[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 123 (Tuesday, July 18, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3082-S3083]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 904. Mr. RUBIO submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill S. 2226, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2024 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

        At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following:

     SEC. 1083. PROTECTING AMERICANS FROM SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES 
                   CONTROLLED BY COUNTRIES OF CONCERN.

       (a) Prohibited Commercial Transactions.--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--
       (1) are in the United States or come within the United 
     States; or
       (2) 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.
       (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, headquartered in, has its 
     principal place of business 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) or (B).
       (D) A company owned or controlled directly or indirectly by 
     a company listed in subparagraph (A) or (B).
       (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 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, and Inapplicability of 
     Certain Provisions.--
       (1) Implementation.--The President may exercise all 
     authorities provided under sections 203 and 205 of the 
     International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 
     and 1704) 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 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.
       (3) Inapplicability of certain provisions.--The 
     requirements under 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.
       (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;

[[Page S3083]]

       (B) the Armed Forces of a country of concern;
       (C) the leading political party of a country of concern;
       (D) an individual who is--
       (i) a national of a country of concern;
       (ii) domiciled and living in a country of concern; and
       (iii) subject to substantial influence, directly or 
     indirectly, from an entity specified under any of 
     subparagraphs (A) through (C); or
       (E) a private business or a state-owned enterprise that 
     is--
       (i) 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
       (ii) subject to substantial influence, directly or 
     indirectly, from an entity specified under any of 
     subparagraphs (A) through (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.
                                 ______