I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1153 

To provide a clarification of non-applicability for regulation and prohibition 

relating to sensitive personal data under the International Emergency 

Economic Powers Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2023 

Mr. MCCAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide a clarification of non-applicability for regulation 

and prohibition relating to sensitive personal data under 

the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Deterring America’s Technological Adversaries Act’’ or 

6 ‘‘DATA Act’’. 

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

8 this Act is as follows: 


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Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. Authorization of appropriations. 

Sec. 4. Severability. 

Sec. 5. Definitions. 

TITLE I—CLARIFICATION OF NON-APPLICABILITY FOR REGULATION AND PROHIBITION RELATING TO SENSITIVE PERSONAL 

DATA UNDER INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY ECONOMIC POWERS ACT 

Sec. 101. Clarification. 

Sec. 102. Directive. 

TITLE II—IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS ON CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS RELATING TO CONNECTED SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS 

Sec. 201. Imposition of sanctions. 

Sec. 202. Sanction described. 

Sec. 203. Sunset. 

TITLE III—SPECIFIC DETERMINATIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE 

IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS 

Sec. 301. Determination relating to Bytedance, Ltd., TikTok, and related entities. 

Sec. 302. Requests by appropriate congressional committees. 

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) On December 2, 2022, the Director of the 

4 Federal Bureau of Investigation, Christopher Wray, 

5 stated, ‘‘We . . . do have national security concerns 

6 about the app [TikTok]. Its parent company is con7 trolled by the Chinese government. And it gives 

8 them the potential to leverage the app in ways that 

9 I think should concern us . . . One, it gives them 

10 the ability to control the recommendation algorithm 

11 which allows them to manipulate content and if they 

12 want to, to use it for influence operations which are 

13 a lot more worrisome in the hands of the Chinese 


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1 Communist Party than whether or not you’re steer2 ing somebody as an influencer to one product or an3 other. They also have the ability to collect data 

4 through it on users which can be used for traditional 

5 espionage operations, for example. They also have 

6 the ability on it to get access, they have essentially 

7 access to the software to devices. So you’re talking 

8 about millions of devices and that gives them the 

9 ability to engage in different kinds of malicious 

10 cyber activity through that. And so all of these 

11 things are in the hands of a government that doesn’t 

12 share our values and that has a mission that’s very 

13 much at odds with what’s in the best interest of the 

14 United States that that should concern us.’’. 

15 (2) On December 3, 2022, the Director of Na16 tional Intelligence, Avril Haines, ‘‘It is extraordinary 

17 the degree to which China, in particular, but they’re 

18 not the only ones, obviously, are developing just 

19 frameworks for collecting foreign data and pulling it 

20 in and their capacity to then turn that around and 

21 use it to target audiences for information campaigns 

22 or for other things, but also to have it for the future 

23 so that they can use it for a variety of means that 

24 they’re interested in.’’. 


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1 (3) On December 16, 2022, the Director of 

2 Central Intelligence, Bill Burns, stated, ‘‘I think it’s 

3 a genuine concern . . . for the U.S. government, in 

4 the sense that, because the parent company of 

5 TikTok is a Chinese company, the Chinese govern6 ment is able to insist upon extracting the private 

7 data of a lot of TikTok users in this country, and 

8 also to shape the content of what goes on to TikTok 

9 as well to suit the interests of the Chinese leadership 

10 . . . What I would underscore, though, is that it’s 

11 genuinely troubling to see what the Chinese govern12 ment could do to manipulate TikTok.’’. 

13 (4) On December 23, 2022, both chambers of 

14 Congress passed a bipartisan spending bill that in15 cluded a ban on using TikTok from government de16 vices. 

17 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

18 No additional amounts are authorized to be made 

19 available to carry out this Act. 

20 SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY. 

21 If any provision of this Act or its application to any 

22 person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does 

23 not affect other provisions or applications of this section 

24 that can be given effect without the invalid provision or 


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1 application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are 

2 severable. 

