[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1714 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1714
To provide authorities to prohibit the provision of services by social
media platforms to individuals and entities on the Specially Designated
Nationals List and certain officials and other individuals and entities
of the People's Republic of China, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 22, 2023
Mr. Mast introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide authorities to prohibit the provision of services by social
media platforms to individuals and entities on the Specially Designated
Nationals List and certain officials and other individuals and entities
of the People's Republic of China, and for other purposes.
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 ``China Social Media Reciprocity
Act''.
SEC. 2. AUTHORITIES TO PROHIBIT THE PROVISION OF SERVICES BY SOCIAL
MEDIA PLATFORMS TO INDIVIDUALS AND ENTITIES ON THE
SPECIALLY DESIGNATED NATIONALS LIST AND CERTAIN OFFICIALS
AND OTHER INDIVIDUALS AND ENTITIES OF THE PEOPLE'S
REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
(a) Authorities Under the International Emergency Economic Powers
Act.--
(1) In general.--Section 203 of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702) is amended--
(A) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection
(d); and
(B) by inserting after subsection (b) the
following:
``(c)(1) Notwithstanding subsection (b) and except as provided in
paragraph (2), the authority granted to the President by this section
does include the authority to regulate or prohibit the provision by a
provider of a social media platform of a covered service to--
``(A) an individual or entity who, pursuant to the exercise
of authorities under part 594 of title 31, Code of Federal
Regulations, is on the list of specially designated nationals
and blocked persons maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets
Control of the Department of the Treasury, if such provider
knew or should have known that such individual or entity was on
such list and that such provider was providing such service to
such individual or entity;
``(B) an individual who is a senior official of the
Government of the People's Republic of China or an individual
or entity acting at the direction of such individual, if such
provider knew or should have known that such individual was
such a senior official or such individual or entity was acting
at the direction of such individual, as the case may be, and
that such provider was providing such service to such
individual or such individual or entity, as the case may be;
``(C) an individual who is a senior member of the CCP or an
individual or entity acting at the direction of such
individual, if such provider knew or should have known that
such individual was such a senior member or such individual or
entity was acting at the direction of such individual, as the
case may be, and that such provider was providing such service
to such individual or such individual or entity, as the case
may be;
``(D) an individual who is a spokesperson of the CCP or the
Government of the People's Republic of China, or an individual
or entity acting at the direction of such individual, if such
provider knew or should have known that such individual was
such a spokesperson or such an individual or entity was acting
at the direction of such individual, as the case may be, and
that such provider was providing such service to such
individual or such individual or entity, as the case may be;
``(E) an individual or entity who is an agent or
instrumentality of the CCP or the Government of the People's
Republic of China, if such provider knew or should have known
that such individual or entity was such an agent or
instrumentality and that such provider was providing such
service to such individual or entity; or
``(F) an individual or entity who is or owned or controlled
by the CCP or the Government of the People's Republic of China,
if such provider knew or should have known that such individual
or entity was owned or controlled by the CCP or the Government
of the People's Republic of China and that such provider was
providing such service to such individual or entity.
``(2) The authority granted to the President by this section does
not include the authority to regulate or prohibit the provision by a
provider of a social media platform of a covered service to an
individual who is a senior official of a Government of the People's
Republic of China described in paragraph (1)(B) solely for legitimate
emergency alert purposes.
