Federal

No TikTok on United States Devices Act

Source: Congress.gov · 1,129 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill directs the President to use emergency economic powers to block and prohibit transactions involving TikTok's property and assets within the United States or controlled by U.S. persons. The bill also requires government officials to report to Congress on national security threats posed by TikTok within 120 days of the law's enactment.

Who It Affects

ByteDance Limited (the parent company of TikTok), any successor entities to ByteDance Limited, any entities owned by ByteDance Limited that are involved with TikTok, the President, the Director of National Intelligence, the Secretary of Defense, the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Congress, and any person or business that conducts transactions involving TikTok's property in the United States.

Key Provisions

• The President must use emergency economic powers to block all transactions in TikTok's property and assets located in the United States or controlled by U.S. persons, starting 30 days after this law is enacted. (Sec. 2(a)) • The President may use authorities from the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to carry out this blocking of property, and certain exceptions in that existing law do not apply. (Sec. 2(c)) • Anyone who violates this law or any regulations issued to carry it out faces penalties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. (Sec. 2(d)) • The Director of National Intelligence, working with other officials, must submit a report to Congress within 120 days describing threats to national security posed by TikTok, including China's ability to access U.S. user data and use it for intelligence or surveillance purposes. (Sec. 3(a)) • The Director of National Intelligence must provide Congress a classified briefing within 180 days on how this law is being implemented. (Sec. 4)

What Changes

If this law passes, the President gains the power to freeze TikTok's assets in the United States and block transactions with the company 30 days after enactment. Congress will receive a detailed report on national security threats from TikTok within 120 days. Certain protections normally required under emergency economic powers law no longer apply to TikTok sanctions.

Important Definitions

"Covered company" means ByteDance Limited, any successor entity to ByteDance Limited, or any entity owned by ByteDance Limited, if that company is involved in TikTok operations or handles TikTok's information, videos or data. (Sec. 2(f))

Effective Date

The President must begin blocking property 30 days after this law is enacted. (Sec. 2(a)) The report to Congress is due 120 days after enactment. (Sec. 3(a)) The classified briefing is due 180 days after enactment. (Sec. 4)

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 503 To impose sanctions with respect to TikTok, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 25, 2023 Mr. BUCK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak- er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju- risdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To impose sanctions with respect to TikTok, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘No TikTok on United 4 States Devices Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO 6 TIKTOK. 7 (a) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.—On and after the date 8 that is 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:24 Feb 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H503.IH H503 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 503 IH Act, the President shall exercise all the powers granted 1 to the President under the International Emergency Eco- 2 nomic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent 3 necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in all prop- 4 erty and interests in property of a covered company if such 5 property and interests in property— 6 (1) are in the United States or come within the 7 United States; or 8 (2) to the extent necessary to prevent commer- 9 cial operation of the covered company in the United 10 States, are or come within the possession or control 11 of a United States person. 12 (b) INAPPLICABILITY OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY RE- 13 QUIREMENT.—The requirements of section 202 of the 14 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 15 U.S.C. 1701) shall not apply for purposes of this section. 16 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 18 graph (2), the President may exercise all authorities 19 provided under sections 203 and 205 of the Inter- 20 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 21 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out this section. 22 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—The exceptions under sub- 23 section (b) of section 203 of the International Emer- 24 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702) shall 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:24 Feb 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H503.IH H503 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 503 IH not apply to the use by the President in carrying out 1 this section of the authorities under such section 2 203. 3 (d) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, attempts to 4 violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of this 5 section or any regulation, license, or order issued to carry 6 out this section shall be subject to the penalties set forth 7 in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter- 8 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 9 1705) to the same extent as a person that commits an 10 unlawful act described in subsection (a) of that section. 11 (e) NATIONAL SECURITY AND RESEARCH EXCEP- 12 TIONS.—Sanctions under this section shall not apply with 13 respect to law enforcement activities, national security in- 14 terests and activities, and security research activities, as 15 provided under the standards and guidelines developed by 16 the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 17 under section 102(b)(1) of the No TikTok on Government 18 Devices Act (division R of Public Law 117–328). 19 (f) COVERED COMPANY DEFINED.—In this section, 20 the term ‘‘covered company’’ means— 21 (1) ByteDance Limited, or any successor entity 22 to ByteDance Limited, if ByteDance Limited or the 23 successor entity— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:24 Feb 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H503.IH H503 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 503 IH (A) is involved in matters relating to the 1 social networking service TikTok, or any suc- 2 cessor service; or 3 (B) is involved in matters relating to any 4 information, videos, or data associated with 5 such service; or 6 (2) any entity owned by ByteDance Limited or 7 the successor entity that— 8 (A) is involved in matters relating to the 9 social networking service TikTok, or any suc- 10 cessor service; or 11 (B) is involved in matters relating to any 12 information, videos, or data associated with 13 such service. 14 SEC. 3. REPORT ON THREATS TO NATIONAL SECURITY 15 POSED BY TIKTOK. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 17 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of National 18 Intelligence, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, 19 the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Secu- 20 rity Agency, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the 21 Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shall sub- 22 mit to Congress a report on the threats to national secu- 23 rity posed by TikTok, including the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:24 Feb 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H503.IH H503 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 503 IH (1) The ability of the Government of the Peo- 1 ple’s Republic of China to access, directly or indi- 2 rectly, data of users in the United States via 3 TikTok. 4 (2) The ability of the Government of the Peo- 5 ple’s Republic of China to use data of users in the 6 United States, including that of members of the 7 Armed Forces, accessed via TikTok for intelligence 8 or military purposes, including surveillance, micro- 9 targeting, deepfakes, or blackmail. 10 (3) Any ongoing efforts by the Government of 11 the People’s Republic of China to monitor or manip- 12 ulate United States persons using data accessed via 13 TikTok, including a detailed account of any data 14 employed for those purposes. 15 (b) FORM.—The report required by subsection (a) 16 shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may contain 17 a classified annex. 18 SEC. 4. BRIEFING. 19 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact- 20 ment of this Act, the Director of National Intelligence 21 shall provide to Congress a classified briefing on the imple- 22 mentation of this Act, which shall include a briefing on 23 the report required by section 3(a). 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:24 Feb 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H503.IH H503 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB

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