I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5354 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require United States-based 

foreign media outlets to submit semiannual reports to the Federal Communications Commission, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 20, 2018 

Mr. MOULTON (for himself and Ms. STEFANIK) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require 

United States-based foreign media outlets to submit 

semiannual reports to the Federal Communications Commission, 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 ‘‘Countering Foreign 

5 Propaganda Act of 2018’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR UNITED STATES2 BASED FOREIGN MEDIA OUTLETS. 

3 Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

4 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 721. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR UNITED 

7 STATES-BASED FOREIGN MEDIA OUTLETS. 

8 ‘‘(a) REPORTS BY OUTLETS TO COMMISSION.—Not 

9 later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

10 section, and not less frequently than every 6 months there11 after, a United States-based foreign media outlet shall 

12 submit to the Commission a report that contains the fol13 lowing information: 

14 ‘‘(1) The name of such outlet. 

15 ‘‘(2) A description of the relationship of such 

16 outlet to the foreign principal of such outlet, includ17 ing a description of the legal structure of such rela18 tionship and any funding that such outlet receives 

19 from such principal. 

20 ‘‘(b) REPORTS BY COMMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Not 

21 later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this 

22 section, and not less frequently than every 6 months there23 after, the Commission shall transmit to Congress a report 

24 that summarizes the contents of the reports submitted by 

25 United States-based foreign media outlets under sub26 section (a) during the preceding 6-month period. 


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1 ‘‘(c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Commission shall 

2 make publicly available on the internet website of the 

3 Commission each report submitted by a United States4 based foreign media outlet under subsection (a) not later 

5 than the earlier of— 

6 ‘‘(1) the date that is 30 days after the outlet 

7 submits the report to the Commission; or 

8 ‘‘(2) the date on which the Commission trans9 mits to Congress under subsection (b) the report 

10 covering the 6-month period during which the report 

11 of the outlet was submitted to the Commission 

12 under subsection (a). 

13 ‘‘(d) STATEMENT REQUIRED TO BE INCLUDED IN

14 VIDEO PROGRAMMING.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for a 

16 United States-based foreign media outlet to produce 

17 or distribute any video programming for or in the 

18 interests of a foreign principal of such outlet, if such 

19 programming is transmitted, or intended for trans20 mission, by a multichannel video programming dis21 tributor to consumers in the United States, without 

22 including in such programming a conspicuous state23 ment that the programming is produced or distrib24 uted by such outlet on behalf of such foreign prin25 cipal, and that additional information is available in 


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1 semiannual reports of such outlet posted on the 

2 internet website of the Commission. The Commission 

3 may by rule define what constitutes a conspicuous 

4 statement for the purposes of this subsection. 

5 ‘‘(2) FREQUENCY.—In the case of video pro6 gramming that is longer than 60 minutes in dura7 tion, the statement required by paragraph (1) shall 

8 be included at least once in each 60-minute segment 

9 of programming. 

10 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 ‘‘(1) FOREIGN PRINCIPAL.—The term ‘foreign 

12 principal’ has the meaning given such term in sec13 tion 1(b)(1) of the Foreign Agents Registration Act 

14 of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 611(b)(1)). 

15 ‘‘(2) MULTICHANNEL VIDEO PROGRAMMING

16 DISTRIBUTOR.—The term ‘multichannel video pro17 gramming distributor’ has the meaning given such 

18 term in section 602. 

19 ‘‘(3) UNITED STATES-BASED FOREIGN MEDIA

20 OUTLET.—The term ‘United States-based foreign 

21 media outlet’ means an entity that— 

22 ‘‘(A) produces or distributes video pro23 gramming that is transmitted, or intended for 

24 transmission, by a multichannel video programVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 Mar 28, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5354.IH H5354

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1 ming distributor to consumers in the United 

2 States; and 

3 ‘‘(B) would be an agent of a foreign prin4 cipal (as defined in paragraph (1)) for purposes 

5 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 

6 (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) but for section 1(d) of 

7 such Act (22 U.S.C. 611(d)). 

8 ‘‘(4) VIDEO PROGRAMMING.—The term ‘video 

9 programming’ has the meaning given such term in 

10 section 602.’’. 

Æ 


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