``(3) In this subsection--
``(A) the term `CCP' means the Chinese Communist Party of
the People's Republic of China or any successor entity;
``(B) the term `covered service'--
``(i) means, with respect to a provider of a social
media platform, any service provided by the provider
through the platform, including a service that is
publicly available and free of charge (including
permitting an individual or entity to create or
maintain an account or profile); and
``(ii) does not include the ability of an
individual or entity to--
``(I) access the platform without an
account or profile; or
``(II) send or receive private
communications on the platform;
``(C) the term `social media platform'--
``(i) means a website or other internet medium,
including a 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) enables one or more users to
generate content that can be viewed by other
users of the medium; and
``(III) enables users to view content
generated by other users of the medium; and
``(ii) does not include--
``(I) any such website or other internet
medium that serves fewer than 100,000 users who
access their account or profile at least once a
month;
``(II) an email program, email distribution
list, or multi-person text message group;
``(III) a website or other internet medium
that is primarily for the purpose of internet
commerce;
``(IV) a software application (including a
mobile application) used solely to communicate
with others through instant messages, audio
calls, video calls, or any combination thereof;
or
``(V) a website or other internet medium
the primary purpose of which is--
``(aa) to allow users to post
product reviews, business reviews, or
travel information and reviews; or
``(bb) to provide emergency alert
services;
``(D) the term `senior official of the Government of the
People's Republic of China' includes--
``(i) each member of the State Council, including
the Premier, Vice Premiers, and State Councillors;
``(ii) the minister and vice ministers of the
Ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Defense, State
Security, Justice, Public Security, and other
ministries;
``(iii) the director, deputy director, or any other
high ranking official of the Hong Kong and Macau
Affairs Office, the Liaison Office of the Central
People's Government in the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region, the Liaison Office of the
Central People's Government in the Macau Special
Administrative Region, the Office for Safeguarding
National Security of the Central People's Government in
the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the State
Council Research Office, the Overseas Chinese Affairs
Office, the Taiwan Affairs Office, the Cyberspace
Administration of China, the State Council Information
Office, the Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences, the China Media Group, the National
Ethnic Affairs Commission, the National Radio and
Television Administration, and the National Press and
Publication Administration;
``(iv) any other high ranking official in the
defense, security, or foreign affairs apparatus of the
government, including any ambassador and any spokesman
of any government agency or department; and
``(v) any other official that the President
determines to be a `senior official' for purposes of
this subparagraph; and
``(E) the term `senior member of the CCP' includes each
member of the CCP Central Committee, including each member of
the CCP Politburo (including the Politburo Standing Committee
and the General Secretary), the Central Military Commission
(CMC), the Secretariat of the Central Committee, the Central
National Security Commission, Leading Small Groups and their
related work offices, the Central Commission for Discipline
Inspection, the General Office, the Organization Department,
the Publicity Department, the International Liaison Department,
the United Front Work Department, the External Propaganda
Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, the
People's Daily, the Central Party School, the Central Policy
Research Office, the Central Taiwan Work Office, and any other
central-level CCP body.''.
(2) Effective date.--The amendments made by this subsection
shall take effect on the date that is 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act.
(b) Imposition of Sanctions.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the President shall, except as
provided in paragraph (2), prohibit the provision by a provider
of a social media platform of a covered service to any
individual or entity described in subparagraph (A), (B), (C),
(D), (E), or (F) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of section
203 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (as
added by subsection (a) of this section).
(2) Waiver.--The President may waive the prohibition
required by this subsection with respect to an individual or
entity if the President certifies to the appropriate
congressional committees that the Government of the People's
Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party have
verifiably removed prohibitions on officials of the United
States Government from accessing, using, or participating in
social media platforms in the People's Republic of China,
including by removing all forms of censorship that prohibit
persons in the People's Republic of China from accessing social
media platforms or viewing content generated by such United
States Government officials or United States persons on social
media platforms.
(3) Penalties.--The penalties provided for in subsections
(b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person
that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or
causes a violation of regulations promulgated to carry out this
subsection or the sanctions imposed pursuant to this subsection
to the same extent that such penalties apply to a person that
commits an unlawful act described in section 206(a) of that
Act.
(c) Regulatory Authority.--
(1) In general.--The President shall, not later than 180
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, prescribe
regulations as necessary for the implementation of this section
and the amendments made by this section.
(2) Notification to congress.--No later than 10 days before
the prescription of regulations under paragraph (1), the
President shall notify the appropriate congressional committees
regarding the proposed regulations and the provisions this
section and the amendments made by this section that the
regulations are implementing.
(d) Sunset.--The President's authority to issue waivers or licenses
with respect to sanctions required by subsection (b) or pursuant to
sections 203 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act
(50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) with regard to prohibitions required by
subsection (b) shall cease to apply beginning on the date that is 2
year after the date of enactment of this Act.
(e) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the
Committee on Financial Services of the House of
Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the
Committee on Banking of the Senate.
(2) Covered service; social media platform.--The terms
``covered service'' and ``social media platform'' have the
meanings given the terms in subsection (c) of section 203 of
the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C.
1702), as added by subsection (a) of this section.
<all>