[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7521 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7521

 To protect the national security of the United States from the threat 
posed by foreign adversary controlled applications, such as TikTok and 
   any successor application or service and any other application or 
service developed or provided by ByteDance Ltd. or an entity under the 
                       control of ByteDance Ltd.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 5, 2024

   Mr. Gallagher (for himself, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Stefanik, Ms. 
 Castor of Florida, Mr. Latta, Mr. Carson, Mr. Hern, Mr. Moulton, Mr. 
 Roy, Ms. Sherrill, Mr. Dunn of Florida, Ms. Stevens, Mr. Norman, Mr. 
 Auchincloss, Mrs. Cammack, Mr. Torres of New York, Mr. Moolenaar, Ms. 
Brown, Mr. Gottheimer, and Mrs. Hinson) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To protect the national security of the United States from the threat 
posed by foreign adversary controlled applications, such as TikTok and 
   any successor application or service and any other application or 
service developed or provided by ByteDance Ltd. or an entity under the 
                       control of ByteDance Ltd.

    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 ``Protecting Americans from Foreign 
Adversary Controlled Applications Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF FOREIGN ADVERSARY CONTROLLED APPLICATIONS.

    (a) In General.--
            (1) Prohibition of foreign adversary controlled 
        applications.--It shall be unlawful for an entity to 
        distribute, maintain, or update (or enable the distribution, 
        maintenance, or updating of) a foreign adversary controlled 
        application by carrying out, within the land or maritime 
        borders of the United States, any of the following:
                    (A) Providing services to distribute, maintain, or 
                update such foreign adversary controlled application 
                (including any source code of such application) by 
                means of a marketplace (including an online mobile 
                application store) through which users within the land 
                or maritime borders of the United States may access, 
                maintain, or update such application.
                    (B) Providing internet hosting services to enable 
                the distribution, maintenance, or updating of such 
                foreign adversary controlled application for users 
                within the land or maritime borders of the United 
                States.
            (2) Applicability.--Subsection (a) shall apply--
                    (A) in the case of an application that satisfies 
                the definition of a foreign adversary controlled 
                application pursuant to subsection (g)(3)(A), beginning 
                on the date that is 180 days after the date of the 
                enactment of this Act; and
                    (B) in the case of an application that satisfies 
                the definition of a foreign adversary controlled 
                application pursuant to subsection (g)(3)(B), beginning 
                on the date that is 180 days after the date of the 
                relevant determination of the President under such 
                subsection.
    (b) Data and Information Portability to Alternative Applications.--
Before the date on which a prohibition under subsection (a) applies to 
a foreign adversary controlled application, the entity that owns or 
controls such application shall provide, upon request by a user of such 
application within the land or maritime borders of United States, to 
such user all the available data related to the account of such user 
with respect to such application. Such data shall be provided in a 
machine readable format and shall include any data maintained by such 
application with respect to the account of such user, including content 
(including posts, photos, and videos) and all other account 
information.
    (c) Exemptions.--
            (1) Exemptions for qualified divestitures.--Subsection 
        (a)--
                    (A) does not apply to a foreign adversary 
                controlled application with respect to which a 
                qualified divestiture is executed before the date on 
                which a prohibition under subsection (a) would begin to 
                apply to such application; and
                    (B) shall cease to apply in the case of a foreign 
                adversary controlled application with respect to which 
                a qualified divestiture is executed after the date on 
                which a prohibition under subsection (a) applies to 
                such application.
            (2) Exemptions for certain necessary services.--Subsections 
        (a) and (b) do not apply to services provided with respect to a 
        foreign adversary controlled application that are necessary for 
        an entity to attain compliance with such subsections.
    (d) Enforcement.--
            (1) Civil penalties.--
                    (A) Foreign adversary controlled application 
                violations.--An entity that violates subsection (a) 
                shall be subject to pay a civil penalty in an amount 
                not to exceed the amount that results from multiplying 
                $5,000 by the number of users within the land or 
                maritime borders of the United States determined to 
                have accessed, maintained, or updated a foreign 
                adversary controlled application as a result of such 
                violation.
                    (B) Data and information violations.--An entity 
                that violates subsection (b) shall be subject to pay a 
                civil penalty in an amount not to exceed the amount 
                that results from multiplying $500 by the number of 
                users within the land or maritime borders of the United 
                States affected by such violation.
            (2) Actions by attorney general.--The Attorney General--
                    (A) shall conduct investigations related to 
                potential violations of subsection (a) or (b), and, if 
                such an investigation results in a determination that a 
                violation has occurred, the Attorney General shall 
                pursue enforcement under paragraph (1); and
                    (B) may bring an action in an appropriate district 
                court of the United States for appropriate relief, 
                including civil penalties under paragraph (1) or 
                declaratory and injunctive relief.
    (e) Severability.--
            (1) In general.--If any provision of this section or the 
        application of this section to any person or circumstance is 
        held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect the other 
        provisions or applications of this section that can be given 
        effect without the invalid provision or application.
            (2) Subsequent determinations.--If the application of any 
        provision of this section is held invalid with respect to a 
        foreign adversary controlled application that satisfies the 
        definition of such term pursuant to subsection (g)(3)(A), such 
        invalidity shall not affect or preclude the application of the 
        same provision of this section to such foreign adversary 
        controlled application by means of a subsequent determination 
        pursuant to subsection (g)(3)(B).
    (f) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act may be construed--
            (1) to authorize the Attorney General to pursue 
        enforcement, under this section, other than enforcement of 
        subsection (a) or (b);
            (2) to authorize the Attorney General to pursue 
        enforcement, under this section, against an individual user of 
        a foreign adversary controlled application; or