3 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) AGENCY OR INSTRUMENTALITY OF A FOR6 EIGN STATE.—The term ‘‘agency or instrumentality 

7 of a foreign state’’ has the meaning given such term 

8 under section 1603(b) of title 28, United States 

9 Code. 

10 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT11 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com12 mittees’’ means— 

13 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 

14 Committee on Ways and Means, and the Com15 mittee on Financial Services of the House of 

16 Representatives; and 

17 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

18 and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

19 Urban Affairs of the Senate. 

20 (3) CHINA.—The term ‘‘China’’ means— 

21 (A) when used in the geographic sense, the 

22 country of the People’s Republic of China; and 

23 (B) otherwise, the Government of the 

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1 cluding any entity acting on behalf of, or the 

2 benefit of— 

3 (i) the country of the People’s Repub4 lic of China; or 

5 (ii) the Government of the country of 

6 the People’s Republic of China. 

7 (4) CONNECTED SOFTWARE APPLICATION.— 

8 The term ‘‘connected software application’’ has the 

9 meaning given such term in Executive Order 14034 

10 (86 Fed. Reg. 31423; relating to protecting Ameri11 cans’ sensitive data from foreign adversaries). 

12 (5) ELECTION INTERFERENCE IN OR AGAINST A

13 FOREIGN COUNTRY THAT IS A TREATY ALLY OF THE

14 UNITED STATES OR A DEMOCRATIC OR EMERGING

15 DEMOCRATIC PARTNER OF THE UNITED STATES.— 

16 The term ‘‘election interference in or against a for17 eign country that is a treaty ally of the United 

18 States or a democratic or emerging democratic part19 ner of the United States’’ means actions to engage 

20 in, directly or indirectly, activities originating from, 

21 or directed by, persons located, in whole or in sub22 stantial part, outside the territory of a treaty ally of 

23 the United States or a democratic or emerging 

24 democratic partner of the United States that have 

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1 lawfully accessing, or causing a misappropriation of 

2 information with the purpose or effect of interfering 

3 with or undermining election processes or institu4 tions. 

5 (6) ELECTION INTERFERENCE IN OR AGAINST

6 THE UNITED STATES.—The term ‘‘election inter7 ference in or against the United States’’ includes ac8 tions to engage in, directly or indirectly, activities 

9 originating from, or directed by persons located, in 

10 whole or in substantial part, outside the United 

11 States that— 

12 (A) have the purpose or effect of tam13 pering with, altering, unlawfully accessing, or 

14 causing a misappropriation of information with 

15 the purpose or effect of undermining election 

16 processes or institutions; 

17 (B) deny access, block, degrade, or alter 

18 election and campaign infrastructure, or related 

19 systems or data related to political parties, can20 didates in elections for public office, the admin21 istration of elections for public office, or any 

22 public election activity; or 

23 (C) consist of the making of contributions 

24 or donations, or any other activity prohibited 

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1 paign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121), with the 

2 purpose or effect of undermining election proc3 esses or institutions. 

4 (7) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per5 son’’— 

6 (A) means a person that is not a United 

7 States person; and 

8 (B) includes a nonresident alien individual, 

9 foreign corporation, foreign partnership, foreign 

10 trust, foreign estate. 

11 (8) KNOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’, with 

12 respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, 

13 means that a person has actual knowledge, or should 

14 have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the 

15 result. 

16 (9) SENSITIVE PERSONAL DATA.—The term 

17 ‘‘sensitive personal data’’ has the meaning given 

18 such term in section 7.2 of title 15, Code of Federal 

19 Regulations (or any successor regulation). 

20 (10) TREATY ALLY OF THE UNITED STATES.— 

21 The term ‘‘treaty ally of the United States’’ means 

22 a foreign country that is a party to any of the fol23 lowing: 

24 (A) The North Atlantic Treaty, signed at 

25 Washington, April 4, 1949. 


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1 (B) The Security Treaty Between Aus2 tralia, New Zealand, and the United States of 

3 America, signed at San Francisco, September 

4 1, 1951. 

