II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 872 

To identify social media entities under the influence of certain foreign entities 

and to take measures to protect the United States from such entities, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 16, 2023 

Mr. COTTON introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To identify social media entities under the influence of certain foreign entities and to take measures to protect 

the United States from such entities, 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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Attempts by 

5 Foreign Entities to Target Youths on Social Media Act 

6 Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘SAFETY on Social Media Act of 

7 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) APP.—The term ‘‘app’’ means a software 

4 application or electronic service that may be run or 

5 directed by a user on a computer, a mobile device, 

6 or any other general purpose computing device. 

7 (2) APP STORE.—The term ‘‘app store’’ means 

8 a publicly available website, software application, or 

9 other electronic service that distributes apps from 

10 third-party developers to users of a computer, a mo11 bile device, or any other general purpose computing 

12 device. 

13 (3) COVERED NATION.—The term ‘‘covered na14 tion’’ has the meaning given that term in section 

15 4872 of title 10, United States Code. 

16 (4) FOREIGN ENTITY OF CONCERN.—The term 

17 ‘‘foreign entity of concern’’ means— 

18 (A) the government, Armed Forces, or rul19 ing party of a covered nation; 

20 (B) any entity that is owned or controlled, 

21 directly or indirectly, by the government, Armed 

22 Forces, or ruling party of a covered nation; 

23 (C) any entity that is organized under the 

24 laws of, or otherwise subject to the jurisdiction 

25 of, the government of a covered nation; or 


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1 (D) any entity acting on behalf of an enti2 ty described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C). 

3 (5) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per4 son’’ means any individual or entity that is not a 

5 United States person. 

6 (6) SOCIAL MEDIA ENTITY.—The term ‘‘social 

7 media entity’’ means any entity that— 

8 (A) owns or operates, directly or indirectly, 

9 an app or website, the primary or sole purpose 

10 of which is not— 

11 (i) to conduct commercial trans12 actions; 

13 (ii) to make video games available for 

14 play by users; 

15 (iii) to report news; or 

16 (iv) to provide other kinds of informa17 tion concerning businesses, products, or 

18 travel information; and 

19 (B) allows users of the app or website to 

20 publish and distribute to the public or to other 

21 users text, images, videos, and other forms of 

22 media content. 

23 (7) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

24 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 


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1 (A) a United States citizen or an alien law2 fully admitted for permanent residence to the 

3 United States; or 

4 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 

5 the United States or of any jurisdiction within 

6 the United States, including a foreign branch of 

7 such an entity. 

8 SEC. 3. LIST OF UNTRUSTWORTHY APPLICATIONS AND SO9 CIAL MEDIA ENTITIES. 

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

11 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 

12 the President shall publish and submit to Congress a list 

13 of untrustworthy applications and social media entities (in 

14 this Act referred to as the ‘‘List’’), which shall include 

15 all entities that meet the criteria described in subsection 

16 (b). 

17 (b) CRITERIA FOR LIST.—The President shall include 

18 on the List any social media entity that— 

19 (1) is a foreign person; 

20 (2) owns or controls, is directly or indirectly 

21 owned or controlled by, or is under common owner22 ship or control with a foreign entity of concern; 

23 (3)(A) as a result of the influence of a foreign 

24 entity of concern— 


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1 (i) has altered the content of an app or 

2 website owned or operated by the social media 

3 entity to comply with the request of, or to ad4 vance the interests of, a foreign entity of con5 cern; or 

6 (ii) has shared the data of United States 

7 persons with a foreign entity of concern; or 

8 (B) may be compelled by a foreign entity of 

9 concern— 

10 (i) to alter the content of an app or 

11 website owned or operated by the social media 

12 entity; or 

13 (ii) to share the data of United States per14 sons with a foreign entity of concern; and 

15 (4) had, in at least one month in the 12-month 

16 period preceding submission of the report, more 

17 than— 

18 (A) 1,000,000 active monthly users; or 

19 (B) 1,000,000 downloads. 

20 SEC. 4. BLOCKING OF PROPERTY OF LISTED ENTITIES. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after each 

22 publication of the List under section 3, the President shall 

23 exercise all of the powers granted to the President under 

24 the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

25 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent necessary to block and 


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1 prohibit all transactions in property and interests in prop2 erty of each entity on the List if such property and inter3 ests in property are in the United States, come within the 

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

5 control of a United States person. 

6 (b) INAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN IEEPA PROVI7 SIONS.—For purposes of subsection (a), the following pro8 visions of the International Emergency Economic Powers 

9 Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) shall not apply: 

10 (1) The requirement under section 202(b) (50 

11 U.S.C. 1701(b)) to declare a national emergency. 

12 (2) The exceptions under section 203(b) of that 

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

14 (c) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 

15 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex16 ercise the authorities provided to the President 

17 under sections 203 and 205 of the International 

18 Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 

19 and 1704) to the extent necessary to carry out this 

20 section. 

