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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9850 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9850

To protect and promote American values abroad, including the rights of 
  freedom of speech and freedom of expression enshrined in the United 
    States Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and 
Political Rights, through the use of foreign assistance and by assuring 
     U.S. law enforcement does not cooperate in censorship abroad.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 25, 2024

  Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Jordan, and Ms. Salazar) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                            Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To protect and promote American values abroad, including the rights of 
  freedom of speech and freedom of expression enshrined in the United 
    States Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and 
Political Rights, through the use of foreign assistance and by assuring 
     U.S. law enforcement does not cooperate in censorship abroad.

    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 ``No Funding or Enforcement of 
Censorship Abroad Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) On March 5, 2018, U.S. FBI agents, including a special 
        agent, a Cyber Operations supervisor, and a Department of 
        Justice agent specializing in counterespionage to thwart 
        foreign interference, met with a special council of the 
        Brazilian Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to discuss efforts by 
        the United States Department of Justice and the FBI to fight 
        ``fake news'' and ``protecting the integrity of elections''.
            (2) Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes 
        received and implemented recommendations on censoring content 
        from several non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including 
        the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), which is funded by 
        the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the 
        U.S. State Department.
            (3) In 2022, the National Science Foundation (NSF), 
        supported by the U.S. Congress, gave a $200,000 grant to the 
        George Washington University for countering disinformation in 
        Brazil and three other countries.
            (4) Throughout 2022 and 2023, Justice de Moraes banned 
        Paulo Figueiredo, a Brazilian journalist living in the U.S., 
        from social media platforms in Brazil.
            (5) In August 2023, the Consortium for Elections and 
        Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS), which is funded by the 
        Global Elections and Political Transitions (GEPT) Program at 
        USAID, formed a key partnership with the Superior Electoral 
        Court in Brazil (TSE) and worked together to discuss censorship 
        strategies.
            (6) In December 2023, Justice de Moraes demanded that 
        Rumble, a video-sharing platform with its corporate 
        headquarters in the United States, remove certain creators from 
        its platform.
            (7) Later that month, Rumble suspended its service in 
        Brazil rather than comply with the unlawful demands of Justice 
        de Moraes.
            (8) On April 3, 2024, Michael Shellenberger published the 
        ``Twitter Files--Brazil'' sharing Justice de Moraes's illegal 
        demands for Twitter to disclose information about users in 
        2020.
            (9) On April 6, 2024, X (formerly known as Twitter), an 
        American technology company, announced that a Brazilian court 
        had forced it to block certain accounts in Brazil.
            (10) On April 7, 2024, Justice de Moraes announced a 
        criminal investigation into Elon Musk, the owner of X and a 
        U.S. citizen, for spreading disinformation, obstructing 
        justice, and continuing to allow people de Moraes banned to 
        express their views on X.
            (11) On April 18 and 19, 2024, Brazilian Federal Police 
        published two reports suggesting that Michael Shellenberger was 
        under investigation for publishing the ``Twitter Files--
        Brazil''.
            (12) In August 2024, Brazil's Supreme Court instituted a 
        ban on X.
            (13) As of September 2024, the U.S. Department of State has 
        remained silent and neglected its mission to champion 
        democratic institutions and human rights.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the United States Government 
should promote the universal values of freedom of speech and freedom of 
expression around the world and should not facilitate nor promote 
online censorship through foreign assistance programs and should not 
facilitate nor promote online censorship through cooperation with 
foreign governments and their law enforcement agencies.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE THAT ENCOURAGES ONLINE CENSORSHIP.

    (a) No assistance may be furnished under the Foreign Assistance Act 
of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), for the benefit of any foreign entity 
if the Secretary of State has credible information that such foreign 
entity has engaged in, facilitated, or promoted, or will imminently 
engage in, facilitate, or promote censorship of lawful speech online.
    (b) The prohibition in subsection (a) shall not apply if the 
Secretary determines and reports to the appropriate congressional 
committees that the foreign entity has ceased engaging in, 
facilitating, or promoting online censorship.

SEC. 5. RESTRICTION ON LAW ENFORCEMENT COOPERATION WITH FOREIGN ONLINE 
              CENSORSHIP.

    (a) No assistance or cooperation may be furnished by Federal law 
enforcement officials in response to a request from a foreign law 
enforcement agency if the Attorney General has credible information 
that such a request will cause, facilitate, or promote censorship of 
protected speech online.
    (b) In making a determination under this section, the Attorney 
General shall consult with the Secretary of State and, as appropriate, 
the Director of National Intelligence.
    (c) The Attorney General shall provide a report to the appropriate 
congressional committees on an annual basis listing and describing all 
determinations made under this section, which may be submitted in 
classified form.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on 
        Foreign Relations, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the 
        Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, and the Committee on 
        Foreign Affairs, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the 
        Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
            (2) Foreign entity.--The term ``foreign entity'' means--
                    (A) any agency, ministry, office, or subdivision of 
                a foreign government;
                    (B) an international organization; or
                    (C) a nongovernmental organization with operations 
                outside of the United States.
            (3) Foreign law enforcement agency.--The term ``foreign law 
        enforcement agency'' has the meaning given such term in section 
        44, title 15 of the United States Code.
            (4) Online censorship.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``online censorship'' 
                means--
                            (i) a request or demand that an electronic 
                        communications service provider, as such term 
                        is defined in section 2510 of title 18 of the 
                        United States Code, with its headquarters in 
                        the United States remove, disable, suppress, or 
                        otherwise censor a communication on its service 
                        that contains protected speech and is not 
                        otherwise prohibited by the provider's terms of 
                        service; and
                            (ii) orders issued by Brazilian Supreme 
                        Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to electronic 
                        communications services providers with their 
                        headquarters in the United States after January 
                        1, 2022, that demand that the electronic 
                        communications services provider remove, 
                        disable, suppress, or otherwise censor a 
                        communication on its service that contains 
                        protected speech and is not otherwise 
                        prohibited by the provider's terms of service.
                    (B) Exception.--The term ``online censorship'' 
                shall not include--
                            (i) any request or demand related to the 
                        communications of, or content posted by, a 
                        foreign terrorist organization designated under 
                        section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality 
                        Act; and
                            (ii) any request or demand related to an 
                        apparent violation of sections 2251, 2251A, 
                        2252, 2252A, 2252B, of 2260 that involves child 
                        pornography, of section 1591 (if the violation 
                        involves a minor), or of section 2422(b) of 
                        title 18 of the United States Code.
            (5) Protected speech.--The term ``protected speech'' means 
        speech protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution 
        of the United States or speech that would be so protected if 
        the speaker were located in the United States.
                                 <all>
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