5 (C) The Mutual Defense Treaty Between 

6 the United States of America and the Republic 

7 of the Philippines, signed at Washington, Au8 gust 30, 1951. 

9 (D) The Southeast Asia Collective Defense 

10 Treaty, signed at Manilla, September 8, 1954. 

11 (E) The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and 

12 Security Between the United States of America 

13 and Japan, signed at Washington, January 19, 

14 1960. 

15 (F) The Mutual Defense Treaty Between 

16 the United States of America and the Republic 

17 of Korea, signed at Washington, October 1, 

18 1953. 

19 (11) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

20 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 

21 (A) a United States citizen; 

22 (B) a permanent resident alien; 

23 (C) an entity organized under the laws of 

24 the United States (including foreign branches); 

25 or 


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1 (D) any person in the United States. 

2 TITLE I—CLARIFICATION OF 

3 NON-APPLICABILITY FOR 

4 REGULATION AND PROHIBI5 TION RELATING TO SEN6 SITIVE PERSONAL DATA 

7 UNDER INTERNATIONAL 

8 EMERGENCY ECONOMIC POW9 ERS ACT 

10 SEC. 101. CLARIFICATION. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The importation to a country, or 

12 the exportation from a country, of sensitive personal data 

13 shall not constitute the importation from a country, or the 

14 exportation to a country, of information or informational 

15 materials for purposes of paragraph (1) or (3) of section 

16 203(b) of the International Emergency Economic Powers 

17 Act (50 U.S.C. 1702(b)). 

18 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in sub19 section (a), and nothing in the International Emergency 

20 Economic Powers Act, may be construed to provide for 

21 the application of paragraph (1) or (3) of section 203(b) 

22 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

23 U.S.C. 1702(b)) to the importation to China, or the expor24 tation from China, directly or indirectly, of sensitive per25 sonal data. 


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1 SEC. 102. DIRECTIVE. 

2 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact3 ment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall issue 

4 a directive prohibiting United States persons from engag5 ing in any transaction with a person that the Secretary 

6 of the Treasury determines knowingly provides or may 

7 transfer sensitive personal data of persons subject to 

8 United States jurisdiction to any foreign person that— 

9 (1) is subject to the jurisdiction or direction of, 

10 or directly or indirectly operating on behalf of, 

11 China; or 

12 (2) is owned by, directly or indirectly controlled 

13 by, or is otherwise subject to the influence of China. 

14 TITLE II—IMPOSITION OF SANC15 TIONS ON CERTAIN TRANS16 ACTIONS RELATING TO CON17 NECTED SOFTWARE APPLICA18 TIONS 

19 SEC. 201. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall impose the 

21 sanction described in section 202 with respect to any for22 eign person that, on or after the date of the enactment 

23 of this Act, knowingly— 

24 (1) operates, directs, or otherwise deals in a 

25 connected software application that— 


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1 (A) is subject to the jurisdiction or direc2 tion of, or directly or indirectly operating on be3 half of China, or is owned by, directly or indi4 rectly controlled by, or otherwise subject to the 

5 influence of China; and 

6 (B) is reasonable believed to have facili7 tated or may be facilitating or contributing to 

8 China’s— 

9 (i) military, intelligence, espionage, or 

10 weapons proliferation activities; 

11 (ii) censorship activities; 

12 (iii) surveillance activities; 

13 (iv) control or use of recommendation 

14 algorithms that are capable of manipu15 lating content; 

16 (v) malicious cyber activities; or 

17 (vi) use of data to target audiences 

18 for information campaigns; 

19 (2) directly or indirectly orders, controls, di20 rects, engages in, or otherwise facilitates an act of 

21 election interference against the United States; 

22 (3) directly or indirectly orders, controls, di23 rects, engages in, or otherwise facilitates an act of 

24 election interference in or against a foreign country 

25 that is— 


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1 (A) a treaty ally of the United States; or 

