II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5076 

To require periodic updates to the comprehensive strategy to promote Internet 

freedom and access to information in Iran, to authorize grants to support 

and develop programs in Iran that promote or expand an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To require periodic updates to the comprehensive strategy 

to promote Internet freedom and access to information 

in Iran, to authorize grants to support and develop programs in Iran that promote or expand an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet, 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 ‘‘Iran Internet Freedom 

5 Act’’. 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
2 

•S 5076 IS

1 SEC. 2. UPDATES TO COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO PRO2 MOTE INTERNET FREEDOM AND ACCESS TO 

3 INFORMATION IN IRAN. 

4 (a) UPDATES.—Section 414 of the Iran Threat Re5 duction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 

6 8754) is amended— 

7 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

8 striking ‘‘Not later than’’ and inserting the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(a) INITIAL STRATEGY.—Not later than’’; 

11 (2) in subsection (a), as redesignated— 

12 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (11) and 

13 (12) as paragraphs (14) and (15), respectively; 

14 and 

15 (B) by inserting after paragraph (10) the 

16 following: 

17 ‘‘(11) evaluate the use of virtual private net18 works by civil society and human rights activists in 

19 Iran and develop strategies for increasing the acces20 sibility to such networks; 

21 ‘‘(12) develop guidance for the Department of 

22 the Treasury to ensure that enforcement of sanc23 tions does not prevent companies from providing 

24 Iranian civilians with the technology and other tools 

25 necessary to access the open Internet; 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
3 

•S 5076 IS

1 ‘‘(13) assess the ability of the Iranian regime to 

2 cut off all access to the Internet and develop a strat3 egy to circumvent Internet blackouts for Iranian 

4 civil society;’’; and 

5 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(b) MANDATORY UPDATE.—Not later than 120 

7 days after the date of the enactment of the Iran Internet 

8 Freedom Act, the Secretary of State, in consultation with 

9 the Secretary of the Treasury and the heads of other Fed10 eral agencies, as appropriate, shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) review and update the strategy to more ef12 fectively address the objectives described in sub13 section (a); and 

14 ‘‘(2) submit the updated strategy to the appro15 priate congressional committees. 

16 ‘‘(c) PERIODIC REVIEWS; UPDATES.—The Secretary 

17 of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Treasury, 

18 and the heads of other Federal agencies, as appropriate, 

19 shall— 

20 ‘‘(1) periodically review the strategy submitted 

21 pursuant to subsection (a); and 

22 ‘‘(2) whenever such review reveals the need to 

23 modify such strategy to more effectively address the 

24 objectives described in subsection (a), submit an upVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Sep 21, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5076.IS S5076

kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
4 

•S 5076 IS

1 dated strategy to the appropriate congressional com2 mittees. 

3 ‘‘(d) FORM.—Each strategy required under this sec4 tion shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may in5 clude a classified annex.’’. 

6 SEC. 3. PROGRAMMING AND SUPPORT TO CIRCUMVENT 

7 IRANIAN INTERNET CENSORSHIP. 

8 (a) GRANTS TO SUPPORT INTERNET FREEDOM

9 TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS IN IRAN.—The Secretary of 

10 State, in consultation with the Administrator of the 

11 United States Agency for International Development and 

12 the President of the Open Technology Fund, as appro13 priate, may award grants and contracts to private organi14 zations to support and develop programs in Iran that pro15 mote or expand— 

16 (1) an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure 

17 Internet; and 

18 (2) the online exercise of human rights and fun19 damental freedoms of individual citizens, activists, 

20 human rights defenders, independent journalists, 

21 civil society organizations, and marginalized popu22 lations in Iran. 

23 (b) GOALS.—The goals of the programs developed 

24 with grants authorized under subsection (a) should be— 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
5 

•S 5076 IS

1 (1) to support unrestricted access to the Inter2 net in Iran; 

3 (2) to increase the availability of internet free4 dom tools in Iran; 

5 (3) to scale up the distribution of such tech6 nologies and tools throughout Iran; 

7 (4) to conduct research on repressive tactics 

8 that undermine internet freedom in Iran; 

9 (5) to ensure information on digital safety is 

10 available to human rights defenders, independent 

11 journalists, civil society organizations, and 

12 marginalized populations in Iran; and 

13 (6) to engage private industry, including e-com14 merce firms and social networking companies, re15 garding the importance of preserving unrestricted 

16 Internet access in Iran. 

17 (c) GRANT RECIPIENTS.—Grants authorized under 

18 this section shall be distributed to multiple vendors and 

19 suppliers through an open, fair, competitive, and evidence20 based decision process— 

21 (1) to diversify the technical base; and 

22 (2) to reduce the risk of misuse by bad actors. 

23 (d) SECURITY AUDITS.—New technologies developed 

24 using grants authorized under this section shall undergo 

25 comprehensive security audits to ensure that such techVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Sep 21, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5076.IS S5076

kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
6 

•S 5076 IS

1 nologies are secure and have not been compromised in a 

2 manner detrimental to— 

3 (1) the interests of the United States; or 

4 (2) individuals or organizations benefitting from 

5 programs supported by such funding. 

6 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

8 appropriated to the Open Technology Fund, in addi9 tion to the amount appropriated for the Open Tech10 nology Fund pursuant to section 1299P(d) of the 

11 William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Au12 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 

13 116–283), $15,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

14 2025 and 2026 to carry out the grant program au15 thorized under this section. 

16 (2) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pur17 suant to paragraph (1) shall remain available until 

18 expended. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB