I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1714 

To provide authorities to prohibit the provision of services by social media 

platforms to individuals and entities on the Specially Designated Nationals List and certain officials and other individuals and entities of the 

People’s Republic of China, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 22, 2023 

Mr. MAST introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide authorities to prohibit the provision of services 

by social media platforms to individuals and entities on 

the Specially Designated Nationals List and certain officials and other individuals and entities of the People’s 

Republic of China, 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 ‘‘China Social Media 

5 Reciprocity Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORITIES TO PROHIBIT THE PROVISION OF 

2 SERVICES BY SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS TO 

3 INDIVIDUALS AND ENTITIES ON THE SPE4 CIALLY DESIGNATED NATIONALS LIST AND 

5 CERTAIN OFFICIALS AND OTHER INDIVID6 UALS AND ENTITIES OF THE PEOPLE’S RE7 PUBLIC OF CHINA. 

8 (a) AUTHORITIES UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL

9 EMERGENCY ECONOMIC POWERS ACT.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 203 of the Inter11 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

12 U.S.C. 1702) is amended— 

13 (A) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub14 section (d); and 

15 (B) by inserting after subsection (b) the 

16 following: 

17 ‘‘(c)(1) Notwithstanding subsection (b) and except as 

18 provided in paragraph (2), the authority granted to the 

19 President by this section does include the authority to reg20 ulate or prohibit the provision by a provider of a social 

21 media platform of a covered service to— 

22 ‘‘(A) an individual or entity who, pursuant to 

23 the exercise of authorities under part 594 of title 31, 

24 Code of Federal Regulations, is on the list of spe25 cially designated nationals and blocked persons 

26 maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control 


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1 of the Department of the Treasury, if such provider 

2 knew or should have known that such individual or 

3 entity was on such list and that such provider was 

4 providing such service to such individual or entity; 

5 ‘‘(B) an individual who is a senior official of the 

6 Government of the People’s Republic of China or an 

7 individual or entity acting at the direction of such 

8 individual, if such provider knew or should have 

9 known that such individual was such a senior official 

10 or such individual or entity was acting at the direc11 tion of such individual, as the case may be, and that 

12 such provider was providing such service to such in13 dividual or such individual or entity, as the case may 

14 be; 

15 ‘‘(C) an individual who is a senior member of 

16 the CCP or an individual or entity acting at the di17 rection of such individual, if such provider knew or 

18 should have known that such individual was such a 

19 senior member or such individual or entity was act20 ing at the direction of such individual, as the case 

21 may be, and that such provider was providing such 

22 service to such individual or such individual or enti23 ty, as the case may be; 

24 ‘‘(D) an individual who is a spokesperson of the 

25 CCP or the Government of the People’s Republic of 


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1 China, or an individual or entity acting at the direc2 tion of such individual, if such provider knew or 

3 should have known that such individual was such a 

4 spokesperson or such an individual or entity was act5 ing at the direction of such individual, as the case 

6 may be, and that such provider was providing such 

7 service to such individual or such individual or enti8 ty, as the case may be; 

9 ‘‘(E) an individual or entity who is an agent or 

10 instrumentality of the CCP or the Government of 

11 the People’s Republic of China, if such provider 

12 knew or should have known that such individual or 

13 entity was such an agent or instrumentality and that 

14 such provider was providing such service to such in15 dividual or entity; or 

16 ‘‘(F) an individual or entity who is or owned or 

17 controlled by the CCP or the Government of the 

18 People’s Republic of China, if such provider knew or 

19 should have known that such individual or entity 

20 was owned or controlled by the CCP or the Govern21 ment of the People’s Republic of China and that 

22 such provider was providing such service to such in23 dividual or entity. 

24 ‘‘(2) The authority granted to the President by this 

25 section does not include the authority to regulate or proVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:39 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1714.IH H1714

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1 hibit the provision by a provider of a social media platform 

2 of a covered service to an individual who is a senior official 

3 of a Government of the People’s Republic of China de4 scribed in paragraph (1)(B) solely for legitimate emer5 gency alert purposes. 

6 ‘‘(3) In this subsection— 

7 ‘‘(A) the term ‘CCP’ means the Chinese Com8 munist Party of the People’s Republic of China or 

9 any successor entity; 

10 ‘‘(B) the term ‘covered service’— 

11 ‘‘(i) means, with respect to a provider of a 

12 social media platform, any service provided by 

13 the provider through the platform, including a 

14 service that is publicly available and free of 

15 charge (including permitting an individual or 

16 entity to create or maintain an account or pro17 file); and 

18 ‘‘(ii) does not include the ability of an indi19 vidual or entity to— 

20 ‘‘(I) access the platform without an 

21 account or profile; or 

22 ‘‘(II) send or receive private commu23 nications on the platform; 

24 ‘‘(C) the term ‘social media platform’— 


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1 ‘‘(i) means a website or other internet me2 dium, including a mobile application, that— 

3 ‘‘(I) permits an individual or entity to 

4 create an account or profile for the pur5 pose of generating, sharing, and viewing 

6 user-generated content through such ac7 count or profile; 

8 ‘‘(II) enables one or more users to 

9 generate content that can be viewed by 

10 other users of the medium; and 

11 ‘‘(III) enables users to view content 

12 generated by other users of the medium; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(ii) does not include— 

15 ‘‘(I) any such website or other inter16 net medium that serves fewer than 

17 100,000 users who access their account or 

18 profile at least once a month; 

19 ‘‘(II) an email program, email dis20 tribution list, or multi-person text message 

21 group; 