2 (B) a democratic or emerging democratic 

3 partner of the United States; 

4 (4) directly or indirectly orders, controls, di5 rects, engages in, or otherwise facilitates an act of 

6 steering United States policy and regulatory deci7 sions in favor of China’s strategic objectives, to the 

8 detriment of the economic or national security of the 

9 United States; 

10 (5) knowingly facilitates a transaction or trans11 actions for or on behalf of a person described, or a 

12 person that has engaged in the activity described, as 

13 the case may be, in paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4); 

14 (6) knowingly assists, sponsors, or provides fi15 nancial, material, or technological support for a per16 son described, or a person that has engaged in the 

17 activity described, as the case may be, in paragraph 

18 (1), (2), (3), or (4); or 

19 (7) is owned or controlled by, or has acted for 

20 or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, a person de21 scribed, or a person that has engaged in the activity 

22 described, as the case may be, in paragraph (1), (2), 

23 (3), or (4). 


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1 (b) LIST OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES THAT ARE DEMO2 CRATIC OR EMERGING DEMOCRATIC PARTNERS OF THE

3 UNITED STATES.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act, the President 

6 shall submit to the appropriate congressional com7 mittees— 

8 (A) a definition of the term ‘‘democratic or 

9 emerging democratic partner of the United 

10 States’’; and 

11 (B) a list of foreign countries that are des12 ignated as a democratic or emerging democratic 

13 partner of the United States for purposes of 

14 subsection (a)(3) that includes the countries 

15 listed in paragraph (2). 

16 (2) INITIAL DESIGNATIONS.—Sweden, Switzer17 land, Israel, India, and Taiwan shall be deemed to 

18 have been so designated as a democratic or emerging 

19 democratic partner of the United States for pur20 poses of subsection (a)(3). 

21 (3) UPDATES.—The President shall submit to 

22 the appropriate congressional committees an up23 dated list under subparagraph (A) on a periodic 

24 basis. 


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1 SEC. 202. SANCTION DESCRIBED. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The sanction described in this 

3 section is the exercise of all powers granted to the Presi4 dent by the International Emergency Economic Powers 

5 Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (except that the require6 ments of section 202 of such Act (50 U.S.C. 1701) shall 

7 not apply) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit 

8 all transactions in all property and interests in property 

9 of any foreign person or an agency or instrumentality of 

10 a foreign state, as the case may be, if such property and 

11 interests in property are in the United States, come within 

12 the United States, or are or come within the possession 

13 or control of a United States person. 

14 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may exercise 

15 all authorities provided under sections 203 and 205 of the 

16 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

17 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out this title. 

18 (c) REGULATIONS.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall pre20 scribe such regulations as may be necessary for the 

21 implementation of this title. 

22 (2) PRIOR BRIEFING REQUIRED.—Not later 

23 than 10 days before the prescription of regulations 

24 under paragraph (1), the President shall brief the 

25 appropriate congressional committees regarding the 


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1 proposed regulations and the provisions of this title 

2 that such regulations are implementing. 

3 (d) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, attempts to 

4 violate, or causes a violation of any sanction authorized 

5 by this title, or any regulation, license, or order issued to 

6 carry out such sanctions, shall be subject to the penalties 

7 set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the 

8 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

9 U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a person that commits 

10 an unlawful act described in subsection (a) of that section. 

11 (e) EXCEPTIONS.—The following activities shall not 

12 be subject to the imposition of sanctions under this title: 

13 (1) Any authorized intelligence, law enforce14 ment, or national security activities of the United 

15 States. 

16 (2) Any transaction necessary to comply with 

17 United States obligations under the Agreement be18 tween the United Nations and the United States of 

19 America regarding the Headquarters of the United 

20 States, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and 

21 entered into force November 21, 1947, or the Con22 vention on Consular Relations, done at Vienna April 

23 24, 1963, and entered into force March 19, 1967, or 

24 any other United States international agreement. 


