I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 57 

To regulate or prohibit transactions using mobile applications or software 

programs that engage in the theft of user data on behalf of a communist 

country, foreign adversary, or state sponsor of terrorism, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 9, 2023 

Mr. BERGMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 

case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 

the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To regulate or prohibit transactions using mobile applications 

or software programs that engage in the theft of user 

data on behalf of a communist country, foreign adversary, or state sponsor of terrorism, 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 ‘‘Protecting Personal 

5 Data from Foreign Adversaries Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORITIES TO REGULATE OR PROHIBIT TRANS2 ACTIONS USING MOBILE APPLICATIONS OR 

3 SOFTWARE PROGRAMS THAT ENGAGE IN THE 

4 THEFT OF USER DATA ON BEHALF OF A COM5 MUNIST COUNTRY, FOREIGN ADVERSARY, OR 

6 STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM. 

7 Section 203 of the International Emergency Eco8 nomic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702) is amended— 

9 (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub10 section (d); and 

11 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol12 lowing new subsection: 

13 ‘‘(c)(1) Notwithstanding subsection (b), the authority 

14 granted to the President by this section includes the au15 thority to regulate or prohibit transactions using mobile 

16 applications or software programs that— 

17 ‘‘(A) engage in the theft of or transmits a 

18 user’s data in an unauthorized manner; and 

19 ‘‘(B) provide to a covered country, or covered 

20 foreign political party, access to such data. 

21 ‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘covered country’ 

22 means any of the following: 

23 ‘‘(A) A Communist country. 

24 ‘‘(B) A foreign adversary. 

25 ‘‘(C) A state sponsor of terrorism. 

26 ‘‘(3) In this subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(A) The term ‘communist country’ has the 

2 meaning given such term in section 620(f)(1) of the 

3 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 

4 2370(f)(1)). 

5 ‘‘(B) The term ‘foreign adversary’ has the 

6 meaning given such term in Executive Order 13920, 

7 issued on May 1, 2020, entitled ‘Securing the 

8 United States BulkPower System’, and including the 

9 list of foreign adversaries identified by the Depart10 ment of Energy’s Office of Electricity pursuant to 

11 such Executive Order on July 7, 2020, as in effect 

12 on January 19, 2021. 

13 ‘‘(C) The term ‘state sponsor of terrorism’ 

14 means a country the government of which the Sec15 retary of State determines has repeatedly provided 

16 support for international terrorism pursuant to— 

17 ‘‘(i) section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export 

18 Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 

19 4813(c)(1)(A)); 

20 ‘‘(ii) section 620A of the Foreign Assist21 ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371); 

22 ‘‘(iii) section 40 of the Arms Export Con23 trol Act (22 U.S.C. 2780); or 

24 ‘‘(iv) any other provision of law. 


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1 ‘‘(4) In this subsection, the term ‘covered for2 eign political party’ means the Chinese Communist 

3 Party (CCP).’’. 

4 SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO MO5 BILE APPLICATIONS OR SOFTWARE PRO6 GRAMS THAT ENGAGE IN THE THEFT OF 

7 USER DATA. 

8 (a) IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.—Notwithstanding 

9 any other provision of law, the President is authorized to 

10 impose the sanctions described in subsection (b) with re11 spect to any foreign person that the President determines 

12 has developed, maintains, provides, owns, or controls a 

13 mobile application or software program that— 

14 (1) engages in the theft of or transmits a user’s 

15 data in an unauthorized manner to servers located 

16 in China; and 

17 (2) provides to the Government of the People’s 

18 Republic of China (PRC), the Chinese Communist 

19 Party (CCP), or any person owned by or controlled 

20 by the PRC or CCP access to such data. 

21 (b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The sanctions described in 

23 this subsection with respect to a foreign person de24 termined by the President to be subject to sub25 section (a) are the following: 


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1 (A) ASSET BLOCKING.—The President 

2 shall exercise all powers granted to the Presi3 dent by the International Emergency Economic 

4 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the ex5 tent necessary to block and prohibit all trans6 actions in property and interests in property of 

7 the foreign person if such property and inter8 ests in property are in the United States, come 

9 within the United States, or are or come within 

10 the possession or control of a United States 

11 person. 

12 (B) INADMISSIBILITY OF CERTAIN INDI13 VIDUALS.— 

14 (i) INELIGIBILITY FOR VISAS, ADMIS15 SION, OR PAROLE.—In the case of a for16 eign person who is an individual, the for17 eign person is— 

18 (I) inadmissible to the United 

19 States; 

20 (II) ineligible to receive a visa or 

21 other documentation to enter the 

22 United States; and 

23 (III) otherwise ineligible to be 

24 admitted or paroled into the United 

25 States or to receive any other benefit 


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1 under the Immigration and Nation2 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.). 

3 (ii) CURRENT VISAS REVOKED.— 

4 (I) IN GENERAL.—In the case of 

5 a foreign person who is an individual, 

6 the visa or other documentation 

7 issued to the person shall be revoked, 

8 regardless of when such visa or other 

9 documentation is or was issued. 

10 (II) EFFECT OF REVOCATION.— 

11 A revocation under subclause (I) 

12 shall— 

13 (aa) take effect immediately; 

14 and 

15 (bb) automatically cancel 

16 any other valid visa or entry doc17 umentation that is in the per18 son’s possession. 

19 (2) PENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in 

20 subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter21 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

22 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person that violates, 

23 attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 

24 violation of regulations to implement this section to 

25 the same extent that such penalties apply to a perVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Jan 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H57.IH H57

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1 son that commits an unlawful act described in sec2 tion 206(a) of such Act. 

3 (3) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH UNITED NA4 TIONS HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT.—Sanctions 

5 under paragraph (1)(B) shall not apply to a foreign 

6 person who is an individual if admitting the person 

7 into the United States is necessary to permit the 

8 United States to comply with the Agreement regard9 ing the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed 

10 at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into 

11 force November 21, 1947, between the United Na12 tions and the United States, or other applicable 

13 international obligations. 

14 (c) WAIVER.—The President may, on a case-by-case 

15 basis and for periods not to exceed 180 days, waive the 

16 application of sanctions imposed with respect to a foreign 

17 person under this section if the President certifies to the 

18 appropriate congressional committees not later than 15 

19 days before such waiver is to take effect that the waiver 

20 is vital to the national security interests of the United 

21 States. 

22 (d) IMPLEMENTATION AUTHORITY.—The President 

23 may exercise all authorities provided to the President 

24 under sections 203 and 205 of the International Emer25 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) 


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1 for purposes of carrying out this section. The exceptions 

2 to the President’s authority described in section 203(b) 

3 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, as 

4 amended by section 1, shall not apply to the President’s 

5 authority to exercise authorities under this section. 

6 (e) SUNSET.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—This section shall terminate 

8 on January 1, 2026. 

9 (2) INAPPLICABILITY.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

10 apply with respect to sanctions imposed with respect 

11 to a foreign person under this section before Janu12 ary 1, 2026. 

13 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

14 (1) ADMITTED; ALIEN.—The terms ‘‘admitted’’ 

15 and ‘‘alien’’ have the meanings given those terms in 

16 section 101(3) of the Immigration and Nationality 

17 Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(3)). 

18 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT19 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com20 mittees’’ means— 

21 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

22 Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on 

23 Ways and Means, and the Committee on Finan24 cial Services of the House of Representatives; 

25 and 


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1 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

2 and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

3 Urban Affairs of the Senate. 

4 (3) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per5 son’’ means a person that is not a United States 

6 person. 

7 (4) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

8 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 

9 (A) a United States citizen or an alien law10 fully admitted for permanent residence to the 

11 United States; or 

12 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 

13 the United States or of any jurisdiction of the 

14 United States, including a foreign branch of 

15 such an entity. 

16 SEC. 4. DETERMINATION WITH RESPECT TO THE IMPOSI17 TION OF SANCTIONS ON WECHAT AND 

18 TIKTOK. 

19 (a) DETERMINATION.—Not later than 90 days after 

20 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

21 State shall submit to the appropriate congressional com22 mittees a determination, including a detailed justification 

23 therefor, regarding whether WeChat, or any component 

24 thereof, or any entity owned or controlled by WeChat, or 

25 TikTok, or any component thereof, or any entity owned 


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1 or controlled by TikTok, satisfies the criteria for the appli2 cation of sanctions pursuant to— 

3 (1) section 2 of this Act; or 

4 (2) Executive Order 13694 (50 U.S.C. 1701 

5 note; relating to blocking property of certain persons 

6 engaged in significant malicious cyber-enabled activi7 ties). 

8 (b) FORM.—The determination required by sub9 section (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may 

10 contain a classified annex. 

11 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE12 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres13 sional committees’’ means— 

14 (1) the Committee on Armed Services, the 

15 Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Select 

16 Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Finan17 cial Services, and the Committee on the Judiciary of 

18 the House of Representatives; and 

19 (2) the Committee on Armed Services, the 

20 Committee on Foreign Relations, the Select Com21 mittee on Intelligence, the Committee on Banking, 

22 Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Committee on 

23 the Judiciary of the Senate. 

Æ 


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