1
which—
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(i) the company shares or could be
3
compelled to share data on United States
4
citizens with a country of concern or entity
5
of concern; or
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(ii) the content moderation practices
7
of the company are subject to substantial
8
influence from a country of concern or en-
9
tity of concern.
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(2) DEEMED COMPANIES.—The following com-
11
panies shall be deemed to be social media companies
12
described in this subsection as of the date of the en-
13
actment of this Act unless and until the date on
14
which the President certifies to Congress that the
15
company no longer meets any of the conditions de-
16
scribed in paragraph (1):
17
(A) Bytedance, Ltd.
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(B) TikTok.
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(C) A subsidiary of or a successor com-
20
pany to a company listed in subparagraph (A),
21
(B), or (C).
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(D) A company owned or controlled di-
23
rectly or indirectly by a company listed in sub-
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paragraph (A), (B), or (C).
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•HR 1081 IH
(c) EXCEPTIONS.—
1
(1)
INTELLIGENCE
ACTIVITIES.—Sanctions
2
under this section shall not apply to any activity
3
subject to the reporting requirements under title V
4
of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C.
5
3091 et seq.) or any authorized intelligence activities
6
of the United States.
7
(2) IMPORTATION OF GOODS.—
8
(A) IN GENERAL.—The authorities and re-
9
quirements to impose sanctions authorized
10
under this section shall not include the author-
11
ity or requirement to impose sanctions on the
12
importation of goods.
13
(B) GOOD DEFINED.—In this paragraph,
14
the term ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or
15
manmade substance, material, supply or manu-
16
factured product, including inspection and test
17
equipment, and excluding technical data.
18
(d) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.—
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(1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex-
20
ercise the authorities provided to the President
21
under sections 203 and 205 of the International
22
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702
23
and 1704) to the extent necessary to carry out this
24
section.
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•HR 1081 IH
(2) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, at-
1
tempts to violate, or causes a violation of subsection
2
(a) or any regulation, license, or order issued to
3
carry out that subsection shall be subject to the pen-
4
alties set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of the sec-
5
tion 206 of the International Emergency Economic
6
Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as
7
a person that commits an unlawful act described in
8
subsection (a) of that section.
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(e) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this section
10
or its application to any person or circumstance is held
11
invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or
12
applications of this section that can be given effect without
13
the invalid provision or application, and to this end the
14
provisions of this section are severable.
15
(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
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(1) COUNTRY OF CONCERN.—The term ‘‘coun-
17
try of concern’’—
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(A) has the meaning given the term ‘‘for-
19
eign adversary’’ in section 8(c)(2) of the Secure
20
and Trusted Communications Networks Act of
21
2019 (47 U.S.C. 1607(c)(2)); and
22
(B) includes the People’s Republic of
23
China (including the Special Administrative Re-
24
gions of China, including Hong Kong and
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•HR 1081 IH
Macau), Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and
1
Venezuela.
2
(2) ENTITY OF CONCERN.—The term ‘‘entity of
3
concern’’ means—
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(A) a governmental body at any level in a
5
country of concern;
6
(B) the armed forces of a country of con-
7
cern;
8
(C) the leading political party of a country
9
of concern;
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(D) a natural person who is a national of
11
a country of concern, is domiciled and living in
12
such country, and is subject to substantial in-
13
fluence, directly or indirectly, from an entity de-
14
scribed in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C); or
15
(E) a private business or a state-owned en-
16
terprise that is domiciled in a country of con-
17
cern, or owned or controlled by a private busi-
18
ness or state-owned enterprise domiciled in a
19
country of concern, and that is subject to sub-
20
stantial influence, directly or indirectly, from an
21
entity described in subparagraph (A), (B), or
22
(C).
23
(3) SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANY.—The term ‘‘social
24
media company’’—
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•HR 1081 IH
(A) means any entity that operates, di-
1
rectly or indirectly, including through its parent
2
company, subsidiaries, or affiliates, a website,
3
desktop application, or mobile application
4
that—
5
(i) permits an individual or entity to
6
create an account or profile for the pur-
7
pose of generating, sharing, and viewing
8
user-generated content through such ac-
9
count or profile;
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(ii) sells digital advertising space;
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(iii) has more than 1,000,000 monthly
12
active users for a majority of months dur-
13
ing the preceding 12 months;
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(iv) enables one or more users to gen-
15
erate content that can be viewed by other
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users of the website, desktop application,
17
or mobile application; and
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(v) enables users to view content gen-
19
erated by other users of the website, desk-
20
top application, or mobile application; and
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(B) does not include an entity if the entity
22
does not operate a website, desktop application,
23
or mobile application except for a website, desk-
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•HR 1081 IH
top application, or mobile application the pri-
1
mary purpose of which is—
2
(i) to allow users to post product re-
3
views, business reviews, or travel informa-
4
tion and reviews; or
5
(ii) to provide emergency alert serv-
6
ices.
7
Æ
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