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1 (f) WAIVER.—The President may, on a case-by-case 

2 basis and for periods not to exceed 180 days each, waive 

3 the application of sanctions imposed with respect to a for4 eign person under this title if the President certifies to 

5 the appropriate congressional committees, not later than 

6 15 days before such waiver is to take effect, that the waiv7 er is vital to the national security interests of the United 

8 States. 

9 SEC. 203. SUNSET. 

10 This title, and the authorities provided by this title, 

11 shall terminate on the date that is 5 years after the date 

12 of the enactment of this Act. 

13 TITLE III—SPECIFIC DETER14 MINATIONS WITH RESPECT 

15 TO THE IMPOSITION OF SANC16 TIONS 

17 SEC. 301. DETERMINATION RELATING TO BYTEDANCE, 

18 LTD., TIKTOK, AND RELATED ENTITIES. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

20 date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days 

21 thereafter for 3 years, the President shall transmit to the 

22 appropriate congressional committees a determination of 

23 whether reasonable grounds exist for concluding that any 

24 of the entities described in subsection (b)— 


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1 (1) meets the criteria described in paragraph 

2 (1) or (2) of section 102 for purposes of applying a 

3 directive described in such section with respect to 

4 the entity; or 

5 (2) have engaged in any conduct described in 

6 section 201. 

7 (b) ENTITIES DESCRIBED.—The entities described in 

8 this subsection are— 

9 (1) Bytedance, Ltd.; 

10 (2) TikTok; 

11 (3) any subsidiary of or a successor to an entity 

12 described in paragraph (1) or (2); and 

13 (4) any entity owned or controlled directly or 

14 indirectly by an entity described in paragraph (1), 

15 (2), or (3). 

16 (c) FORM.—The determination described in sub17 section (a) shall be transmitted in unclassified form, and 

18 any supporting documentation may be transmitted in a 

19 classified annex. 

20 (d) APPLICATION OF SANCTIONS.—If the President 

21 makes an affirmative decision under subsection (a) with 

22 respect to any entity described in subsection (b), the Presi23 dent shall impose the sanction described in section 202 

24 with respect to the entity, as appropriate. 


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1 SEC. 302. REQUESTS BY APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL 

2 COMMITTEES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after re4 ceiving a request from the chairperson or ranking member 

5 of one or more of the appropriate congressional commit6 tees with respect to whether a foreign person meets the 

7 criteria described in paragraph (1) or (2) of section 102 

8 for purposes of applying a directive described in such sec9 tion with respect to the person, or have engaged in any 

10 conduct described in section 201 for the imposition of the 

11 sanction described in section 202, the President shall— 

12 (1) determine if that person meets the require13 ments described in the applicable section; and 

14 (2) submit to the chairperson and ranking 

15 member of the committee or committees a report 

16 that includes— 

17 (A) a statement of whether or not the 

18 President imposed or intends to impose such 

19 sanction with respect to the person; and 

20 (B) if applicable, a description of the sanc21 tion so imposed or intended to be imposed. 

22 (b) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any information obtained at 

24 any time with respect to the President making a de25 termination with respect to a foreign person under 

26 subsection (a), or under any review of the foreign 


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1 person through other United States Government na2 tional security review processes, shall be made avail3 able to a committee or subcommittee of Congress of 

4 appropriate jurisdiction, upon the request of the 

5 chairman or ranking minority member of such com6 mittee or subcommittee. 

7 (2) PROHIBITION ON DISCLOSURE.—No such 

8 committee or subcommittee, or member thereof, may 

9 disclose any information made available under clause 

10 (i), that is submitted on a confidential basis unless 

11 the full committee determines that the withholding 

12 of that information is contrary to the national inter13 est. 

14 (c) FORM.—Each determination described in sub15 section (a)(1), and each report under subsection (a)(2), 

16 may be submitted in classified or unclassified form, and 

17 any supporting documentation to such determination or 

18 report may contain a classified annex. 

Æ 


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