22 ‘‘(III) a website or other internet me23 dium that is primarily for the purpose of 

24 internet commerce; 


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1 ‘‘(IV) a software application (includ2 ing a mobile application) used solely to 

3 communicate with others through instant 

4 messages, audio calls, video calls, or any 

5 combination thereof; or 

6 ‘‘(V) a website or other internet me7 dium the primary purpose of which is— 

8 ‘‘(aa) to allow users to post prod9 uct reviews, business reviews, or travel 

10 information and reviews; or 

11 ‘‘(bb) to provide emergency alert 

12 services; 

13 ‘‘(D) the term ‘senior official of the Govern14 ment of the People’s Republic of China’ includes— 

15 ‘‘(i) each member of the State Council, in16 cluding the Premier, Vice Premiers, and State 

17 Councillors; 

18 ‘‘(ii) the minister and vice ministers of the 

19 Ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Defense, 

20 State Security, Justice, Public Security, and 

21 other ministries; 

22 ‘‘(iii) the director, deputy director, or any 

23 other high ranking official of the Hong Kong 

24 and Macau Affairs Office, the Liaison Office of 

25 the Central People’s Government in the Hong 


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1 Kong Special Administrative Region, the Liai2 son Office of the Central People’s Government 

3 in the Macau Special Administrative Region, 

4 the Office for Safeguarding National Security 

5 of the Central People’s Government in the 

6 Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the 

7 State Council Research Office, the Overseas 

8 Chinese Affairs Office, the Taiwan Affairs Of9 fice, the Cyberspace Administration of China, 

10 the State Council Information Office, the 

11 Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese Academy of 

12 Social Sciences, the China Media Group, the 

13 National Ethnic Affairs Commission, the Na14 tional Radio and Television Administration, and 

15 the National Press and Publication Administra16 tion; 

17 ‘‘(iv) any other high ranking official in the 

18 defense, security, or foreign affairs apparatus of 

19 the government, including any ambassador and 

20 any spokesman of any government agency or 

21 department; and 

22 ‘‘(v) any other official that the President 

23 determines to be a ‘senior official’ for purposes 

24 of this subparagraph; and 


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1 ‘‘(E) the term ‘senior member of the CCP’ in2 cludes each member of the CCP Central Committee, 

3 including each member of the CCP Politburo (in4 cluding the Politburo Standing Committee and the 

5 General Secretary), the Central Military Commission 

6 (CMC), the Secretariat of the Central Committee, 

7 the Central National Security Commission, Leading 

8 Small Groups and their related work offices, the 

9 Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the 

10 General Office, the Organization Department, the 

11 Publicity Department, the International Liaison De12 partment, the United Front Work Department, the 

13 External Propaganda Office of the Chinese Com14 munist Party Central Committee, the People’s Daily, 

15 the Central Party School, the Central Policy Re16 search Office, the Central Taiwan Work Office, and 

17 any other central-level CCP body.’’. 

18 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

19 by this subsection shall take effect on the date that 

20 is 180 days after the date of the enactment of this 

21 Act. 

22 (b) IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

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

25 President shall, except as provided in paragraph (2), 


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1 prohibit the provision by a provider of a social media 

2 platform of a covered service to any individual or en3 tity described in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), (D), 

4 (E), or (F) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of sec5 tion 203 of the International Emergency Economic 

6 Powers Act (as added by subsection (a) of this sec7 tion). 

8 (2) WAIVER.—The President may waive the 

9 prohibition required by this subsection with respect 

10 to an individual or entity if the President certifies to 

11 the appropriate congressional committees that the 

12 Government of the People’s Republic of China and 

13 the Chinese Communist Party have verifiably re14 moved prohibitions on officials of the United States 

15 Government from accessing, using, or participating 

16 in social media platforms in the People’s Republic of 

17 China, including by removing all forms of censorship 

18 that prohibit persons in the People’s Republic of 

19 China from accessing social media platforms or view20 ing content generated by such United States Gov21 ernment officials or United States persons on social 

22 media platforms. 

23 (3) PENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in 

24 subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter25 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 


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

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

3 violation of regulations promulgated to carry out 

4 this subsection or the sanctions imposed pursuant to 

5 this subsection to the same extent that such pen6 alties apply to a person that commits an unlawful 

7 act described in section 206(a) of that Act. 

8 (c) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall, not 

10 later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 

11 of this Act, prescribe regulations as necessary for 

12 the implementation of this section and the amend13 ments made by this section. 

14 (2) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS.—No later 

15 than 10 days before the prescription of regulations 

16 under paragraph (1), the President shall notify the 

17 appropriate congressional committees regarding the 

18 proposed regulations and the provisions this section 

19 and the amendments made by this section that the 

20 regulations are implementing. 

21 (d) SUNSET.—The President’s authority to issue 

22 waivers or licenses with respect to sanctions required by 

23 subsection (b) or pursuant to sections 203 and 205 of the 

24 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

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1 quired by subsection (b) shall cease to apply beginning on 

2 the date that is 2 year after the date of enactment of this 

3 Act. 

4 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT6 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com7 mittees’’ means— 

8 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

9 the Committee on Financial Services of the 

10 House of Representatives; and 

11 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

12 and the Committee on Banking of the Senate. 

13 (2) COVERED SERVICE; SOCIAL MEDIA PLAT14 FORM.—The terms ‘‘covered service’’ and ‘‘social 

15 media platform’’ have the meanings given the terms 

16 in subsection (c) of section 203 of the International 

17 Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702), 

18 as added by subsection (a) of this section. 

Æ 


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