21 (2) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, at22 tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 

23 violation of subsection (a) or any regulation, license, 

24 or order issued to carry out that subsection shall be 

25 subject to the penalties set forth in subsections (b) 


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1 and (c) of section 206 of the International Emer2 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the 

3 same extent as a person that commits an unlawful 

4 act described in subsection (a) of that section. 

5 SEC. 5. HALTING OPERATIONS OF LISTED ENTITIES. 

6 (a) REMOVAL FROM APP STORES.—After the first 

7 publication of the List under section 3 and not later than 

8 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

9 Federal Communications Commission (referred to in this 

10 section as the ‘‘Commission’’) shall prescribe a rule pro11 hibiting any entity that owns, controls, or operates an app 

12 store in the United States from carrying or supporting in 

13 the app store in the United States an app or website 

14 owned or operated by a social media entity that is on the 

15 List. 

16 (b) INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—After the first publication of 

18 the List under section 3 and not later than 1 year 

19 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

20 Commission shall prescribe a rule requiring each 

21 internet service provider to ensure that the internet 

22 service of the provider cannot be used to access the 

23 website of any social media entity on the List. 

24 (2) LIABILITY PROTECTION.—An internet serv25 ice provider shall not be liable under the rule preVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Mar 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S872.IS S872

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1 scribed under paragraph (1) for access to the 

2 website of a social media entity on the List that is 

3 obtained through the use of a virtual private net4 work. 

5 (c) ENFORCEMENT.—The Commission may impose a 

6 forfeiture penalty under section 503 of the Communica7 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 503) on any person who vio8 lates a rule prescribed under this section. 

9 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec10 tion may be construed to give the Commission the author11 ity to carry out any action under subsection (a) or (b) 

12 with respect to any entity that is not on the List. 

13 SEC. 6. COUNTERMEASURES AGAINST EMPLOYEES OF LIST14 ED ENTITIES. 

15 (a) VISA INELIGIBILITY.—Beginning on the date that 

16 is 30 days after an entity is first included on the List— 

17 (1) any foreign person employed by such entity 

18 on or after such date of first inclusion who is a na19 tional of a covered nation— 

20 (A) shall be permanently ineligible to be 

21 issued or to retain a nonimmigrant visa under 

22 section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of the Immigration 

23 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

24 1101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b)); and 


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1 (B) shall be ineligible to be issued or to re2 tain any other visa authorizing entry into the 

3 United States until the date that is 3 years 

4 after the date on which— 

5 (i) such foreign person terminates his 

6 or her employment with such entity; or 

7 (ii) such entity is removed from the 

8 List; and 

9 (2) any foreign person employed by such entity 

10 on or after such date of first inclusion who is not 

11 a national of a covered nation shall be ineligible to 

12 be issued or to retain any visa authorizing entry into 

13 the United States until the date that is 3 years after 

14 the date on which— 

15 (A) such foreign person terminates his or 

16 her employment with such entity; or 

17 (B) such entity is removed from the List. 

18 (b) FOREIGN AGENT REGISTRATION REQUIRED.— 

19 (1) REGISTRATION.—Section 1(b) of the For20 eign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended 

21 (22 U.S.C. 611(b)) is amended— 

22 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

23 and inserting a semicolon; 

24 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe25 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 


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1 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(4) an entity on the list of untrustworthy ap3 plications and social media entities under section 3 

4 of the Stopping Attempts by Foreign Entities to 

5 Target Youths on Social Media Act Act of 2023.’’. 

6 (2) CESSATION OF EMPLOYMENT.—Section 2 of 

7 the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as 

8 amended (22 U.S.C. 612) is amended by adding at 

9 the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(e) AGENTS OF ENTITIES LISTED IN THE

11 UNTRUSTWORTHY APPLICATIONS AND SOCIAL MEDIA

12 ENTITIES LIST.—Any individual who ceases employment 

13 as an agent of a foreign principal that is an entity on the 

14 list of untrustworthy applications and social media entities 

15 under section 3 of the Stopping Attempts by Foreign Enti16 ties to Target Youths on Social Media Act Act of 2023 

17 shall, during the 2-year period beginning on the date on 

18 which the individual ceases such employment with the for19 eign principal— 

20 ‘‘(1) continue to register as an agent of a for21 eign principal; and 

22 ‘‘(2) be subject to the penalties under section 8 

23 of this Act.’’. 

Æ 


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