            (3) except as expressly provided herein, to alter or affect 
        any other authority provided by or established under another 
        provision of Federal law.
    (g) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Controlled by a foreign adversary.--The term 
        ``controlled by a foreign adversary'' means, with respect to a 
        covered company or other entity, that such company or other 
        entity is--
                    (A) a foreign person that is domiciled in, is 
                headquartered in, has its principal place of business 
                in, or is organized under the laws of a foreign 
                adversary country;
                    (B) an entity with respect to which a foreign 
                person or combination of foreign persons described in 
                subparagraph (A) directly or indirectly own at least a 
                20 percent stake; or
                    (C) a person subject to the direction or control of 
                a foreign person or entity described in subparagraph 
                (A) or (B).
            (2) Covered company.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``covered company'' means 
                an entity that operates, directly or indirectly 
                (including through a parent company, subsidiary, or 
                affiliate), a website, desktop application, mobile 
                application, or augmented or immersive technology 
                application that--
                            (i) permits a user to create an account or 
                        profile to generate, share, and view text, 
                        images, videos, real-time communications, or 
                        similar content;
                            (ii) has more than 1,000,000 monthly active 
                        users with respect to at least 2 of the 3 
                        months preceding the date on which a relevant 
                        determination of the President is made pursuant 
                        to paragraph (3)(B);
                            (iii) enables 1 or more users to generate 
                        or distribute content that can be viewed by 
                        other users of the website, desktop 
                        application, mobile application, or augmented 
                        or immersive technology application; and
                            (iv) enables 1 or more users to view 
                        content generated by other users of the 
                        website, desktop application, mobile 
                        application, or augmented or immersive 
                        technology application.
                    (B) Exclusion.--The term ``covered company'' does 
                not include an entity that operates a website, desktop 
                application, mobile application, or augmented or 
                immersive technology application whose primary purpose 
                is to allow users to post product reviews, business 
                reviews, or travel information and reviews.
            (3) Foreign adversary controlled application.--The term 
        ``foreign adversary controlled application'' means a website, 
        desktop application, mobile application, or augmented or 
        immersive technology application that is operated, directly or 
        indirectly (including through a parent company, subsidiary, or 
        affiliate), by--
                    (A) any of--
                            (i) ByteDance, Ltd.;
                            (ii) TikTok;
                            (iii) a subsidiary of or a successor to an 
                        entity identified in clause (i) or (ii) that is 
                        controlled by a foreign adversary; or
                            (iv) an entity owned or controlled, 
                        directly or indirectly, by an entity identified 
                        in clause (i), (ii), or (iii); or
                    (B) a covered company that--
                            (i) is controlled by a foreign adversary; 
                        and
                            (ii) that is determined by the President to 
                        present a significant threat to the national 
                        security of the United States following the 
                        issuance of--
                                    (I) a public notice proposing such 
                                determination; and
                                    (II) a public report to Congress, 
                                submitted not less than 30 days before 
                                such determination, describing the 
                                specific national security concern 
                                involved and containing a classified 
                                annex and a description of what assets 
                                would need to be divested to execute a 
                                qualified divestiture.
            (4) Foreign adversary country.--The term ``foreign 
        adversary country'' means a country specified in section 
        4872(d)(2) of title 10, United States Code.
            (5) Internet hosting service.--The term ``internet hosting 
        service'' means a service through which storage and computing 
        resources are provided to an individual or organization for the 
        accommodation and maintenance of 1 or more websites or online 
        services, and which may include file hosting, domain name 
        server hosting, cloud hosting, and virtual private server 
        hosting.
            (6) Qualified divestiture.--The term ``qualified 
        divestiture'' means a divestiture or similar transaction that--
                    (A) the President determines, through an 
                interagency process, would result in the relevant 
                covered company no longer being controlled by a foreign 
                adversary; and
                    (B) the President determines, through an 
                interagency process, precludes the establishment or 
                maintenance of any operational relationship between the 
                United States operations of the relevant foreign 
                adversary controlled application and any formerly 
                affiliated entities that are controlled by a foreign 
                adversary, including any cooperation with respect to 
                the operation of a content recommendation algorithm or 
                an agreement with respect to data sharing.
            (7) Source code.--The term ``source code'' means the 
        combination of text and other characters comprising the 
        content, both viewable and nonviewable, of a software 
        application, including any publishing language, programming 
        language, protocol, or functional content, as well as any 
        successor languages or protocols.
            (8) United states.--The term ``United States'' includes the 
        territories of the United States.

SEC. 3. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

    (a) Right of Action.--A petition for review challenging this Act or 
any action, finding, or determination under this Act may be filed only 
in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia 
Circuit.
    (b) Exclusive Jurisdiction.--The United States Court of Appeals for 
the District of Columbia Circuit shall have exclusive jurisdiction over 
any challenge to this Act or any action, finding, or determination 
under this Act.
    (c) Statute of Limitations.--A challenge may only be brought--
            (1) in the case of a challenge to this Act, not later than 
        165 days after the date of the enactment of this Act; and
            (2) in the case of a challenge to any action, finding, or 
        determination under this Act, not later than 90 days after the 
        date of such action, finding, or determination.
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